The Student Art Exhibit enters its 36th year with guest juror Frank McCauley. The School of Visual and Performing Arts in conjunction with the I.P. Stanback Museum is pleased to exhibit the hard work of our student body April 22nd-May15th.
Frank McCauley, Assistant Director and Curator at the Sumter County Gallery of Art, says, “I consider it an honor and privilege to have been asked to select work for this year’s South Carolina State University Student Art Exhibition. Both the high quality of the pieces submitted to the show, and the large number of works, made my task difficult, but at the same time enjoyable. These exceptional works demonstrate a high level of quality and ambition.
As is true of most juried exhibitions, the styles and themes of the works on display in this year’s Student Art Exhibition run the gamut. However, what seems to unite them all, in my opinion is a sense of sincere engagement with the world we live in today. Some artists seem to be responding to the political and social issues of our times, others look to the body and how it is represented through history or mass media, and still others delve into the realm of abstraction as a way of expressing emotion and meaning. Many address these issues directly, while others veil their works in fantasy, fiction, or historical reference. Together, these works speak volumes about who we are as a society and culture. “
Garnering special recognition from our guest juror were several works of art. 2009’s Best of Show award was given to Janson Bell, Wesley Coleman, Kendrick Clark for the photographic documentation of their live performance Drench. Harriett Hilton’s Jangled received an award for Best Drawing. Tiziana Collins ran away with the prize for Best Sculpture with her steel wire construction Shapely Shoe and David McLeod’s Pain of My Twin captured with Best Ceramic. Mayan Pride by Tawana Marie Jenkinsn (Rasta) won in the Best Printmaking category and Micah Brown’s enigmatic pinhole photo Frosty the Snowman froze out the competition in the Best Photography category. Pixels were prized with Avery Brown’s digital illustration Me and my Bass Guitar receiving Best Digital Print and Kristian James’s video A Truly Messed Up World for Best New Media. Congratulations!
