For the past three weeks, students at The University of Memphis have been given the opportunity to view artistic exhibits such as a ten-foot-long tree truck piercing a solid blue wall or a halo of decaying Christmas tree branches stacked neatly to surround the bare tree it once covered.
On January 26th, The U of M art department unveiled its 19th Annual Juried Student Exhibition, which will continue to run until February 16th.
At the exhibition, U of M students are able to show off their best work from the past year, competing for the “Best in Show” award and collecting prizes including cash and gift certificates.
This year, judge Rene Paul Barilleaux, chief curator of the Mississippi Museum of Art, selected graduate student Leslie Snoke as the overall winner of the exhibition.
Snoke won both “Best of Show” awards for her log-through-a-wall piece, titled “Logjam,” and her painting “As the Crow Flies.”
Although Snoke has attended The U of M for only one semester, she said she was excited when she heard she had won both “Best of Show” awards.
“I was very surprised that I won,” Snoke said. “But it feels good to be recognized. I came up with the idea because I like to do a lot of things that are like illusions. Artistically, I am interested in things outside rather than inside.”
According to Lisa Francisco, assistant director of the Art Museum at The U of M, although not every submitted piece of work can win the competition or prize money, it is an accomplishment merely to be entered into the competition.
“By being selected into the show, they’ve already won,” Francisco said. “Not everyone’s work gets in. The judge is saying that the artist’s work is successful.”
Francisco stated that the only requirement for entering work in the show is that the artist must be a student who has taken an art class at The U of M over the past year. Once meeting this requirement, the artist is eligible to enter a maximum of two works.
“Entering their pieces in an art exhibit and juried competitions is something that artists do on a regular basis,” Francisco said. “The students here are fortunate because they don’t have to pay a processing fee to enter their work.”
According to Nancy White, an associate professor in the art department, students entering work into such exhibitions gain valuable experience.
“It is important to enter the competition, because it teaches students things such deadlines and presenting their work in exhibitions,” White said.
At this year’s competition, 125 pieces of artwork were entered for competition and 57 pieces were chosen to be displayed in the museum.
In addition to the $300 “Best in Show” award, other prizes include the purchase of a winning piece by the graduate school and as much as $150 in gift certificates from local art stores such as The Art Department and Sherrie’s Discount Art.
