The 2005 Senior Exhibition of Fine Art lights up the Dreitzer Gallery with an array of electrifying works that present both the students' creative and technical artistic stills. Previous spring senior art shows have been less than impressive because pieces have appeared lacking any premeditation. Yet much thought appears to have gone into the works produced by this year's crop of graduates, and their ideas as a result on modern artistic abstraction come across as more maturely formulated. The exhibit began with a display of smaller-scale drawings and paintings. Most of these works depict eerily mystical moods through scenes ranging from forest landscapes to church exteriors. The intricate use of lines and shading showed the painters' mastery of artistic concepts.

Colorful, large-scale canvasses dominated the inside of the gallery. Subjects ranged from abstract-style family portraits to bizarre party scenes. Even works addressing more morbid themes, like Quinn Fleming's "God Hates Every Little Thing," showcased the painters' passion for artistic creativity.

The organization of the exhibit had improved from previous years as well. A gallery guide helped give viewers clearer insight into each artist's intentions. Each artist's works were hung together, allowing viewers to trace the thematic and stylistic development of individual painters. As an added bonus, artists exploring related concepts had their works hung near each other. The placement of Lizzie Stein's luminous, radiant church interiors contrasted well with the fiery, foreboding scenes of anti-Semitic vandalism in Adina Hemley's collage works. The placement of the two collections created a powerful message on the complexities of religion in society.

Many painters innovatively employed less-traditional materials in their paintings. In "Goddess," Seyhan Musaoglu creatively turned a painting into a three-dimensional production by using plaster to extend a skeleton's eyeball-dotted dress out from the canvas. The neon pink gown faded back into the canvas, where eyeballs surrounded the bony princess amid a pastel landscape. The juxtaposition of such soft colors with the gory figure resulted in an eerily entertaining piece.

The neon-colored nudes by Skye Ritvo electrified the gallery setting. Their realistic yet unnaturally illuminated bodies radiated with bold hallucinogenic tones. Their captivating stares and seductive poses felt like they could have been pulled from the film Sin City. Just as the nude women captivated men in the works, it was impossible to tear your eyes away from Ritvo's intoxicating paintings.

Jane Lin's peaceful woodland scenes proved equally fascinating. The contrast of trees against the lightly-dusted pastel snowscape was stunning. The radiant, bejeweled skyline peaked through a labyrinth of trees, creating a forest of stained glass.

The star of the exhibition was sculptor Tal Ben-Yaakov. His mixed media, industrial-style towers were the most creative works in the exhibition. "By setting specific parameters for the shape of my sculptures before I begin building, I have a feasible framework ... for endless exploration," Ben-Yaakov wrote in the gallery guide. His evident preparation clearly contributed to the quality of his sculptures.

His first piece, "Compression," used a balance as its main component. Bolts and wires fit together while cement bag-like structures were intriguingly strapped onto the work with Velcro belts. The bright, bold yellow and green elements also helped draw viewers into the work.

Meanwhile, Ben-Yaakov's brick "Schrein" looked like a miniature Tower of Babel. Light peeked between the bricks to endow the work with a spiritual intrigue. The sculpture's angular top caressed the exact slant of the gallery roof, furthering the piece's technical ingenuity. "Schrein" was one of the few works in the exhibition you could not tear your eyes away from. Perhaps Ben-Yaakov's works stood out because he was one of the only sculptors in the show.

Overall, the exhibition demonstrated the skills the seniors have amassed during their time in the studio program. The students-and their professors-should be applauded for the clarity and thematic diversity of the works. I can only hope senior shows will continue to remain strong in future years.