Alexis Schindler
Staff writer
Photo by Richard Thompson/The News
The walls of the Murray State University Clara M. Eagle Gallery are decorated with the expressive artwork of students for the Année Folles Student Art Exhibition.
The exhibition opened April 19 and was presented by the Organization of Murray Art Students and the Murray State University department of art and design. It is an annual show juried by a different art professional of national repute every year.
This year’s exhibition juror was Hannah March Sanders. Sanders is an assistant professor of art at Southeast Missouri State University.
Many different forms of art were represented at the exhibition varying from woodwork, drawing, video, painting, photography and more.
Gallery worker Nance Craven, a senior from Stewart County, Tennessee, was one of the many students to have pieces make it into the exhibition.
Craven had three pieces of her art in the show. Two of the pieces were woodwork and one piece was a drawing.
Craven’s woodwork pieces, “Why Can’t We Connect?” and “Riding the Waves,” and her drawing piece, “Homage,” all incorporate hands.
“My main theme of my art is hands and how we use those to create ideas or narratives,” she said.
Craven said the one word she would use to describe all the art presented in the gallery is diverse.
Many awards and scholarships were awarded on the opening night of the gallery.
Sanders gave Sarah Martin, an assistant professor of art and design, a juror’s statement to read. Martin read the statement before handing out the awards.
Sanders said in the beginning of her statement that she was honored to juror for the exhibition.
“I hold Murray State’s department of art and design and its students in high esteem,” Martin read from Sanders’ statement. “I would like to congratulate all the students who submitted to this exhibition as well as the faculty members who encouraged them and helped them to grow these works of art.”
Sanders said in her statement that she jurored the exhibition with the voice and vision of her particular experiences and education.
One of the highest awards was Best in Show.
Lu Colby, a senior from Tawas City, Michigan, won the Best in Show award with her piece “Shame, Shame.” The award also came with a monetary prize of $500.
Colby said “Shame, Shame” is commenting on the shame of infertility in American society.
Colby won the same award last year.
“Winning Best in Show two years in a row is an amazing feeling,” Colby said. “It’s been a crazy couple of years and I couldn’t have been this successful with my work without the help of my peers and the amazing faculty in the art and design department.
She is excited to see where she’ll go next with it.
“I’m really happy to be a part of the art scene here in Murray getting my art out there for people,” Colby said.
“Shame, shame” was not Colby’s only piece in the show. She had two other pieces as well, “All the dirt from my kitchen” and “7 Months.”
Colby said her favorite piece out of the ones she has in the show is “All the dirt from my kitchen.”
“That’s my newest work that I’m working on right now,” she said. “I’m really excited with where I’m going with it as a body of work goes.”
The Clara M. Eagle Gallery can be found on the sixth floor of the Fine Arts building. The exhibition will be open until May 3. There is no cost to enter the gallery and it is open to the public.