Brittany Hill to show Photographs at Cazenovia College Art Gallery

Heuvelton, N.Y., native is a nominee for Art and Design Division's Program Award

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Hill's current work focuses on emotion.

CAZENOVIA, NY (05/09/2013)(readMedia)-- The Cazenovia College Art Gallery in Reisman Hall will host the annual Division of Art and Design Senior Award Candidates' Exhibition from May 6 - May 18. Five Art and Design Program students, selected by a jury of Art and Design faculty members, have been nominated for the prestigious Art and Design Division Program Award. Work by these students will be on display through commencement week, when the award winners will be announced.

Brittany Hill, of Heuvelton, N.Y., is a candidate for a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in studio art, specializing in photography, with minors in art history and business, to be conferred at Cazenovia College on May 18, 2013.

She says that growing up in a small town helped shape the person and photographer she has become. Photography has been a part of Hill's life since high school, and during her senior year was when she really began to explore the medium she realized that it might be a track she wanted to pursue. Hill is now nearing another graduation, this time with a degree in an art form that she is passionate about and enjoys having as a part of her life.

Much of Hill's work focuses on portraits. To learn as much as she could about what makes a great portrait, she worked with portrait photographer Penny Heath, owner of Heath Photography in Redwood, N.Y. (heathphotography.net). In her senior project, Hill continues her work with portraiture, exploring photographic documentation that captures an individual's emotional being.

She writes of her project, "This body of work focuses on emotions, but more than that, it is about people. Emotions are fascinating because they are so raw and fundamental, and we can't control them – they give us insight into who we are. For this project, I chose to focus only on the 'negative' emotions and not include the 'positive' ones, for several reasons. The happier, positive emotions ask no questions of the viewer, so we tend to move on. But the melancholy, negative emotions DO ask questions, and this keeps the viewer interested. As viewers and human beings, we sit and ponder and try to solve the puzzle that the photograph, and the emotion portrayed within it, is asking of us. And often, there is no concrete answer, because each one of us is unique and brings our own experience to the photograph, forever changing the 'answer' that we are looking for."

In addition to having been nominated for the Art and Design Division Program Award, Hill is a member of Sigma Alpha Pi, The National Society of Leadership & Success, a student representative for the Middle States Commission on Reaccreditation, and has been on the Dean's List three of her seven semesters. She has been a Cazenovia College Art Gallery assistant to the director, assisting with all aspects of gallery operations, since 2009. She served on the Cazenovia College Yearbook staff, as a photographer of the TONY Exhibition at Stone Quarry Hill Art Park, Cazenovia, N.Y., in conjunction with the Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, N.Y.

She as participated in Cazenovia's Alternative Breaks program in Valdosta, Ga.; served as secretary/treasurer of the English Club; was a member of the Drama Club; the Film Society; the Art Club; and participated in fundraising efforts for UNICEF, and Up 'til Dawn, a fundraising project for St. Jude's Research Hospital.

For information visit www.Brittany-Lynn-Hill.com, or contact Jen Pepper, director of the Cazenovia College Art Gallery, by e-mail to jpepper@cazenovia.edu. Information is also on the Web at www.cazenovia.edu/art-gallery.

The Cazenovia College Art Gallery in Reisman Hall, 6 Sullivan St., is on the corner of Sullivan and Seminary streets in Cazenovia. Hours during the academic year are: Monday through Thursday, 1-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m.; Friday, 1-4 p.m.; and Saturday and Sunday, 2-6 p.m. Summer hours vary. Shows and receptions are free and open to the public. The gallery is handicapped accessible.

Cazenovia College, founded in 1824, is an independent, co-educational, baccalaureate college near Syracuse, N.Y., offering a comprehensive liberal arts education in an exceptional community environment, with academic and co-curricular programs devoted to developing leaders in their professional fields. Cazenovia, named one of "America's Best Colleges" by U.S. News & World Report, is also a national College of Distinction. For more information, visit www.cazenovia.edu.