Pacific Index

Senior art major, Kiyanah Cooper, discusses her experience at Pacific and the process of creating her capstone

   As the cherry blossoms begin to emerge and the sun sets later, it is apparent that spring is in full swing. Though the days are warmer and the grass greener, it is unmistakable that the senior standing students at Pacific are nearing the end of their time here. Senior art major Kiyanah Cooper, is tying up the last loose strings for her capstone project. “My capstone is a visual story based on a short children’s tale I wrote,” says Cooper, noting that while she had struggled to come up with an idea that inspired her originally, she found true passionate for this project. “After writing the story and telling it to one of my advisors,” she explains, “they saw my passion and encouraged me to follow that path and now I’m super excited about my capstone.”

   “The process started off as a series of collages that were meant to portray a similar message to my final idea,” she says, though Cooper had to discard this earlier iteration due to the fact that the pieces were too disjointed to continue. While the project started out different, it morphed into a series that suits the themes extraordinarily well. “The final presentation will be a sort of wall collage of beaded or painted things mixed into the story.” Which she explains will add to the themes of the short story. “It is meant to be very childlike and it doesn’t need to fully make sense.”

   “My time at Pacific was very nice. I enjoyed my classes and the professors are nice to talk to,” Cooper reminisced. “I was in a sorority for a short time but I never really got into it. I’m a homebody 99 percent of the time.” However, Cooper mentions that she would never turn down a game of pool if it came up. 

   “After college I’d like to teach art for a few years while I work on a concert art portfolio,” Cooper explains, refraining from delving deeper into the inner workings of future projects.

While school and senior capstones are an integral aspect of life on campus, it’s just as important what students enjoy doing in their spare time. “I like gaming in my spare time and looking at concept art for games,” Cooper admits, also noting that she enjoys drawing, archery and roller skating. 

   Though Cooper is clear in her path now, it wasn’t always that way. “I declared late and missed some classes I should have taken which put me behind but didn’t hinder my graduation,” she shares, also noting that being afraid to talk to other professors in the field was a barrier. Cooper advises that, “Sometimes you just don’t get on with the teacher and changing the person you’re speaking to can really help you along.”