51st Annual Juried Student Art and Design Exhibition
Enjoy student work in photography, painting, drawing, metals, sculpture, more
Exhibition: Monday, April 8–Saturday, May 4
Reception: Thursday, April 11, 5:30–7:30 p.m., with awards ceremony at 6:30 p.m. and music by Parkland Guitar Ensemble
(Extended Gallery Hours: noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 6, in participation with Boneyard Arts Festival)
Parkland College's Juried Student Art and Design Exhibition for 2019 will be held April 8 through May 4 in the Giertz Gallery.
Audiences will enjoy an impressive body of student work in photography, painting, drawing, metals, sculpture, three-dimensional design, two-dimensional design, color theory, and ceramics. Parkland Art and Design faculty will select approximately 180 works from among 350+ entries for this year's exhibit. Students taking art classes in the current academic year, beginning with summer 2018, were eligible to submit artwork.
Many of these works earn artistic awards, which will be announced during the exhibit's opening reception Thursday, April 11, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the gallery lounge. The Parkland Guitar Ensemblewill provide music.
Denise Seif, art faculty and program manager of the Art and Design program, is among many Parkland College art and design faculty who look forward to this event each spring, along with students.
"I am always so impressed when I see all the student work in the gallery," Seif said. "It is such a celebration of all the hard work and talent of the students, and it is important for our students to be a part of a gallery exhibit like this! It is different than experiencing the work in a hallway or during class critiques. It puts the work on another level and allows the student to take a step back and recognize what they have accomplished. It is also important for gallery visitors and community members to see what has been going on in the art department classrooms. We are fortunate to have the Giertz Gallery as venue to highlight the great work that is being done."
As students who plan on a profession in the arts begin their career path at Parkland College, this exhibition allows them to showcase their extensive talent as well as the exploration processes they have experienced throughout their studies in art and design, according to Giertz Gallery Director Lisa Costello.
"It introduces them to professional practices they will encounter in their field as well, such as working with a gallery, preparing their work for exhibition, and engaging in the jurying process that is essential for an emerging artist," Costello said. "This is a necessary component for resume building and establishing themselves as practicing artists once they graduate or transfer to a four-year college."
During the April 11 reception, an awards ceremony at 6:30 p.m. will recognize students whose artwork shows remarkable distinction. Student artists will receive monetary awards including the Parkland President Award, the David M. and Shirley A. Jones Student Art Award, the Metals Award for Jewelry/Metalsmithing, the Fine and Applied Arts Chair Award, the Parkland Art and Design Faculty Award, and the Blair Kling Memorial Art Award, and the Louis Ballard Memorial Award. In addition, an Art Coop Award for Sustained Studio Excellence, which allows students to purchase art supplies, will be presented.
Parkland Art and Design students are eligible to earn scholarships, which are also announced during the reception; these include the Don Lake Art Scholarship, the Underwood-Alger Scholarship, and the Robert Ralph Ford Memorial Art Scholarship.
Merit awardees, scholarship recipients, and certificate winners retain possession of their work, while purchase awards become part of the Parkland College Student Art Collection.
Arts-Related Events. Along with the reception and award festivities, the college will hold two other arts-related events. First, the gallery will offer extended hours during the Boneyard Arts Festival. In participation with the festival that holds events from April 4 through April 7, The Giertz Gallery will have a sneak preview and hours on Saturday, April 6, of noon to 4 p.m.
"It is great to be a part of the county-wide celebration that 40 North, the Champaign County Arts Council, organizes each year," Costello said. "Many of our alumni participate in the Boneyard Arts Festival, and it's nice that the Giertz Gallery can be a part of it also by highlighting our student work at Parkland."
The second event, the Parkland College Fine and Applied Arts Open House, will include demonstrations, performances, classroom visits, and tours of the Art and Design Student Juried Exhibition at Giertz Gallery. Seif explained the timing of this event.
"We are participating in the Fine and Applied Arts Open House while the student exhibit is in the gallery," Seif said. "This makes it convenient for potential students to see the facilities, meet the faculty, and view the work that our students make while taking classes at Parkland College." The open house will be held Thursday, April 18 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. For more information about the open house, please visit parkland.edu/FAAopenhouse.
To find the gallery we suggest using the M6 parking lot on the north corner of campus. Walk past the gym and the fountain area, enter through Door X7, turn left, and follow the ramps up to the highest point of the first floor, where the gallery is located. The gallery windows overlook the outdoor fountain area.
Programs at the gallery are partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency. All events in the accessible gallery are free and open to the public. Parkland College is a section 504/ADA-compliant institution. For accommodation, call 217/353-2337 or email accessibilityservices@parkland.edu
For more information on the invitational, please call the gallery office at 217/351-2485 or visit www.parkland.edu/gallery.