Bella Szabo was nominated by her peers to be an exhibition coordinator for an art show hosted by Catapult Creative House located on Broadway St. in downtown Cape Girardeau Nov. 20.

Szabo is a senior at Southeast pursuing a fine arts degree. In high school, doodling in her notebook was not her thing. Szabo preferred 3D types of art and getting her hands dirty in clay. She said she knew by the time she graduated high school that ceramics was “where I wanted to be.”

Although ceramics is her main medium, she has experience in several others including printmaking, bookmaking and painting. Szabo wants to open up her own ceramics studio and said her experience coordinating the student exhibition will give her the knowledge and experience to get one step closer to her dream.

Szabo said she gets some of her inspiration from Japanese and Chinese pottery, and sometimes contemporary pottery, as well.

“I really love ancient Greek pottery, and Islamic art is so so beautiful,” she said. “Getting on the pottery wheel is really therapeutic for me...so Zen, like I just love the whole process.”

Szabo and her classmates will all have pieces in the show. Szabo will have two of her own pieces in the art show. Her canteen she is displaying took her approximately one month to complete because of the detail and process.

The art show is open to the public. COVID-19 precautions will be implemented for the show: roughly 15 people will be allowed inside at one time, maintaining social distancing protocols. If anyone feels uncomfortable seeing the show in person, Szabo said she will provide a Zoom link while artists speak about their pieces in the show.

“We have a lot of different mediums, and it's really great for people to come and see,” Szabo said. “So I think it's really important for people to see contemporary art that's going on right now. Student artwork is so crazy because nobody knows what they're doing; they're just really experimenting.”

Szabo shared a few tips for up-and-coming artists. She believes it is important for artists just starting out to put themselves out there and go to every event you can.

“I'm really excited that I get to help put on an entire show,” she said. “Being able to see an entire art show at the end of it knowing that I was one of the ones who helped put this whole thing on is so satisfying because I've never been able to do anything like this before.”

Szabo said any upcoming artists can contact her at isszabo1s@semo.edu with questions.