Juried Student Art Exhibition Awards Announced

The award winners have been announced for the Ashland University 2017 Juried Student Art Exhibition that will run through March 24 in the University’s Coburn Gallery.

This year’s exhibition offered $1,400 in awards to student artists, including Best in Show, Bernini Award, Dean’s Award, People’s Choice Award and awards in each of the seven art areas: painting, printmaking, sculpture, digital art, graphic design, drawing and ceramics.

The awards were announced at the opening reception of the exhibition on March 2 and the People’s Choice award will be announced on the Coburn Gallery’s Facebook page on March 20.

The outside juror for the exhibition is George Whitten and he accepted 96 entries of the 151 art entries submitted. Whitten has been a full-time artist for nearly 30 years. His work, shown internationally and throughout the United States, is featured in numerous public, private and corporate collections. He received a B.F.A. from Florida Atlantic University and an MFA from Wichita State University. Currently, he is the director of the Mansfield Art Center in Mansfield, Ohio.

The award winners were:

-- Best in Show Award, presented to Kiana Ziegler of Ashland, Ohio, for her colored pencil drawing titled “Imagination.” The $250 award was sponsored by the Coburn Gallery.

-- The Bernini Award, presented to Rachael Santee of Columbus, Ohio, for her oil on canvas work titled “Gold Anxiety.” The $100 award was sponsored and selected by Dr. Wendy and Scott Schaller.

-- The College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Award, presented to Dana Reed of Plymouth, Ohio, for her wood cut print titled “Amistad, Unschuld, Otto Sovstvo.” The $200 award was sponsored and selected by Dr. Dawn Weber, Ashland University’s Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences.

The art area awards sponsored by the Coburn Art Gallery were:

-- Sculpture Award of $100 to Ahmed Bondajy of Ashland, Ohio, for the iron sculpture titled “Random Ways.”

-- Printmaking Award of $100 to Rachael Santee of Columbus, Ohio, for the lithography titled “Dead.”

-- Digital Art Award of $100 to Oromia Julia of Ashland, Ohio, for the digital painting titled “Powerful and Helpless.”

-- Graphic Design Award of $100 to Madeline Rogowski of Streetsboro, Ohio, for the digital design titled “Skull Icons.”

-- Painting Award of $100 to Keeleigh Myers of Sandusky, Ohio, for her untitled encaustic painting.

-- Ceramics Award of $100 to Anamarie Coors of Cincinnati, Ohio, for her ceramic sculpture titled “Fox Vase.”

--Drawing Award of $100 to Kayla Bohuslawsky of Broadview Heights, Ohio, for her graphite drawing titled “Recognizable.”

-- Alumni “Wink” Award of a $25 gift card was presented to Alex Roddy of Mount Liberty, Ohio, for her pen drawing titled “Resting Model.” The Alumni Award is selected and sponsored by 2012 alumnus Jennifer Winkler.

--Art Club Award of $100.00 Sponsored by AU Art Club was presented to Abigail Nye, Rebekah Hale, Megan Helfrich, Ashley Chenevey for their group project Creativity Up in Smoke – Mixed Media Work on Wood.

The Coburn Gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday and 12 noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. For more information on this exhibition, visit the gallery at www.ashland.edu/coburngallery, find the gallery on Facebook or call 419.289.5652.