AU ART DEPARTMENT OPENS FINE ART JURIED STUDENT EXHIBIT, ANNOUNCES LETHANDER, DEAN’S CHOICE AWARD WINNERS

AUBURN - Auburn University’s Department of Art opened its Fine Art Juried Student Exhibition on Monday, April 3, with the announcement of the inaugural Dean’s Choice Award, the Joyce &
Roger Lethander awards and Department of Art merit awards.

An untitled work in handmade paper, wax, charcoal and oil by Madeline Hawkins, a senior from Gretna, Neb., won the Dean’s Choice $1,000 purchase award. AU College of Liberal Arts Dean Anne-Katrin Gramberg selected Hawkins’ work as the winner, but was impressed with the entire exhibition of students’ work, which will be available for viewing in Biggin Gallery through April 13.

“I was so blown-out-of-the-water impressed by and proud of our students the first time I laid eyes on the exhibition last year that I immediately thought the greater Auburn community needs to see their work now,” said Gramberg. “This year’s exhibition just reinforced that belief.

“Self Portrait #2,” a work in nail polish by Rachel Evans of Marietta, Ga., took the top Lethander Award, the Lethander $750 purchase award.

Winners of $250 Lethander Merit Awards were:
-“The Fluffy Dress,” a work in oil, fabric, transfer and graphite on canvas by Shaymon Cain of Vestavia Hills;
-An untitled work in ceramics by Rakel Recznik; and
-“Crowd,” a work in wax, paper, oil and charcoal by Hawkins.

Department of Art Merit Award winners were:
-“Stored Messages,” an altered book, mixed media work by Shelby C. Spears of Orlando, Fla.;
-“Democracy,” a work in charcoal by Wesley Morris of Bay Minette;
-An untitled work in ceramics by Kinzie Dudgeon of Bay Minette;
-“Not Home,” a work in mixed media by Rachel Morgan of Asheville, N.C.; and
-“Retro Barn,” a lithographic print by Heather Rosato of Stuart, Fla.

The juror for this year’s competition was Stuart Horodner, gallery director for the Atlanta College of Art and newly appointed director of programs for the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center.

Horodner has been Gallery Director at the Atlanta College of Art since 2005. He joins the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center in June. He has also held positions as curator of visual art at the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art in Oregon and director/curator of the Bucknell University Art Gallery in Lewisburg, Pa. He is widely published, writing on topics of contemporary art and culture for journals and catalogs. In 2004 he created “Affair at the Jupiter Hotel,” an art fair that brings galleries and collectors to Portland each year.

Horodner selected award winners for both the juried student exhibition and the Lethander Awards. The selected artwork becomes part of the University’s permanent art collection and will be exhibited on the second floor of the Ralph Brown Draughon Library for the benefit of students, faculty and staff.

The artwork will be located near the atrium and Current Issues section of the library after the juried exhibition closes on April 14.

All art majors currently enrolled in the AU Department of Art were invited to submit original works of art for the juried competition.

The Joyce and Roger Lethander Awards in Art are made possible by a generous fund provided by local patrons of the arts Joyce and Roger Lethander. The intent of the competition is to promote excellence in art and to recognize outstanding works by art students.

Biggin Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. or by appointment. For more information contact Barb Bondy, Exhibitions and Lectures Coordinator, Department of Art, 334/844-3483 or email bondybj@auburn.edu.

Auburn University is a preeminent land-grant and comprehensive research institution with more than 23,000 students and 6,500 faculty and staff. Ranked among the top 50 public universities nationally, Auburn is Alabama’s largest educational institution, offering more than 230 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degree programs.

(Contributed by Barb Bondy; images available upon request.)

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