Venture into Dicke-Smith art gallery and you will see Danielle Trevino’s art hanging on the walls as part of the Senior Art Exhibition, “Eight Confessions.” Trevino’s artwork is a reflection of the end of four eventful years at Trinity.

Trevino, a communication and studio art double major, is completing two capstone projects this semester — projects that, while in different fields, share a lot of common ground with one another.

Trevino’s senior art exhibition explores the lapse of common ground and communication in today’s political discourse. “A Warning to 1796,” which features a message from George Washington about political parties, underlaid with colorful elephants and donkeys, conveys the irony of what some see as a hyperpartisan atmosphere. Her other piece, “How did we get here? How did we get here?” likewise uses images of a suited marionette to reflect upon current events.

“I really wanted to make some conversation starter pieces about our current political climate,” Trevino said.

For her communication major capstone, Trevino is creating a documentary that explores different facets of the San Antonio arts scene.

“I wanted to do a capstone topic that combined both of my academic interests, studio art and communication,” Trevino said. “I’m doing a documentary about public art in San Antonio and interviewing different people in the arts community around the city and finding and filming different mural site locations in San Antonio.”

Trevino has been part of TigerTV since her sophomore year and is now the station manager. She cites TigerTV as one of the main reasons she wanted to come to Trinity.

James Bynum, adviser for TigerTV and operations manager for the Department of Communication, said that Trevino showed a natural aptitude for the skills needed to manage TigerTV from the beginning.

“Danielle is the best of the best, and we definitely want students like her to be in charge of TigerTV,” Bynum said. “She’s been a great station manager this year — she has an innate ability to organize and most importantly, she wants her peers to succeed.”

Trevino was also the 2018–2019 co-captain of Orientation Team (O-Team) along with fellow seniors Mindy Tran and Sarosha Hermani.

Esther Kim, assistant director for Orientation Programs, said that Trevino has shown considerable growth in her leadership as a member of O-Team.

“As a member [of O-Team], Dani really stood out to me because she is really creative, hardworking, driven and cares a lot about our Trinity community and part of our O-Team’s mission is to provide a welcoming experience for students and their families,” Kim said. “As captain, she had a lot of responsibilities. During New Student Orientation, she helped with designs for our O-Team shirts and Team Trinity shirts, she helped with the transition hire of our previous O-Team as well as our graduate student intern, and she was just involved in the entire process from beginning to end.”

Another of Trevino’s accomplishments is founding Trinity Art Collective, a student organization with a focus on art and creativity, when she was a first-year; Kim recalls Trevino’s active engagement with Student Involvement to create this organization.

“Trinity Art Collective was a rejuvenated student organization that [Trevino] established as a first-year. She, as a first-year, was able to say that we have a need for students who are interested in art and art history to re-form this organization,” Kim said. “That was when I first saw her as a student leader but also as someone who cares about our community.”

For Trevino, the best thing about her student organization participation at Trinity —and Trinity in general — is the people she has met.

“I’ve been in so many organizations, I know a lot of people across all different grade levels and disciplines … The people are so entangled with with the memories, so it’s like I probably would have had a really different experience at Trinity without them,” Trevino said. “Like, what’s TigerTV without [TigerTV advisor] James Bynum? What’s TigerTV without X, Y and Z people involved in it?”

Over her four years at Trinity, Trevino has also gotten to know the seven other studio art majors who are exhibiting their pieces this semester. For Trevino and her peers, the Senior Art Exhibition is the culmination of four long years of artistic growth.

“Everything came full circle,” Trevino said. “I remember most of these people when we were all first-year art majors, and we all knew that we were going to do the senior exhibition one day, so it’s kind of amazing that we’re actually there now.”

After graduation, Trevino is working as the social content coordinator for Whataburger, where she hopes to utilize her art and communication knowledge to create graphics and increase the company’s brand recognition.

“When I went abroad, the two things I missed the most were H-E-B and Whataburger … It’s one of those companies that make me think of home, and it’s a good company to work with: the benefits are really good, they have low turnover, and it’s not a company that’s going to go out of business anytime soon,” Trevino said. “I’ll be creating in distributing our social content. It will be a lot of social media-based [work], lots of graphics, video content and photography, which I’m pretty well-versed in.”

Although Trevino will be busy with her new career, she plans to continue making art and volunteering with fellow creators in San Antonio.

“I’ve made a lot of connections through the documentary with people in the arts community,” Trevino said. “I’ve had a lot of internships and know a lot of people, so I look forward to continuing to volunteer and stay connected to the city.”