Artists are as unique as the very work they create. That’s why this coming spring, Hillsdale College art department looks to give the students a chance to showcase and present their work in the ninth annual Art Thematic Competition.
This year’s department picked theme will be “Stages of Life.” With this title as a guideline, students are free to interpret the meaning however they choose and let their imaginations run wild.
“We concentrate our classes so much on teaching people proper technique and craftsmanship in the course so that they can become artists, but this is kind of a way of allowing people to bring more of their personality into their work,” Art Department Chair Barbara Bushey said. “That’s why we started it.”
Along with the new theme for the year comes the new format for the competition. While in previous years all mediums were judged in bulk, this year, judges plan on splitting the entries into three media sections: drawings and paintings, photography and graphic design, and sculpture. The winner of each section will receive a cash prize of $1,000.
Students looking to enter the competition must be enrolled in a studio art class either currently or in the spring. All entries are due on April 15.
Art major senior Kinsey Devenport said she looks forward to working with the theme and seeing what she and other students can come up with.
“There are so many options with this theme,” Devenport said. “Whether it’s a stage of life or the various stages, it could be a series of images or even one powerful image. I’m wondering how the other competitors will take this subject and apply their own creativity as well as their own knowledge and create an image, painting, photograph, graphic design or sculpture that represents life.”
The professors in the art department will judge the competition. As a result, students are not allowed to consult the teachers for ideas for the show and will work completely independently.
“We wanted the production to be entirely on their own, because we meddle with their work in class all the time. So this is an opportunity for them to make whatever decisions they want to make – mistakes or glorious work – all on their own.”
“I think its important to push yourself as an artist to do private work and not just your class assignments,” Ahern said. “Competitions are unique opportunities that you don’t get all the time, so we should take advantage of them.”
Students are already looking for the unique twist and outlook that will spark the judges’ interest. Ahern said she looks to take a very different approach both in the interpretation of the theme as well as her use of glasswork for a medium.
“I have this picture in my head that I have tried to draw over and over again, but I can’t quite get it what I want it to be yet,” Ahern said.
Devenport said she plans on doing a photographic piece for the show to display but doesn’t want to give too much away.
“These competitions give us as student’s subject matter that we have to use our creativity to come up with something that we think would impress our professors,” Devenport said. “It makes it a more interesting competition knowing that the professors are going to be the ones to decide who wins. They are the ones who see our work constantly and we are forced to do something that they haven’t seen before.”
Bushey said she encourages everyone interested to enter the competition.
“It just seems to me that it would be foolish not to enter, because if you’re an artist you should be making art all the time, and when you hand it in even if you don’t win it’s not like we will just throw it out the window,” she said. “This is supposed to be a learning experience ultimately. So you have this opportunity to have our input, even if you didn’t win, to sort of get into the habit of trying to fulfill the requirements for a different theme and just seeing how good you are.”
