Creative Work

Sarah Gnagey

Girl with a [Fake] Pearl Earring, 2026

Spray paint on canvas

Girl With a [Fake] Pearl Earring is a recreation of Johannes Vermeer's 'Girl with a Pearl Earring’ from 1665 in the Golden Age. The piece was made using spray paint, a typical lowbrow art medium due to street graffiti’s accessibility and stigma surrounding gangs and crime after crackdowns in the 1990s. To recreate a widely recognizable fine art piece in this lowbrow medium is to show how all art forms are valid and require attention to detail and creativity.

Aurora Megna

I’m So Tired, 2026

Spray Paint, paint markers

I'm So Tired is painting that I created using spray paint and paint markers. I was inspired by the song “I’m So Tired” by the Beatles, centered on the loss of a love and inability to sleep. Spray paint is a method of art that is considered to be low art, frowned upon and considered dirty. However with the public seeing it in their everyday lives, it offers a wonderful opportunity to share a unique message. With my piece, I wanted to feature graffiti's ability to showcase an author's voice.

Cameron Lee

Graffiti on Campus, 2026

Digital photography, glossy print

Graffiti on Campus is a collection of five printed digital photographs that document the controversial lowbrow art form of graffiti on and around the University of Maryland campus. Graffiti, defined as "usually unauthorized markings on a public surface," has existed as a prominent medium in pedestrian art for decades, yet its illegality has largely prevented its widespread mainstream respect. Carefully spattered on trash cans, dumpsters, fences, and sign posts, graffiti communicates magnitudes, but remains hidden in plain sight.

Ella Bierly

Spider-Man Fanart, 2026

Pencil, pen, ink

Many people don't consider fanart a "classic" or "high" form of art because fanart is usually a depiction of other well-known content instead of its own separate entity. Fanart is often considered a low art because of its accessibility for viewing and creating, high amounts of content, and the wide range of mediums associated with it. Digital fanart is the most common medium because of the popularity associated with sharing online. Sadly, the presence of AI imaging has further devalued this art form because people assume the creation of digital art and fanart is easy and can be created as quickly as AI images. Spider-Man Fanart aims to combat these assumptions by sharing the various layers and levels of skill that go into creating a simple fanart.

Samantha Cuneo

Love Actually is All Around, 2026

Paper, written materials

"Love Actually is All Around" is a collage drawn with many sustainable materials such a pens, colored pencils, and markers. This lowbrow art piece works to show that art doesn't have to be done with high skill or be extravagant to be valued. It also touches on the poster medium that we worked with; with intents to spread a message to a large audience. It inspires people to find love in their everyday lives, hobbies, and surroundings: love IS all around.

Annika Jamison

Overlooked, 2026

Digital Camera

Overlooked is a collage of photographs that focuses on the beauty in the mundane artforms that we see everyday and often ignore since they are not sophisticated or put on display. ‘Low Art’ is something that can be created and viewed by anyone, and is often not appreciated due to its accessibility and commonality. The patterns of mown grass or footprints impressed in sand, for example, are not typically viewed as art, or even noticed for more than a quick glance, but contain beauty in their simplicity. Being able to see the artistic value and beauty in less conventional forms can broaden your creative worldview, as well as provide new sources of inspiration and admiration.

Saiyan Livelsberger

Lowbrow Headbands, 2026

Yarn, Crochet Hook

These two headbands represent crochet as an low-brow art form through functionality and reproducibility. With crochet, a wide variety of products are able to be made, and I chose headbands because they highlight the utility of the medium, something that is typically absent from a traditionally higher form of art. They exist as a pair to highlight the ability of crochet to quickly replicate and reproduce works, another factor associated with low-brow art. Additionally, the pattern for the headbands was found on YouTube, emphasizing the accessibility of the art form to the general public.

Grace Pak

Two Birds in Bloom, 2026

Acrylic and Marker on Canvas

Due to the Two Birds in Bloom’s straightforward outlines and flat contours, the piece has a connection to lowbrow art. It shows the reality in favor of a simple, somewhat stencil-like appearance that is easily identifiable and generally available. Rather than being associated with conventional fine art settings, this style is frequently associated with craft-based art and daily design. The painting challenges the notion that art must be intricate or highly detailed in order to have an emotional impact by expressing an idea in a manner that is frequently perceived as casual or commercial. It demonstrates how even basic, well-known images may convey meaning and connection.

Ava Re

The Gardeners Daughter, 2026

Canvas, spray paint, oil pastel

The Gardeners Daughter is a take on Mother Nature looking upward while being rooted in Earth. The cross at the center reflects John 15:1-8, the idea that God removes what harms, prunes what can grow, and remains within all living things. The Gardeners Daughter symbolized the connection of nature toward the one who shapes, guides, and sustains it. The work is made with low-art principles: a spray-painted background and oil pastels that are only blended using hands, and no extra materials. Using basic and accessible tools reinforces the idea of meaningful art can come from simple methods that anyone can use.

Finn Roche

Titled, 2026

Digital Media

Titled embodies a key niche of art that is commonly disregarded or otherwise deemed as "low art": graphic design. Posters/prints are so widely accessible to the public that the artistry involved in digital media is overlooked. This piece highlights these aspects of the medium that go unnoticed to most viewers, such as texture/color selection and typography. By depicting the techniques and attention to composition required when creating digital media, Titled dismantles its reputation as a low form of art and the notion of low art as a whole.

Gabriella Santana

Beauty is Everywhere, 2026

Water colors, Marker, Oil Pastel, and Soft Pastel

Beauty is Everywhere is inspired by photographs taken by myself over the course of the semester. I took these photographs every time i've looked at nature and took it was a moment to appreciate the little things the world has to offer and be happy to be alive. This piece shows a brick wall encourages the viewer to step through and see the beauty the world has to offer through the art of nature. This relates to mundane art since it just exists in nature but it takes a keen eye to see the beauty in the mundane.

Elizabeth Stubleski

Beauty in the Pond, 2026

Digital design medium

Digital art is widely considered a form of low art due to its accessibility and it being seen as "cheating" to some. Beauty in the Pond takes inspiration from pieces like The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli and The Triumph of Galatea by Raphael, which are considered high art pieces, which then were used in a low art form. The outcome of this piece is to showcase how digital art, while widely being considered a low form of art, is able to produce pieces with just as much value as those considered high.

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