The Annual Student Art Exhibition’s opening reception was held last night in the Fine Art Gallery in the Art/Music building. It was a juried art show, in which many artists submit their work and then one juror selects the best pieces to be in the show, said Caroline Peters gallery director and associate art professor.
The art club has a juried art show every year, and this year they chose Jessica Hunter-Larsen. Hunter-Larsen is curator at Coburn Gallery, Colorado College. The way she selected the pieces was different this year than how it has been done in previous years, Peters said.
Hunter-Larsen was more interested in bodies of art work and that it had a strong voice and she looked for a variety of media, Peters said. She was also concerned with the overall exhibition and how people will experience it. It’s about individual pieces that make up a story, the artwork makes up a sentence, Peters said.
“If you go into the show, you’ll see it really flow,” Peters said. And that results from Hunter-Larsen’s type of thinking.
Hunter-Larsen set up the show into little groups: one is the confined figure group, in which things are like confined in something; another is the mysterious images group, where images can be anything; and another is the urban funk aesthetic group, in which the images are rawer, rougher, Peters said.
A lot of times with juried art shows, there will be a theme picked out before the show, and the artists will have to make their work fit that theme, Peters said. Here, she drew themes from the existing artwork. All juried art shows involve a lot of submitting and one juror putting their vision on it, Peters said.
All of the work submitted for the show was from CSU-Pueblo students, although not all were from the art department, Peters said.
During the opening reception last night, awards were given out, one special award was the People’s Choice Award, Peters said. This award was chosen by people who went to the show last night and picked their favorite piece.
“I think it makes the show more interesting when people have a say, when people feel like their opinion matters,” Peters said.
The winner of the People’s Choice Award was Emily Karnes and she dressed up last night in her Venti suite and gave a performance. She wore her Venti suite last semester and it made the show more interesting, Peters said. The suite is inspired by Japanese theatre and covers everything up, like a huge panda, Peters said.
Other winners included: for Best of Show, Justin Reddick; First Place, John O. Young; Second Place, Emily Karnes; Third Place, Greg Luster; Honorable Mention 1, Anthony Monteleone; Honorable Mention 2, Gabriel Wolff; Honorable Mention 3, Karen Cobb.
Another special award was the Mixed Media award, sponsored by retired Art Professor Ed Sajbel, Peters said. This award was given to Brad Irving.
Apart from the honor of winning their individual prizes, cash prizes were also involved, with the Best of Show prize being $250, Peters said.
The opening reception lasted for about two hours and there were lots of people and it was lots of fun, Peters said.
“Sometimes we’re a little estranged over here, our department; we’re almost like on the edge of the cliff. So it’s fun to get people to come here,” Peters said.
