MONMOUTH, Ill. — An exhibition featuring the works of four Monmouth College senior art majors will be on display March 24 through April 6 in the Len G. Everett Gallery in Hewes Library. A reception for the artists will be held in the gallery on March 28 at 2 p.m. Both the exhibit and the reception are free and open to the public.

A longtime annual tradition, the exhibition is notable for its eclectic mix of artistic media and pieces. Because of the volume and complexity of the student artwork, the exhibition will be held in two different stages. The second phase of the exhibit, featuring the works of four other artists, will be on display April 14-27.

Featured in the first phase of the exhibition will be art by Greg Hitchcock, Brookfield; Martha Nergenah, Chapin; Tom Hill, Chicago; and Kevin Schnell, Opheim.

Hitchcock, who admits his art is “very opinionated,” will display a mix of graphic design and sculpture in a setting that allows for audience interaction. On a collection of six-inch cubes – each cube representing an issue or an idea – Hitchcock has graphically portrayed differing aspects of that issue. Viewers can pick up the cubes and study what he has offered as arguments in these issues.

Nergenah, too, has incorporated graphic design in what she will display, as well as some of her black-and-white photography. Executed on a series of 12-month calendars her designs provide viewers with various representations of grids, lines, boxes and colors. In addition, Nergenah, whose family owns and operates a hog farm, will display some of her photography portraying country themes and landscapes – “scenes that one would normally walk right by and perhaps never pay attention to,” she said.

Hill terms his unorthodix creations “life castings.” The artist, who replicates actual body figures in ceramic, says he incorporates a window in what he describes as “an effort to involve the audience by asking them to look further into the art, or even to choose whether they want to look further.”

Schnell’s works in ceramics, metal and painting embody the themes of existentialism and what he refers to as “creation narratives that involve a universal spiritualism.” His sculptures are created with an “archaeological feel to them. That is, they give the impression they have recently been unearthed.”

The Everett Gallery is open Mondays through Thursdays, 8 a.m. to midnight; Fridays, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sundays, noon to midnight.