The 62nd Annual Juried Student Art Show features a selection of artwork from UW-Eau Claire and UW-Eau Claire - Barron County. The show runs April 8 - 24 with a reception on Thursday, April 11, 6-7:30pm. Awards and scholarships to be presented during the reception.
Congratulations to this year's award winners:
1st (tie) Andrea Fischer, Fur-niture
1st (tie) Matthew Bergs, Portraits of Chemists Freund, Kishner, Villiger
2nd Samantha Mahoney, Desert Sky
3rd Jordon Munson, Checked Out
Honorable Mentions
Siri Stensberg, Corporeal Body
Kendall McGinnis, The Grind
Kaitlin Mattis, Chess Ewers
Mariah Hawley, Exposed Form
Juror’s Nod Award
Roy Cranson, Graphix
Posters Competition
1st Magnus Kittleson
2nd Roy Cranston
3rd Emma Reed
JURORS STATEMENT
I am honored to have served as Juror for the 2019 University of Wisconsin Eau Claire’s Foster Gallery Annual Juried Student Exhibition. I am thankful for all who supported me during the jurying process, both from afar and on UWEC’s campus.
While reflecting on the jurying process, I recalled my personal history as an art student, my current position as an arts educator and our nation’s current lack of support for higher education in the arts. I kept in mind that along with curating student art that a number of students would be recipients of monetary awards. Among my decided roles as juror, I drew the conclusion that I would certainly employ a discerning eye but that I would also include a wide range of visual expression to reveal the possibilities in making art.
I was a photography student in New York City when the exhibit Robert Mapplethorpe: The Perfect Moment triggered a national debate in the art world. The controversy that ensued around this exhibition greatly shaped the dialogue I shared with my peers and was catalytic to my understanding of making uncensored art.
Although arts educators and their students in both Kentucky, where I live, and Wisconsin, where I served as juror, currently reside and work within a landscape facing enormous cuts on the arts, I also can draw upon the positive aspect that due to vocal arts advocates who persisted, a larger public embraces the fact that debate is at the crux of education and tolerance. Freedom of expression lies within the inherent value of culture- that which not only enhances a healthy society but defines our personal, national and global identities.
The works I have selected to include in 2019 UWEC Foster Gallery Annual Juried Student Exhibition embrace challenging works of art that point to gender, race and social issues, but also include an equal range of representational, abstract, formal and conceptual artworks. It is good to know that UWEC makes student art available for the public to see, to judge, to appreciate and debate. Now is the time to fill University of Wisconsin Eau Claire’s art gallery with students, faculty and visitors. Ask hard questions, hold lively conversations, challenge one another and most importantly, celebrate! Creativity and Creative Economy are 21stcentury buzzwords. Make Foster Gallery in Haas Art Center buzz with activity.
Take risks. Be rebellious. Make art. It matters.
Mary Carothers
Professor of Art
Allen R. Hite Art Institute
University of Louisville
