Iris Snapp
Contributing Writer
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After months of preparation and planning, the Organization of Murray State Art Students debuted their 2020 Juried Student Show, which will be on display until March 26.

Although the show is conducted by OMAS every spring, submissions are open to all students at the University. This year, there were over 115 submissions, and a blind jury determined the winners.

Artists and community members gathered at the Clara M. Eagle Gallery to showcase their work and accept awards on Friday, March 6. Colton Colglazier, senior and OMAS co-president, said the club has been fundraising all year to provide the well-deserved awards.

“We welcomed students and faculty as well as people from around the Murray community who were gracious enough to donate,” Colglazier said.

Colglazier was excited to see his fellow artists and friends accept their awards at the ceremony.

“It was amazing to see all of the hard work and planning come to fruition and see the smiles on my fellow students’ faces as they received their awards,” Colglazier said.

The theme this year was decadent decades. Noah Hopkins, junior art major from Paducah, Kentucky, submitted a piece called “The Boy Next Door.”

Hopkins said he learned the most about his art style during the creation of this drawing.

“I was concerned that they would think my piece was not classy enough,” Hopkins said. “But I also remembered that I did not have to censor myself.”

Hopkins said he had to get into the mindset of being open with his art and get out of the habit of self-censoring. He was happy to express his art and have an outside juror to critique it.

Rob Millard-Mendez, artist and professor from the University of Southern Indiana, came to the University to be the juror and critique the students’ art submissions.

“A student learns more when rejected from a gallery than a student who was accepted,” Millard-Mendez said. “It allows the artist to grow and learn from their experience.”

Students were able to submit any medium of art for a chance to be judged. Millard-Mendez has juried other shows before and has been on the receiving end of judging.

“Every show is different from a juror standpoint,” Millard-Mendez said. “I have worked in many different media and taught lots of varied classes, so I think I come to the juror role with an informed sense of judgement.”

Millard-Mendez also gave an artist talk at the University, discussing how his own art has evolved over the years.

Emma Mitchell, senior art major from Paducah, Kentucky, attended Millard-Mendez’s talk and found his presentation inspiring.

“[Millard-Mendez] said to leave the interpretation to the audience and that was something that I found insightful and I will continue to use,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell submitted work for the first time this spring. She entered a terra cotta piece called “Delilah,” which was one of the larger pieces in the gallery.

“It was super exciting getting picked on my first try and was a great experience,” Mitchell said.