Exhibition showcases students’ creativity
The winner of the art exhibition will receive a monetary reward of $200.
Published March 4, 2008
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The George Caleb Bingham Gallery is hosting the 15th annual 'Women in the Arts' exhibit. The gallery, which features women artists from MU and the surrounding area, will host its opening reception Thursday.
Students in MU’s art department will have the chance to submit their work and win monetary awards in a juried art competition this week.Their work is on display in the Undergraduate Juried Art Excellence Exhibition, held annually in Caleb Bingham Gallery.
“The gallery provides a professional experience to all of our undergraduate students,” gallery director Jo Stealey said. “Through the gallery, students learn how to apply for an exhibition and what to expect if they are accepted. Their professors help them prepare for the real world of art, making sure this exhibit is modeled after the professionals.”
The exhibit, which is open only to students in the art department, allows for any artistic medium to be accepted, according to the department Web site.
Currently there are submissions from the various department programs, including paintings, drawings, ceramics, fibers, photography, printmaking, graphic design and sculptures.
Announcements were sent out to the faculty weeks in advance to prepare the students for the exhibit, Stealey said.
Professors then ask students to submit their work using forms found on the department’s Web site.
“We also send out a press release to all of the media throughout the community,” Stealey said.
She said the department does not have a budget specifically made for advertising.
The exhibition relies on community press, the gallery’s Web site and word-of-mouth by the art students.
Each year the art department chooses a juror from a small honorarium who is often an MU professor.
Last year, it was Michael Sleadd, an assistant art professor at Columbia College.
This year’s juror is Greig Thompson, an artist and independent curator who lives north of Columbia.
According to the Bingham Gallery Web site, Thompson is currently working with the State Historical Society of Missouri, providing collection care and exhibition design.
He has already chosen the winner, who will receive $200 during the reception on Thursday.
“I look for a piece that illustrates that the creator knew and was sensitive to the materials,” Thompson said. “The work has to be based on an idea. I try to choose the winners based on the individual value of the art, not if I prefer one media to another.”
The winning piece will be printed on postcards, which will be used to advertise the exhibit in 2009, Stealey said.
MU professor Jerry Berneche and his wife, Joanne, donated the money that will be awarded to the chosen winners, according to the department Web site.
Thompson said this is one of the best looking undergraduate exhibitions in years.
“I was quite impressed with the quality,” Thompson said. “The majority of the pieces submitted by the students were selected for the gallery.”
MU resident art instructor Mark Langeneckert, who teaches courses in illustration and drawing, and Stealey were responsible for setting up the layout of the gallery, which is not determined by talent but how the pieces look when next to one another.
“If you have a delicate, soft pencil drawing next to a bright, pop art image, then the pencil drawing is going to be lost,” Langeneckert said.
The exhibit runs from Monday, March 3, to Thursday, March 13.
The reception is to be held on Thursday from 4 to 6 p.m. and is open to the public.
The award ceremony will be held at 5 p.m. that night.
The Caleb Bingham Gallery is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
