By DEKOTAH LEGO

Staff Writer

Graphic design major Sam Becker presented her senior capstone last Tuesday night, April 9, in the Smith Williams Art Studio’s gallery.

Entitled “Play,” Becker’s show displayed games from around the world. Becker said that she was “inspired by a Graphic Design 5 project.” 

She liked the outcome of that project and decided to pursue it in further depth and on a much larger scale. 

The exhibition showcased typical game instructions – the number of players the game calls for, the recommended age of the players, the materials needed to play the game, and of course the actual game rules, as well as what country the game is from. 

These game elements were represented on large panels with patterns Becker designed as backgrounds. 

During her speech at her opening, Becker said that the patterns stem from “clothing, colors and pretty much anything from that country” that she could work into a pattern and use for the game panels. 

Unlike a lot of art capstones, Becker’s was interactive. There were a handful of games in which Becker provided the materials to play.

One of the crowd’s favorites was the American game, “The Floor is Lava!” The poster included the game aspects and formalities, accompanied by a patriotic background based loosely off of the American flag. 

Many times throughout the night a student, an adult and even faculty members shouted “The floor is lava!” and released their inner child.

Freshman music therapy major Jessie Bee said: “Some of the games were silly, and some of the games were really similar to American games like the Korean game ‘Kai, Bai, Bo.’ It is pretty much the Korean version of ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors.’ 

“I really enjoyed her capstone, and the fact that it was so interactive.” 

Becker said: “The opening was a hectic feeling because of all the people that I had to talk to and explain things to. But it was so enjoyable. It was an accumulation of my whole semester so I was happy about it, too.” 

Her favorite part was getting to hold a show of her own in a gallery and being able to see all of her work hung there. 

Becker said that her experience “was stress-filled, but also memorable.”

After graduation, Becker is headed to Ennepetal, Germany for an internship. She will be interning for the German based company, DORMA.