From March 10 to April 6, the Ortlip Art Gallery, located in the Center for Fine Arts, is hosting its 29th annual Juried Student Exhibition. The reception will take place on March 10 from 6:00-8:00 p.m.
According to Alicia Taylor, Assistant Professor of Art, “This annual exhibition is an exciting opportunity to recognize and celebrate the hard work and dedication of students at Houghton who work in visual art.” The Juried Student Exhibition is open every year to all Houghton students. This year, students must submit their work to Ortlip Art Gallery by either March 5 or 6, between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. “There will be no exceptions to the deadline for submissions,” Taylor informed students. “All work must be finished and ready to hang in the gallery.”
One of the best components of the event is its unbiased nature. During the judging process, the juror is not provided with the name of the artists who are submitting work. “The juror’s role is to select the highest quality work for this public exhibition,” Taylor noted.
This year’s juror is Romy Hosford, a multimedia artist and professor at Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, NY. According to the college’s website, “Her photo/video based installation work can be described as storytelling through object, material and historical contexts; often dealing with perception, definition and expectation. In addition, it investigates the concept of memory—personal and cultural, remembering and forgetting.” A native of Rochester, she has been teaching at Roberts Wesleyan since 2011. To view her artwork, visit her website at www.romyhosford.com.
Seoyoung Je, ’19, assists Taylor by taking down previous art, patching the walls, matting and framing student submissions, and, finally, hanging the artwork. “The student juried show has a excitement of its own because of the number and the diversity of the submissions,” Je said. “It’s a challenge to decide where and how to place them so that it can still be powerful as an individual piece…It’s also interesting to find corresponding ideas run across different art works; this makes it easier for us to group them to a wall.” Je then described the joys of working with artwork “up close,” as it allows “a sense of ownership and pride” because “the time invested brings us closer and familiarizes us to the artwork as if they were our own.”
All pieces will compete for the chance to place in one of five awards: Best in show, 1st place, 2nd place, Honorable Mention, and the Presidential and First Gentlemen’s purchase prize. All winners will be announced on the reception night, March 10th.
According to the Houghton website, the mission of the Ortlip Art Gallery is to present “a diverse range of innovative exhibitions and educational programs offering insights into the work of established and emerging regional, national, and international artists and designers.” Additionally, the gallery is open to the public Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
For specific details and guidelines about the event, email Taylor at alicia.taylor@houghton.edu.