The 2009 Annual Juried Student Art Exhibition is currently showing in Lederer Gallery in Brodie hall, featuring the best student art from the 2008-2009 school year.
At a reception on March 4, Katherine Page, director of the Davison Gallery at Roberts Wesleyan College and curator of the B. T. Roberts Memorial Hall Gallery, judged the artwork on display and announced the winning pieces.
Both first and third prizes went to junior Stephen Vollo, for oil paintings called "Dreamer" and "The Application of Truth," respectively.
"Dreamer" depicts a nude man with his eyes closed surrounded by clouds in muted blues, grays and pinks. "The Application of Truth" features the same palate of muted colors with three male torsos and sets of arms intertwining, without evidence of heads or faces.
Vollo has a total of four oil paintings on display in the exhibit; three of the four, including those that won, are extremely large in comparison to many of the other featured paintings.
Second place went to junior Yuki Kawae whose winning piece, "Modern Seed," is an interesting lit sculpture made of what appear to be plastic "vases" on different levels of white platforms, filled with silvery wood and metal stalks. It is set up alongside three of his paintings that are also on display.
Senior Jonathan Gilroy's sculpture "Sapling," prominently positioned in the center of the exhibit, received the fourth place prize. Gilroy sculpted rusty sheet metal into the form of a tree trunk with actual maple branches and leaves strategically placed coming out of the top. He covered the ground around the sculpture with real leaves as well.
Honorable mention of fifth and sixth places went to junior Andrew Sorrento and senior Carla Staples.
Sorrento's "Entrance" is digital computer art, one of the few pieces done in that medium throughout the exhibit. Featuring a black and white color scheme, Sorrento's choice of color (or lack there-of) highlights the shadows and repetition of shapes throughout the composition.
Staples' sixth-place piece, "Cascade," is a necklace of brass and copper with leaf-like tendrils cascading down the front and back of a mannequin in black, contrasting with the brightness of the piece. Two of her paintings, both done in watercolor and gouache, were also featured.
The diversity of student art on display at this year's Juried Art Show is a very interesting aspect of the exhibit; sculptures of varying shapes and sizes were scattered throughout the exhibit randomly.
Sophomore Minerva Campbell's "Building Blocks" and sophomore Tonisha Clinton's "Two Circles Intertwined" were two of the more captivating sculptures on display. Junior Edd Jones' "Where There's Smoke" ironically featured a toy fire truck covered in black soot and grime, as if it was in a fire.
The exhibit runs from March 4 to March 14. Lederer Gallery is open Monday through Thursday from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. and Fridays and Saturdays from 12:30 to 5:30 p.m.