Grace Lindman is a full-time senior art student at Washburn University, who will be finishing her time at Washburn with an exhibit being displayed in the Mulvane Art Museum beginning May 6.

After living in Chicago, Lindman moved to Kansas with her parents several years ago and has had an excellent time during her years in the Washburn art department.

“My experience at Washburn has been awesome. I love it, and the mentors that I’ve met here have really impacted what I’ve learned and how I’ve learned,” Lindman said. “Growing up, I was more of a crafty person and when I came to art school, I found out that craft and fine art are two different things. So, I’ve really tried to blur the line of craft and fine art in my work.”

Lindman’s involvement in the Washburn art department has been a center of encouragement from students and professors who have recognized her dedication to the Washburn community and her excellent work ethic. When she’s not creating, Lindman assists in the art department working as a monitor, supervising and helping to provide support to her fellow students.

“One of the most amazing things about Grace is her willingness and capacity to learn. She has been really open to learning things,” said Michael Hager, associate professor of printmaking and sculpture. “Grace is continuously working and is probably one of the hardest working students that I have ever worked with.”

As part of her senior art show, Lindman’s first art exhibit, titled “Body Over Mind,” is scheduled for display in the Mulvane Art Museum following a Friday reception May 6.

Lindman cites her personal experiences as concepts for the pieces in the exhibit, a project that has been a year and a half in the making. Lindman spent much of that time creating the pieces for her exhibit.

“I love tedious, little repetitive tasks. I spent hours upon hours rolling little clay balls and putting them together into a clay jacket and after that I began embroidering beads,” Lindman said. “I found healing through my long, tedious processes because as I was doing the project, I could just think openly and process my feelings. The process is just as important to me as the final product.”

Lindman expresses hope that people will be able to walk away from the exhibit with a new perspective on body image and existing stigmas surrounding body types.

“Skin is beautiful,” Lindman said. “It is the thing that holds us together. There are beauty standards around skin and really what I’m trying to portray in this exhibit is that there is beauty in all skin types, marks, and colors.”

After she graduates from Washburn, Lindman aspires to earn her MFA so she can become a professor and teach at the collegiate level.

“Both my mom and grandma were teachers that graduated from Washburn’s education program, so I really was inspired by them to become a teacher as well,” Lindman said. “I love working with the students here and I think that teaching in college one day would just be a dream come true.”

Edited by: Kyle Manthe, Glorianna Noland