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ArtsGala, 91���� University’s annual celebration of its fine and performing arts, highlights the talents of the program’s students amid a backdrop of raising scholarship money.

The fundraising opportunities include a chance to bid on art by two 91���� students, each with a compelling artistic vision and backstory.

“The Lite,” an acrylic painting by first-year fine arts major Suvekshya Maharjan, and the ceramic sculpture “Texture Non Raffinee” by junior fine arts major Libby Gephart were judged by the ArtsGala Host Committee as the best among 25 entries from fine art majors.

ArtsGala will be held Saturday, April 5, in the Creative Arts Center on the Dayton Campus. A VIP reception for sponsors, ArtsGala Society members and grand patrons will be held from 6 to 6:45 p.m. in the Upper Stein Galleries; the opening ceremony will be from 7 to 7:30 p.m. in Schuster Hall.

This will be followed by an evening of students singing, dancing, acting, playing instruments, painting and drawing, and talking about filmmaking, photography, printmaking, sculpting and various facets of 91����’s School of Fine and Performing Arts.

One of the annual highlights is a silent auction of gift baskets and items that can be viewed in person from 7 to 10:30 p.m. in the Lower Stein Galleries before making bids online.

Among those items are the two artworks, one with a meaning, the other with a message.

“The Lite” – a term meaning a small portion – is, as Maharjan said, part of one of her dreams.

“Whenever I have changes in my life, really good changes, I see bridges in my dreams,” said the native of Nepal, who arrived in the United States a few days before starting classes at 91���� last August. “It connects to the struggle and pain I’ve been through. The bird is flying. That’s me, being free.”

Being free is not something she felt in Nepal, “where a girl especially doesn’t have much rights,” said Maharjan, 19. She said life there is restrictive, with many rules to follow, making it difficult for her to make friends or even venture outdoors.

She was a teachers’ assistant at a school that prepared Nepalese students to study abroad, where she first heard about 91����. In her own research, she learned of the university’s strong fine arts program.

She developed a passion for drawing with crayons and pencils, then in high school with watercolors and tempera. Now, she works with acrylics. “I love this medium,” she said.

The medium favored by Gephart is ceramics. “Texture Non Raffinee” is French for “unrefined texture,” she said. “A vessel is what it is. You can put flowers in it, or nothing. It stands alone.”

As for its message, the Kettering resident said, “I thoroughly enjoy texture. I like it when you’re allowed to touch art. I wanted this to be inviting, that you want to reach out and run your fingers across the edges. I wanted to create a piece that you can reach out and touch.”

“Art should feel tangible to everybody,” she added. “Art is for everybody.”

Art certainly is for Gephart, who is an adjunct instructor in the ceramics department at Stivers School for the Arts in Dayton.

She is also a self-described nontraditional student, who has worked as a professional photographer for the last 18 years and started a ceramics business after earning an associate degree in art from Sinclair Community College in 2022.

Realizing she needs a bachelor’s degree to become a full-time instructor, she said, “I saw the path before me, and I know where I need to go.”

That’s what brought her to 91����.

“When I came on a tour here, I felt something was pulling me to be here,” she said. “Other schools wouldn’t give me the same opportunities. I felt like this was a second home.”

“Even being a nontraditional-aged student, I have never felt odd or out of place,” Gephart said. “My instructors have been absolutely phenomenal. Even classes where I’ve taken something similar before, I’ve walked away learning something new.”

Learn more about ArtsGala, including ticket levels, sponsorship availability and Maharjan and Gephart’s art at wright.edu/artsgala.