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Spring 2015

45th Annual Juried Student Art Show
March 29 - May 3, 2015

The 45th Annual USI Juried Student Art Exhibition is on display March 29 - May 3, 2015 in the McCutchan Art Center/Pace Galleries at USI. Matthew Neil Gehring, a special juror in honor of USI's 50th Anniversary, selected the artworks for the exhibit. He is an Evansville native who graduated from North High School and USI, (BS, Art, 1998). He currently is the Chair of the Visual Arts Department and Director of the Flecker Gallery at SUNY Suffolk, Long Island, New York. He chose 148 works of art created by USI art students in the past year from the 445 submitted for the show jurying.

Over $9,000 in merit awards, scholarships and purchase awards, generously donated by area businesses and individuals, were announced at a free public reception for the artists on from 2 to 4 p.m., Sunday, March 29. Fifty-one awards were given. Please see the list of award winners below. USI students, faculty, staff and community members are cordially invited to view the exhibition.

The McCutchan Art Center/Pace Galleries hours are Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sundays from 1 to 5 p.m. It is located in the lower level of the Liberal Arts Center on the USI campus.

Merit Awards

Best of Show
$750

Ryan McKain
Grandma's Little Nightmare
Plaster, foam, wood

Ceramics Merit Award
$200

Paige Knowles
Spring
High-fired stoneware

Drawing Merit Award
$200

Jessica Cook
Faded Rainbowz
Pastel on paper

Graphic Design Merit Award
$200

Erin Hicks
Design Culture Now Lecture Poster Series
Digital print

Illustration Merit Award
$200

Charis Law
Nonconforming Swarm
Mixed media on canvas

Interactive Media Merit Award
$200

Shelby Bruick
External Beauty
Single channel video

Jewelry Merit Award
$200

Kelsey Allison
Skeleton Chic
Recycled tin, chain, metal charms

Painting Merit Award
$200

Tanna Carman Small
I am Bigger Than
Acrylic on canvas

Photography Merit Award
$200

Melinda Scott
Stained Glass
Inkjet print

Printmaking Merit Award
$200

Evan Boyer
Lost Love or Love Lost
Lithograph

Sculpture Merit Award
$200

Matthew Perez
Giraffes are Pretentious, They Always Look Down on Us
Wire, steel, yarn

3D Printed Design Merit Award
$200

Matthew Koewler
Cubical Confinement Chess Set Design
3D printed PLA

Woodworking Merit Award
$200

Alex Greer
The Chair of All Chairs
Repurposed chair parts

Degreed Student Merit Award
$200

Jennifer Niswonger
The Surgeon
Oil on canvas

Senior Merit Award
$150

Lacey Wolford
Grandma Kill
Oil on canvas

Junior Merit Award
$150

Ryan McKain
His Determination
Acrylic on canvas

Sophomore Merit Award
$150

Christian Smith
Live Cut Walnut Table #1
Walnut, cherry, white oak

Freshman Merit Award
$150

Bryan Nelson
ForUSt Creek Farm
Acrylic on board

Art Club Member Award
$150

Rachel Burianek
In Plain Sight
Graphite on paper

Stephen Herron '81 Memorial Award
$180

Eva Zollars
The Jewelry Thief
Mixed media

Merit Award
$125

Paige Knowles
Rooster
Ferric chloride raku-fired stoneware

Merit Award
$125

Kelcie Davis
Move On
Clay

Merit Award
$100

Ashley Hamilton
Indigenous Mask
Acrylic on canvas

Merit Award
$100

Lacey Wolford
Reality
Oil on canvas

Merit Award
$100

Megan Elleser
Are We Naturally Passive Aggressive?
Pine, n scale miniatures, inkjet prints, chalkboard paint

Merit Award
$100

Adam Rakestraw
Tower of Aristocracy
Wood, metal, spray paint, enamel, U.S. dollar

Merit Award
$100

Janelle Howell
52-inch Wrench
Charcoal on paper

Merit Award
$100

Kelcie Davis
A Little Bit
Charcoal on paper

Merit Award
$100

Tylie Robertson
Katherine
Batik

Merit Award
$100

Michael Miller
Handicap
Clay

Scholarship Awards

Junior Scholarship
$500

Vincent Cullison
Under Dust
Charcoal drawing

Sophomore/Junior Ceramics Scholarship
$500

Matthew Wargel
Insomnia
High fired stoneware, willow wood

Sophomore Scholarship
$500

Alec Huff
Life After Death
Wood, rice paper, plastic jaw bone, sand, candles

John W. McNaughton Award for Excellence in Woodworking
$500

Adam Rakestraw
Body of Work

Excellence in Graphic Design Scholarship
$500

Amanda N. Morrison
Body of Work

James W. Parrent '77 Memorial Freshman Scholarship
$500

Bryan Nelson
Transformation Through Doubt
Mixed media

Purchase Awards

Purchase Award
$600

Adam Rakestraw
Tao Loi Gong
Wood, metal, acrylic, polyurethane

Dean's Purchase Award
$300

Debra Pellant
Micro-Metamorphosed Mammals
Carpenter graphite pencils

Purchase Award
$300

Jessica Steenbergen
Tugboat
Ink jet paper

Purchase Award
$250

Rachel Burianek
In Plain Sight
Graphite on paper

Purchase Award
$150

Kyra Schmidt
The Self
Ink jet print

Purchase Award
$100

Alex Greer
Personality #7
Charcoal on paper

Purchase Award
$75

Brakston Farrar
Spring Awakening poster
Digital print

Purchase Award
$75

Matt Wargel
Inferno
Wood-fired stoneware

Purchase Award
$40

Amanda Morrison
Bodoni: A Modern Romantic
Digital printed book

Academic Achievement Awards

Academic Achievement Award in Graphic Design
$50

Amanda Morrison

Academic Achievement Award in Interactive Media
$50

Amanda Brinkman

Academic Achievement Award in Illustration
$50

Zachary Wehner

Academic Achievement Award in Art Education
$50

Tylie Robertson

Academic Achievement Award in 2D Studio Art
$50

Lacey Wolford

Academic Achievement Award in 3D Studio Art
$50

John Roy Litwiler

Academic Achievement Award in Art History
$50

John Roy Litwiler
About the Juror

Matthew Gehring attended USI on a Society for Arts and Humanities Scholarship, earning a bachelor’s degree in studio art in 1998. He participated in the Skidmore College Summer Program and the University of Delaware Master of Fine Arts Program on a full graduate assistantship. After completing his graduate degree in 2001, he relocated to the Northern California coast, teaching sculpture at Humboldt State University. In 2003, he accepted a faculty position in the Art Department at Syracuse University. In 2007, he relocated to Brooklyn, New York, where he currently lives and maintains an active studio practice and exhibition schedule.

He has exhibited in numerous group and solo exhibitions, including recent one-person shows at the Dishman Art Museum at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, and at the Islip Art Museum in East Islip, New York. Gehring's recent group exhibitions include Abstraction and its Discontents, Eight Painters and Family Style, all in New York.

His work has been featured or reviewed in publications including The New Criterion, Art Journal, Art Review and ArtWeek. He is currently an associate professor of visual art at SUNY Suffolk where he is head of Visual Art and the director of the Flecker Gallery. 

Read Gehring's Juror's Statement.