Apr 22, 2017 11:42 AM EDT By Anne Collins, UniversityHerald Reporter

The University of Illinois' School of Art + Design grad students show off their master pieces. Their designs are on display through Saturday as part of the university's annual exhibition at the Krannert Art Museum. With a little bit of everything up-to-date, the exhibit includes sustainable art from a variety of artists.

The young artists showed a variety in inspirations. Rachel Flood Heaton grew up in Champaign-Urbana and earned her bachelor's degree in electrical engineering at the University of Illinois. After a decade she returned to the university to study industrial design. Heaton said her designs are art that "will endure" and can have a significant impact on improving everyday experiences.

Another artist, Qing He said graphic design is a way to find answers and communicate with the outside world, Fox 2 Now reported. Qing He is originally from China and said she found that graphic design shaped who she was. She added that it also allows divers approaches for visual communication to help a person discover different visual languages.

The News-Gazette reported that Qing He's design is a mobile app that teaches young girls positive attitudes about body images. Using a prototype, she tested the app on girls ages 5-8 years old and was able to get a positive design from observing them playing with the app.

Karen J. Spiering, from rural Wyoming, has lived all over the country to find inspiration in nature. She also shared her creative design where she used materials from locations where she was working.

She began to use found materials from different locations. She used local pigments to mix her paint and then eventually used seeds and soils. All her materials are influenced by walks on the south edge of Champaign and north Savoy.  Spiering said some of her materials were influenced by a local river, the upper reaches of Embarras River,  a cultural landmark cemetery and prairies.

Other exhibiting artists and designers were Caitlin Skelcey, Aileen Bai, Austin Chen, Ben Cook, Courtney Cross, Evin Dubois, Jon Gott, Brett Hanover, Brit Krohmer, Sue Kay Lee, and Si-ze Ma.

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