Rachel Thomason | Executive Director

3/08/02

February 28, 2002 marked the opening of Radford University's annual juried art show and contest. Students, faculty, and the Radford community gathered at the Bondurant Center to view works by RU undergraduate and graduate students. Of the 125 pieces submitted, 69 were chosen to decorate the center's walls. Submissions were in the form of sculpture, 3-D renderings, paintings, photos, prints, woodwork, collages, ceramics, and drawings. Artists came from a variety of majors and art experience.

The entries were judged by art emeritus professor and former programming head of Virginia Western Community College, David Curtis. Curtis has officiated over 75 juried exhibits and is an accomplished painter and photographer. When asked about the jury process, Curtis said, "It's not about being accepted or rejected...artists just need an audience." When choosing show winners, Curtis looks for the image's impact, a good technical foundation, design and arrangement, and for something that appeals to him personally. He says that the best works tend to have a "haunting effect" that makes you remember them long after the show. Curtis has looked at several thousand works of art in the U.S. and all over the world and commented, "At least half of the work [in the show] is of professional quality."

About 20 awards were given including an excellence award, honorable mention, award, purchase award, and the newest, the Drew Dodson Award for Ceramic Excellence. Congratulations to the following award recipients:

Awards of Excellence
Christian Conrad for Untitled #2.68
Tom Pallante for Given to Flight
Sharon Vaughan for Vessel, Fissure, and Autumn

Awards of Merit
Rebecca Lynn Belcher for BRO in the Square
Rebecca Groesbeck for Sweet Springs #1
Kevin Carobine for Black and Blue
Susan Huss for Jubiliation

Honorable Mentions
Christopher Patrick Bay for Broken Flame
Pamela Renee Boyd for Apartment 2A
Kathleen Linkous for Untitled #1
Kirsten Modine for Untitled
Frankie Robbins for Streetwise
Susan L. Shelor for Morning Light
Christina (Tina) Wall for Untitled
Geralyn M. Yost for Venus and Wally
Aaron Talbott for Digital?
Nicholas James Umstead for Deplosion (Aven)

Dodson 3-D Ceramic Award of Excellence
Hyangran Koo for The Winter Nostalgia

Purchase Awards
Aaron Talbott for Digital?
Jessica Shelor for Tug-O-War
Tom Pallante for Lone Tree

This show is in its fourth year and was organized by Dr. Arbury, Art Museum Director and Dr. Jones, Art Department Chair. This year's exhibit will be available for viewing until April 4, 2002.

Another RU art exhibit, Art for Aids is scheduled to appear in the Satellite Gallery in the basement of Muse Hall. The show will feature works of art donated by RU faculty and students. Proceeds from the sale of these pieces will go toward the search for an AIDS vaccine. For more information, please call the RU Art Museum at 831-5754.