UNCW’s Studio Art Faculty Biennial opened Thursday, Jan. 12, giving visitors a view into the creative process and creations of some of the university’s studio art faculty. The sixteen exhibiting artists display artworks pondering personal themes as well as global ones in a multitude of different artistic mediums including quilting, metalsmithing, painting, photography and ceramics.

Twelve graduating senior Studio Art majors debuted their artworks at the opening reception for the Senior Art Exhibition on Nov. 18. As a graduation requirement for majors, many of the included artists used this show to ponder themes of personal trauma, forgiveness and capturing moments in time. Multiple exhibiting artists expressed interest in the female body that, in part, relates to recent political events that impact women’s bodily autonomy. This striking show is now on public view at the CAB Gallery until Dec. 14, the end of the semester.

Is it that art is meant to last, or that art is meant to have a lasting impression? For Kathryn Baczeski, a visual artist, the latter is at the heart of her artist practice and is exemplified in her ephemeral installation, “Subtropical Wrecks,” now on view at the CAB Gallery until Nov. 11. On Oct. 27, a couple of weeks after the soft opening of the show, Baczeski hosted a public reception and Artist Talk where she discussed the evolution of her artistic practice. In this show, Baczeski transports the natural world into the gallery space using organic, locally sourced material.

Touching the art in an art gallery is generally discouraged, but this was fully reversed Thursday night at the opening of the Cultural Art Department’s latest gallery dedicated to zines. Zines, a...