Annual awards exhibition to showcase student art

Part of our professional development experience as Master of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Fine Arts students in the College of Fine Arts is creating artwork, preparing our artwork for thesis shows and entering our artwork into juried art exhibitions.

Artists submit images of their work, or, in the instance of the Art Department’s 28th annual student awards exhibition — also known as The Stilwell — deliver their artwork directly to the John A. Day Gallery to be reviewed in person by a juror.

Liz Bashore Heeren, assistant professor of art at South Dakota State University and director of the Ipso Gallery at Fresh Produce in Sioux Falls, is this year’s juror. As a research assistant for the gallery, I spent some time talking with the juror about her selection process.

Heeren is a University of South Dakota alumna who received her Master of Fine Arts in painting. She explained what a pleasure it is to return to the department, especially to see the strong artwork and research that is being produced on campus.

The department is producing conceptual, figurative and abstract works, which has made her jurying process exciting and challenging. With more than 300 entries, Heeren spent most of the day on Feb. 2 reviewing and selecting artworks submitted by BFA and MFA students, eventually narrowing her selection to 80 pieces.

The Stilwell can be a student’s first experience submitting their work for a juried show, and this process is intensive, exciting, and for the artists whose works don’t get selected, somewhat disappointing.

Nevertheless, artworks being unaccepted into a show is part of the process.

In 1863, a group of painters were rejected from the official Paris Salon, which was an important exhibition for artists, as it offered an opportunity for the sales of their artwork and recognized some with awards. Being selected or rejected could either make or break one’s reputation.

The juror for that 1863 exhibit favored a conservative and academic style of painting. Well known artists of the time, such as James A. McNeill Whistler, Edouard Manet and Paul Cezanne were among those whose works were rejected that year.

Because so many artists vehemently protested the amount of paintings rejected, Emperor Napoleon III ordered a special exhibition so those artists could display their artwork in some capacity. This exhibition was titled the Salon des Refusés.

In 1997, USD art students Sarah Hanson and James Halvorson created a version of the Salon de Refusés exhibition as a response to artworks being rejected from that year’s Stilwell. Students joined together and installed an exhibit of their rejected works in the drawing room of the Fine Arts building.

Awards similar to those that were given in the Stilwell were presented to students who entered their work into their Salon des Refusés. This was an opportunity to make reference to events within the history of art and an opportunity for students to build their own exhibition.

This Refusés show is in its 18th year and is a great companion to the Stilwell show.

The opening reception and awards ceremony for the Wilber Stilwell Student Awards Exhibition is tonight, Feb. 6 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the John A. Day Gallery in the College of Fine Arts, and the Salon des Refusés reception is also from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in room 172.