Artwork by two graduate students in the art education program at UNC Pembroke is on display at the A.D. Gallery.

“Listening With Your Eyes,” a capstone exhibition of paintings and prints by Allison Ellis and Taylor Styles, will be on display through October 21. A reception will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on October 21.

Ellis, a UNCP alumna, is an elementary art teacher in Columbus County. Creating art has always been her passion. Expressing herself through art is therapeutic for her. Her method of choice is printmaking, particularly relief printing.

For Ellis, the art-making process involves more than just printmaking. It uses art inquiry from resources, inspirations, prior knowledge and research to build her creativity. Symbolism, surrealism and formal elements play a significant role in how she expresses herself through non-typical self-portraits.   

Styles, a graduate of Berea College, teaches high school art at Charlotte and Mecklenburg schools. Upon graduation, she hopes to continue her practice as an art educator and develop her career as an established artist. Since childhood, Styles has struggled with reading, writing and the traditional academic approach to education. She has always found comfort in the creation process as it did not involve using words or writing.

She has been diagnosed with dyslexia, ADHD and generalized anxiety disorder at various times. These learning differences (LDs) have created an emotional cycle of rapidly changing feelings. In her work, Styles uses colors, silhouettes and symbols to capture the emotions and feelings of anger, shame, persistence, rebellion, depression and anxiety. Through her work, she hopes to bring awareness to what it is like to live with LDs.

Ellis and Styles are set to graduate in December.