Coburn Gallery kicks off student exhibition
February 25, 2022
The annual Juried Student Art and Design Exhibition will be open to the public from March 3 to March 23 in the Coburn Art Gallery, with an opening reception on March 3 from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
The exhibition provides an opportunity for students to submit artwork created in studio art classes. This exhibition is open to all students, regardless of their major or minor.
“We’ve had this exhibition since forever,” Gallery Director Cythina Petry said. “It features artworks that were completed in studio art classes, either by art majors, minors or the general student population.”
According to Petry, there are typically 75 to 80 artworks that are accepted into the exhibition, out of an estimated 180 that are submitted.
A large part of the exhibition is the awards that are given to the students, and unlike other exhibitions, the pieces are judged by an outside juror.
This year, the juror is Heidi Weller, a long-time resident of Ashland. When it comes to judging an art show such as the Juried Student Art and Design Exhibition, there are multiple factors that Weller takes into consideration when deciding on which artist will receive what prize.
“When I jury a show, I keep in mind the level of interest in the level of skill that the group has.” said Weller. “Ashland University has a good art program [as well as] a good art education program. I already know that there’s going to be fairly high quality stuff here. I look at the technical stuff, I look at composition, the use of color, the use of lines, and how the artist has decided to put those compositional pieces together.”
According to Dr. Wendy Schaller, the chair of the Art department, this exhibition is able to provide students with the opportunity to improve their skills as artists, but to also have the chance to display their work for others to see as well.
“To me, it is one of the best exhibitions that we hold every year, because it allows us to showcase the work, not just the students in our department, but the students here at the university, and it’s a wonderful opportunity for them,” Schaller concluded. “And I think it’s important that we support the students and the efforts that they make.”
