Twenty-four Western Carolina University students were given the opportunity to professionally display their work to enhance their skills and gain campus-wide recognition. This exhibit displayed several mediums of work, including wooden sculptures, pottery, paintings and photography.
These students’ creations were carefully selected among various submissions to be recognized for their hard work.
Western Carolina University’s 55th Annual Juried Undergraduate Exhibition was from Feb. 21 to March 24 in the WCU Fine Art Museum in the Bardo Arts Center. This exhibition remains one of the longest-running and most beloved of Western Carolina’s art traditions.
The selected exhibition juror for 2023 was Margaret Curtis, a painter that is described as a ‘feminist artist,’ who has been creating works in her field since the late 1980s. Each year, the selected exhibition juror will review all works submitted for consideration, and select the projects that best represent the hard work and artistry at WCU.
A number of awards are given to the selected artists, including media awards, art materials awards, and prestigious titles such as “Chancellor’s Award” and “Best in Show.”
Listed below are the award recipients.
Best in Show – Kinsley Gunter, Don’t play with the fire! You’re gonna pee the bed tonight
Chancellor’s Award – Madi Livingston, Shadows
BCFPA Dean’s Purchase Award – Kit Kaufman, Fruit of Our Labors
Museum Director’s Award – Amanda Clark, Two Pink Stripes
Diane Withrow Coyle Award in Drawing – Heather Hennessey, Still Life #1
Media Awards
2-D Media – Gillian Kaminski, You’re On My Heels
2-D Media – Chance Holmes-Snowden, EXPERIMENTAL
3-D Media – Gloria Melo-Estrada, Vulnerable
3-D Media – Naomi Michelle, RECLAIMation
Time-Based Media – Kiara Leary, Dinner Date
Design – Annette Gomez, Antechamber
Art Materials Awards
Art Materials Award #1 – Jessica Rial, Welcome Home
Art Materials Award #2 – Erin Elsey, Forever Fauve (Mme Matisse)
Art Materials Award #3 – Madison Lohwasser, Reduced
Art Materials Award #4 – Elise Evans, Pop-Up Leaves and Vines
Several different students who’s work was accepted to the Fine Art Museum were given the chance to speak about their pieces, and what personal meaning they have to them and their artistic abilities.
“As someone who has been living under the constant and exhaustive performance of the female figure my entire life, it is something I had wanted to explore within my own creative expression for quite some time,” said WCU student Gillian Kaminski on the meaning of her displayed photograph, titled ‘You’re On My Heels.’
“Much like putting on a pair of high heels, the constant need to perform will ultimately only damage the owner of the shoes.”
Kaminski received an award for 2-D Media.
In using a medium such as photography, Kaminski brings an element of reality to her work, and urges the viewer to digest the intentions of her art. In this competition, students were not only urged to submit artwork they thought reflected their experience, but challenged the skills they already possessed.
WCU student Naomi Michelle explains the significance of her entry, titled ‘RECLAIMation’.
“This project reflects the repetition needed to reclaim personal rights,” Michelle explains.
The piece, crafted out of wood hangings, reclaimed waste, and various photographs, show a significance of creativity brought to this competition, with a vastly different artistic medium. Mitchell goes on to say “It is the small, unseen moments between everything else that accumulate into larger accomplishments.”
Michelle received an award for 3-D Media.
In speaking with different artists from the exhibition, it becomes clear that each work accepted into the Fine Art Museum comes with its own personal story and thought-provoking topic. These topics range from commentary on reproductive rights, to reflecting on environmental awareness.
“This work is a self-portrait focusing on my carbon footprint,” said WCU art student Madison Lohwasser, on her submission titled ‘Reduced.’ Her medium of choice, oil paint on canvas, shows a sunburned figure surrounded by withering plants.
Lohwasser then explains the tattoo of the flower on the figure’s thigh, showing “the only flower in sight is one of artificial making.”
In making the decision to submit artistic work to be selected for a professional exhibition, these artists have seen their growth through a newfound confidence in their work and a passion to move forward with their artistic process.
The artists featured in this exhibition include: Olivia Bartlett, Cassidy Burns, Matthew Cain, Amanda Clark, Bella Cugini, Erin Elsey, Elise Evans, Annette Gomez, Kinsley Gunter, Heather Hennessey, Chance Holmes-Snowden, Josh Jordan, Gillian Kaminski, Kit Kaufman, Henry Klesius, Kiara Leary, Abby Ledet, Madi Livingston, Madison (Darla) Lohwasser, Joshua Masters, Gloria Melo-Estrada, Naomi Michelle, Jessica Rial, and Matt Stapley.
