Southeastern Contemporary Art Gallery hosts student exhibition
Wednesday, March 4, 2020
by: Tonya Lowentritt
HAMMOND – The Department of Visual Art + Design at Southeastern Louisiana University
will host the opening reception of the “Visual Art + Design Student Exhibition” on
Thursday, March 12, from 5 – 7:30 p.m. at the university’s Contemporary Art Gallery,
located at 100 East Strawberry Stadium.
The exhibition is free and open to the public from March 12 – April 29.
Students featured in the exhibition are both non-art majors and art majors who
are enrolled in an art course.
“It’s a juried exhibition,” said Department Head of Visual Art + Design Dale
Newkirk, “so they can submit up to four artworks,” he said.
Two outside jurors, a professional graphic designer and fine artist painter,
will judge the artwork submitted. Students will also be awarded in certain art areas
and “Best of Show.”
Newkirk also explained the reason for not having a theme in this exhibition.
“It’s a big effort to get students to submit their work because they’re not really
used to it,” said Newkirk. “If you add a theme, it limits people’s ability to submit
work to the show, because they may not have work that fits in that theme or not be
interested in that,” he said.
For Newkirk, hosting juried exhibitions gives students the opportunity to not
only showcase their work, but also network, gain experience and show attendees what
is going on in the art community on campus.
“The students are part of a community,” said Newkirk. “I think by being in the
show they’re embracing that. They need to become more comfortable and knowledgeable
about the process of showing their work and choosing what they are going to submit
to an exhibition. Because juried exhibitions are just part of what a professional
artist does.”
For more information, contact the gallery at 985-549-5080.
