Two new campus art exhibits opened this week
The crowd watches as winners of the Juried Student Show are announced at the RU Art Museum at 214 Tyler Ave.
Two free student art exhibits opened on campus during the first full week of February 2019. The first was the opening reception for “A New Expression,” a show featuring student printmaking works, particularly in the art of silk screening. The exhibit opened January 31, but the opening reception was held on February 4, 2019 at 4:00 p.m. in the Andrew W. Ross Student Art Gallery on the third floor of McConnell Library. The show was sponsored by the library and the Graduate Art Student Association. According to event organizers, the silk screening techniques used to create the featured artworks, “allow the artist to exploit many different approaches to image making including painting, drawing, photography and computer-based approaches using digital manipulation of hand drawn images and computer generated images.” Students used photo emulsion and positives to develop stencils used to create their original artwork. The exhibit will remain open to the public through March 6, 2019.
The Juried Student Show opened at 5:00 p.m. on February 4, 2019 at the Radford University Art Museum on Tyler Avenue. The exhibit featured over twenty original pieces of student work and was judged by jeweler Ken Bova, who teaches in the metal design program at Eastern Carolina University. An impressive and diverse selection of painting, drawing, photography, mixed media and sculptured works created by Radford University students were on display.
Prior to announcing the winners, Bova described his process for selecting his top picks, stating that he looks for works that have an "essence that causes me to return to the piece to look again; be it a detail, attention to shape, a color, or a material choice that speaks to the nature of the maker and provides a unique view."
The Juried Student Show awarded over $1500 in prize money for winning entries. The full list of winners follows:
- Art Museum Purchase Award ($300) Kirsten Sadler • "Still Life with Coal and Canary Cloth"
- Graduate Award of Excellence ($200) Melissa Schappell • "Dirty Thirty"
- Undergraduate Award of Excellence ($200) Dalon Hall • "Sorry I Asked"
- Graduate Award of Distinction ($100) Pamela Watkins • "Apple Tree"
- Graduate Award of Distinction ($100) Lodema Miller • "Between the Rocks"
- Undergraduate Award of Distinction ($100) Becky Rais • "Nostalgia"
- Undergraduate Award of Distinction ($100) Hannah Greene • "Scooter Toulouse"
- Award of Merit ($75) Lam Tung Dinh • "Still Life"
- Award of Merit ($75) Riley Gordon • "Life Study"
- Award of Merit ($75) Sammi Dougherty • "Inclement Weather"
- Award of Merit ($75) Kaitlyn Houston • "Desperate Wonder"
- Award of Merit ($75) Adam Ferguson • "Captain"
- Award of Merit ($75) Emily Freudenberg • "Fungus Anthropomorphus"
- Award of Merit ($75) Alejandra Moral • "Drops"
- Award of Merit ($75) Holly Nuzzo • "Kai"
Both exhibits are free to the public and will remain open through March 6, 2019.
Kirsten Sadler's "Still Life with Coal and Canary Cloth" received the top monetary prize for the Juried Student Show; the Art Museum Purchase Award.