From a young age, Elise Shulick-Richards found joy and inspiration in art. Now as a senior Art Education major at Michigan State University, her work appears in the 2025 College Invitational Exhibition, a national juried exhibition that runs through Sunday, May 25, at the Indy Art Center in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The 2025 College Invitational Exhibition is where student art “meets the national stage,” offering a diverse and expansive collection of artworks created by students from more than 25 universities across 20 different states.
“I am so excited that my work was invited to be at the 2025 College Invitational,” Shulick said. “This opportunity has given me a chance to not only feel proud of the work I created but to also know that I am creating something that other people may find interesting.”
The artwork created by Shulick-Richards, titled “My Comfort,” is a mixed media piece created with wood, clear film print, and acrylic paint. This moving and evocative piece was meticulously crafted in memory of Shulick-Richards’ grandparents’ home, a vibrant yellow house with a distinctive red door that once stood on Comfort Street. The installation ties together themes of memory, loss, family, and legacy with every detail, from the shade of yellow to the furniture and design elements inside the house, being significant in terms of the history of the house and the memory Shulick-Richards has of it.
“This opportunity has given me a chance to not only feel proud of the work I created but to also know that I am creating something that other people may find interesting.”
“The house is a representation of my memory, the tangibility of life, and the things that we leave behind,” Shulick-Richards said. “It is also a way to preserve my own identity.”
The idea for “My Comfort” originated from the Michigan State University course, Installation and Expanded Media (STA351), taught by Xia Gao, Associate Professor in the Department of Art, Art History, and Design, whose influence on Shulick was encouraging and instrumental.
“Professor Xia Gao really highlighted my strengths in the installation class I took with her,” said Shulick-Richards, whose creative process required her to carefully revisit her memories and decide which aspects to highlight. She drew inspiration from her grandmother, an avid collector who filled her home with unique items that vividly remained in Shulick-Richards’ mind long after the physical house was gone.
Constructing “My Comfort” was an intricate and deeply empathetic process. Shulick-Richards hand-built and painted each piece, intentionally mirroring her grandfather’s approach when he built the home decades prior.
“Hand building, hand painting, creating the blueprints, and watching it come alive by returning to the same mindset my grandfather had while building his own home,” Shulick-Richards said. “Imitating his mindset in the sense that ‘My Comfort’ is the ritual of celebrating and protecting family.”
“After losing my family members and then the house, it’s been an emotional whirlwind of feeling connected to them and finding myself,” she said.
Shulick-Richards hopes that viewers of “My Comfort,” even without direct connections to the specifics of her narrative, resonate with the universal themes of nostalgia and familial legacy.
“Viewers should feel a sense of appreciation for their family and the intense influence that they have on their life,” she said.
Having her artwork selected for the national exhibition has been an affirming experience for Shulick-Richards, who also had two other pieces she created selected for MSU’s 2025 Undergraduate Art Exhibition.
She manages to balance her demanding academic schedule with motherhood.
“Although I am still establishing my creative process and artistic style,” she said, “this time in my life is really inspired by my daughter and where I’m at in the journey of motherhood.”
“I have always been passionate about creating art and strive to be a lifelong learner. I like teaching and feel that when I am immersed with young creatives that will help keep me motivated and inspired to always be making something.”
Shulick-Richards’ decision to focus on Art Education as a major was a natural extension of her passion for art and interest in teaching.
“I have always been passionate about creating art and strive to be a lifelong learner,” she said. “I like teaching and feel that when I am immersed with young creatives that will help keep me motivated and inspired to always be making something.”
Shulick-Richards plans to graduate with a BFA in Art Education in 2026 and would like to enroll in a graduate program so she can “establish a more concentrated practice as an artist.”
By Austin Curtis and Kim Popiolek
