Students interested in a different type of art should be thrilled when artist Crystal Wagner's exhibition opens in the Rosemary Berkel and Harry L. Crisp II Museum at the Southeast Missouri State University's River Campus.

Wagner, born in Baltimore, Maryland, started painting at the age of 4 and knew immediately that she wanted to be an artist.

While she was in kindergarten, one of her teachers advised her parents that she had a gift for the arts.

"We have an idea of what we want to be when we grow up, and for some people it takes them a really long time to figure that out," Wagner said. "But I knew the minute I put a pencil to a piece of paper that art was the language I wanted to speak for the rest of my life."

Wagner's father remodeled her room by pulling up the carpet and installing tile floors and art shelves for her to do work on, and the rest is history.

Wagner went on to earn her associate degree in fine art at Keystone College in La Plume, Pennsylvania, bachelor's degree at the Atlanta College of Arts in Atlanta, Georgia, and master's degree at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. She was hired as an art professor at Georgia College in Milledgeville, Georgia. She recently resigned from her position as a professor because of the time constraints of producing and showing her artwork.

Wagner creates installation art and described it as being a part of the space in a room, and she uses the room as her canvas. Most of the time this artwork is three-dimensional.

Wagner doesn't go into any project with any idea of what she will create. She builds these art structures on site, and it normally takes about two weeks for her to complete. Materials used in this process includes everything from birthday tablecloths and paper to pipe cleaners and more.

Wagner said using these easy-to-find materials amazes people who visit the completed work.

"They're not high on the totem pole of what art materials are, but what it does have the capacity to do when it's situated in an environment where it's massive, it has the same ability to evoke the same sense of wonder and exploration in the viewer," Wagner said.

The art exhibition is entitled "Immersion," and Wagner said it will be named this because it tells exactly what the exhibit will be about.

"When we are immersed in something, you lose yourself in the environment, so it's a sense of letting go of what you've known that space to be before," Wagner said.

Peter Nguyen, the director of Crisp Museum, said that bringing Wagner's artwork to campus will show something that's not often seen at the museum.

"This is something that our art department doesn't currently have or have artists that do a lot of installation, so since we haven't had someone do a large scale installation in our exhibitions gallery, this was a way for us to showcase her work and as well provide this to the university and the community," Nguyen said.

Even though students are not required to help Wagner with her work, a few students reached out a hand as soon as she arrived on campus. One of these students was Katherine Miller, a senior in the art department who said that it has been "amazing" getting the opportunity to work with Wagner.

"Crystal just has this fabulous energy that's so big and she just loves making art, which rubs off on the students," Miller said. "I feel more excited to make stuff around her. I'm not even making my own work, but I just feel so pumped to work on her work because she is so excited about it."

Miller also feels as if this is a great opportunity for students to see an artist start from scratch and end with a masterpiece.

"It's really good for students to be able to see not just the work, but to see her making the work because what she's doing is not something that a lot of lower-level students could do because it's so big," Miller said. "But it's cool to see what printmaking can be on a grand scale and gives students something to work for."

Crystal Wagner's "Immersion," will be on display in the Rosemary Berkel and Harry L. Crisp II Museum from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Nov. 7 for the opening reception.

Following the reception, the exhibition will be available to view during regular business hours in the museum until Jan. 25. The exhibition is free for students and the general public.