For her honors project, senior Leah Henckel is working with artist Jacob Bautista to host an art exhibition in the Bradley Theater. The exhibition will be up from Nov. 8 to Dec. 6. The reception is Nov. 8 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., and attendance at this event will count as a convocation credit.
The reception event on Nov. 8 will begin with an introduction from Bautista. The gallery will officially open at 6 p.m.
Every senior project in Lakeland’s honors program has a goal. Henckel said that hers was “to increase cultural awareness throughout Lakeland’s community.” She is doing this by teaming up with Bautista, whose art largely focuses on the exploration of his identity through the lens of his familial and societal history.
Bautista described the overall theme of this art exhibition as an exploration of his Hispanic or Chicano identity. He expanded upon this by discussing the history of Spanish colonization and how spending time with his family has played a large role in creating who he is.
When asked why she chose this as her project, Henckel answered, “Many of my friends are immigrants or first-generation Americans, so learning about others’ cultures is something that is extremely important to me and something I believe people should make an effort to do.”
She is also minoring in art, so she found it important to integrate that into her final honors project. Henckel described art as “an integral part of culture that serves as more than just a means of aesthetic entertainment.”
It is very clear the level of respect and admiration Henckel has for art and culture. She is extremely well-spoken and intelligent. Henckel is truly trying to make a difference on Lakeland’s campus with this art exhibition. Her senior honors project is much more than a final project to her.
Henckel explained that the most difficult challenge she faced during this project was securing an artist to work with. She dedicated a lot of time and effort into it, even starting to reach out to artists in November 2023 before getting her project approved. Many of those who she reached out to never responded, and Henckel said she was “ready to give up” by the end of April 2024.
This was until, fortunately, five artists in one week showed interest in participating in the project. Henckel ended up going through a series of interviews with those that responded to her inquiries.
This ultimately ended up with her choosing to move forward working with Bautista. Henckel said that it was not just his art, which she described as “amazing and insightful”, that led her to choosing him as the artist for his exhibition.
Henckel explained that she chose to work with Bautista due to “his passions for art and for exploring and sharing his culture and identity through it”.
Bautista’s passion and dedication to his craft is easy to notice. When describing his art making process, he spoke about the amount of research that goes into each project of his. He also discussed his process of using different source materials. Bautista said, “This material can come from movies, music and many other sources.”
Henckel and Bautista have both put in an admirable amount of time and effort into this art exhibition. Anyone that can should try to make it over to the Bradley Theater to check out this incredible project.
