Chrys Weedon | Entertainment Editor

To celebrate the opening of an exhibition featuring student art, a picnic and award ceremony was held on the lawn of Campbell Hall on Monday, May 13. This gallery has occurred every year for 51 years, and is a juried exhibition, meaning that a juror was hired by the Cannon Gallery to review Western student’s submitted artwork and get the final say in what pieces made it in. Every year, a different juror is hired.

The juror this year was Patricia Vazquez, who holds a BA in Graphic Design and Education and a MFA in Social Practices. Vazquez splits her time between Portland, Oregon and Mexico City, Mexico. Due to a prior teaching engagement, Vazquez was unable to attend the event, but she selected two pieces to receive a juror’s choice award, which includes a $100 prize awarded to each artist. Cory Timmins received one of those awards, along with several others, for a video piece titled “House Hunters Multinational.” Timmins is senior pursuing a degree in Art and Design.

“It was validating to just be selected for the show,” Timmins said. “To win awards on top of that felt incredible. It feels like my art career is off to a great start.”

Many other awards were given out, including awards for best digital piece and best non-digital piece, art faculty recognition awards and outstanding art students in upper level division courses awards.

This year’s student exhibition included art pieces from many different mediums, including mixed media, sculpture, graphite sketches, digital art and oil painting, and covered a broad range of themes such as social justice, consumerism and body image.

“Students from the gallery internship class did a ton of work accepting the pieces, in addition to Paula Booth, who runs the gallery,” commented Timmins.

Every year, the gallery sends out an open call for any Western student, no matter their major, to submit their work for critique.

“We could submit up to six pieces and pay a small fee to have our work critiqued,” explained Timmins.

When asked her opinion about the best part of being involved in the exhibition, Timmins responded: “Being surrounded by other amazing work is the best part of being featured in the show. We have so much talent at Western. I’m inspired in my classes by my peers and even more in awe when I’m in the gallery. There’s so much artwork to love.”

Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu

Photo courtesy of Rita Frey