Zavitz Hall boasts art from all disciplines
The Juried Art Show (JAS) is an annual event that both excites and motivates studio art majors throughout their undergraduate degree.
Zavitz Hall was transformed into a giant art gallery on Friday, March 17, where students exhibited works of all disciplines and mediums. A panel of three jurors, many of whom are artists or curators themselves, came to Guelph to judge the students’ work. The jurors chose the top 10 winners of JAS and those winners received cash prizes up to $1000.
The judges for this year’s JAS were well balanced and very experienced. Rui Pimenta recently curated the in/future festival in Toronto and works with water and fluid-based media in his own artistic practice; Jessica Wyman is an art historian who teaches at OCAD University and was a judge at JAS in previous years; and Shauna McCabe is the new director at the Art Gallery of Guelph.
These judges selected the top 10 artists who will be showing their work at the Boarding House Gallery downtown Guelph on Thursday, March 23. The judges also selected 10 honourable mentions from the show in Zavitz who each received subscriptions to Border Crossings (a popular art magazine donated by Robert Enright, the magazine’s founder and research chair in art criticism at the University of Guelph).
Hilary Hung, a specialized student in her fourth year of studio art won first prize with her sculpture which was created by pouring mistinted house paint into panels. These were left to dry and then formed by the artist into organic shapes. This twisting of the house paint created a satisfying feeling for all viewers.
Second place went to Zian Yu for his alluring painting, Unfolded Paper Ball, by which the judges were so captivated that they were tempted to touch the canvas—though they assured the audience they did not.
Third prize was claimed by artist collective F, consisting of Chelsea Birnie, Sonali Menezes, and Claudia Rick. Their piece, entitled Nonperishable packaged dry is an elaborate floor installation of beautifully arranged items consisting of a line of Midol, a banana in a meat grinder, and many other charged and abject objects.
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Marina Williams, Rebecca Daggett, Sam Johns, Christine De Vuono, Kaya Ratnasabapathy, Richelle Forsey, and Lydia Treidlinger were also included in the top recipients.
Honourable mentions went to Jaimie Aitke, Lynne Bleecker, Sabrina Cazzola, Grace Esford, Felicity Jones, Emily Lalonde, Claudia Rick, Lachlan Sheldrick, and Sondoce Wasfy.
The Faculty and Technician Awards were also presented at the JAS through each technician-based department, including photography, extended practices, sculpture, and printmaking.These prizes were awarded to students who are dedicated, positive influences inside the classroom environment and are overall outstanding in their artistic development.
The Masters of Fine Arts students were the judges of the Junior JAS, which is comprised of the younger studio art students in first and second year who showed their work in Alexander Hall. The MFAs create elaborate trophies for the students to take home as mementos of the occasion. Each year differs as the MFAs change, but the trophies are always highly unusual.
First place winner Jennifer Zhao received a highly decorated tiny chair complete with a whoopee cushion. Second place winner Abby Nowakowski had the pleasure of hobbling up the stairs of Rozanski with her brightly coloured crutches, which were her prize handmade by the highly intelligent and talented MFA candidates. Richelle Forsey won third place and took home a clock necklace complete with googly eyes.
Throughout the event, resident duo Fastwürms deejayed the evening with moody and eclectic instrumental beats. Event coordinators Larissa Abrams-Ogg and Stephanie Ferris read a tribute to Laurel Woodcock, a beloved extended practices professor who passed away at the beginning of this semester.A former student of Woodcock’s wrote a heartfelt letter acknowledging the outstanding legacy Woodcock left behind and the impact she made on the School of Fine Art and Music.
The night wrapped up with a rousing round of applause and many thanks to Abrams-Ogg and Ferris for their hard work throughout the school year.
Photos by Abby Nowakowski.