The School of Art, Design and Art History will host its annual student art show from Dec. 1-10, giving students a chance to showcase artwork they have completed in the past year. The juried exhibition features 79 pieces from paintings, ceramics, photographs, animations and more.
Each category has its own award, in addition to the Best of Show award and President’s Award, where artwork is chosen to hang at the University House until the spring. Awards will be given out at the reception on Dec. 5 from 5-7 p.m. at the Phebe Conley Art Gallery on campus.
Michelle Goans, the gallery technician, said the art show is a long-running tradition she looks forward to as it showcases a wide range of abilities and talent across all art forms.
In addition, she believes the art show is a great learning experience for students that teaches them how to submit artworks, follow guidelines for shows and how to handle rejection when their art pieces are not chosen.
“If students get into the show, they get the opportunity to have their work displayed and that’s a great experience,” Goans said. “But if they don’t, they get the experience of rejection, which is really important for artists to learn because for every show they get into, there’s probably going to be five to 10 they didn’t get into. That’s just part of being an artist.”
This year, over 235 submissions were received, with the final 79 pieces selected by jurors Tracy Carrera, painting professor at Reedley College and Garrett Masterson, a local ceramicist. Both spent hours reviewing the artworks and had the difficult task of choosing which to include.
With new jurors each year, Goans always encourages students to submit their artwork because new jurors means a different jury process and different results for each show. She believes this approach teaches students about perseverance and hard work leading to success.
Joanna Zapien, an arts major with an emphasis in drawing and painting, submitted three artworks but only one was chosen for display. Her oil painting titled “Girl with a Dog” is a portrait of her sister and her dog, as a personal twist on Leonardo da Vinci’s “Lady with an Irmine.”
Zapien did not intend to submit the piece, since it was just an assignment for her advanced painting class. However after consistently hearing about the art show, she submitted her work just to see if anything was chosen.
About her painting, she said she is excited it was chosen considering it was her first time ever painting an animal and is happy with the turnout. Zapien estimates the piece took her roughly 30 hours to complete.
From helping Goans set up the exhibition to having her artwork featured, Zapien said she has been able to learn more about the gallery technician process, view artworks in depth and take inspiration from others featured in the show.
“I’ve been able to see how artworks from different artists come together, even if they are not of the same medium,” Zapien said. “And I get inspiration from that because there’s some artwork in there that I wouldn’t have thought of doing. Now I’m like, oh I want to try and do something like that.”
Gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Entry is free and open to the public. Guest parking is $5. A campus map can be found here.
Goans encourages students of all majors to check out the show as this is an opportunity for them to support their peers and get comfortable going into gallery spaces, which she believes can be intimidating for some.