The Baum Gallery at the University of Central Arkansas filled up with art, music and people from campus and the community for the reception of the 2013 Annual Student Competitive this evening.
“This work is amazing. People keep saying, ‘I can’t believe how wonderful this show is,’” Baum Director Barclay McConnell told the crowd.
Artist David Lusk from Memphis served as juror for the show and chose 64 works of the 170 submitted to be displayed.
Of those 64 pieces in the show, several awards were given out at the reception. Senior art major Rachel Oliver took home Best in Show with her three-piece entry “Remembrance Vessels Series.”
Oliver said her recent work with henna helped inspire the ceramics.
“I kind of used the symbolic messages of henna (a form of temporary tattooing) to kind of describe myself a little bit,” she said.
Oliver said the student competitive served as “a standard of your best” for students who enter.
The show and the recognition that comes out of it also serve as a tribute to the amount of time each artists spends on their work.
“I put a lot of time in the studio. A lot of time,” Oliver said. “I don’t even know why I have an apartment because I just put a cot in the studio because I’m always there.”
Students Cathleen Brignac, Ryan Landry and Noel Graham won Awards of Excellence and Hector Garcia, Keith Pope, Grace Robert and Caley Pennington earned Honorable Mentions.
The exhibit will be open through March 28.Visit www.uca.edu/art/baum for more information.