Hillsdale College’s art students will get a chance to show off the fruits of this semester’s work next week in the Juried Art Exhibit. Opening Dec. 4 in the Sage Center for the Arts Daughtry Gallery, the exhibit will feature student artwork from this semester’s studio courses.
The artwork will be divided into six media categories: drawing, sculpture, painting, photography, graphics, and master copies (students’ copies of artworks by “old masters”).
“The gallery is the showcase of the art department and its programs” said Sam Knecht, chairman of the art department. “It really serves to throw the spotlight on the students.”
The show is open to all art students, and each can submit as many pieces as they wish; however, each work must be presented according to the art department’s strict guidelines –– for example, paintings must be submitted with a proper frame. As with previous shows, the artwork will be for sale, but Knecht says that sales are not the focus of this exhibit.
The awards ceremony for the students entered in the exhibit will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 4 at 4 p.m. Since the show is juried, each piece on display will be judged for the awarding of prizes. The art department has set aside $600 in prize money for a first- and second-place winner in each media category.
“Students jury for awards through a ballot process,” explained Knecht. “Students enrolled in art studio classes get one vote for each studio class they are enrolled in currently.”
The art department faculty may also elect to choose a recipient of a Best In Show award. The juried format serves to encourage student participation and judgement of their classmate’s artwork. This juried show is held annually at the end of the fall semester to display the students’ work over the past season. A separate, non-juried show is held in the spring.
Sophomore Emily Dickinson has completed a master copy of a sketch by Georgia O’Keefe called “Banana Flower” for her Drawing 101 course with Professor Knecht.
“I’m excited and nervous at the same time,” said Dickinson. “I’m wondering what people will think of my work, since this is an entirely new experience for me.”
Although she doesn’t expect to win an award, Dickinson definitely took something away from her experience in an art course. “Since I’m not an art major, I’ve never taken an art class at Hillsdale before, and I was shocked at how hard the art majors have it,” Dickinson said. “There’s a lot of work they have to do for each course that most students don’t realize. It’s very time intensive.”
cmccaffery@hillsdale.edu
