My Life in Transit: A Visual Inventory by Bekka Reese was judged Best of Show (1st Place Overall) in the 2008 UTC Department of Art Juried Student Exhibition. Reese entered a book and installation. She is a 4th year BFA Graphic Design major.
Both Sharon Farrelly and Jessica Lowe earned the Award of Outstanding Recognition (2nd place overall). Farrelly, a fourth year student pursuing the Bachelor of Fine Arts with a studio concentration in 3D, entered the installation Chaos to Order. Lowe, also a fourth year student pursuing the Bachelor of Fine Arts with a studio concentration in 3D , entered the installation Pillow Fight in the Gallery. A total of nine awards were presented and 31 artists were invited to participate in the 2008 show. See the entire list.
This year’s Juror Catherine C. (CeCe) Cole, artist and educator based in Louisiana, selected participants from over 120 submissions for this 13th edition of the show.
“I am impressed by the dexterity evident in each of the ceramic pieces, the audaciously sophisticated sculptural objects and installations, the urbane proficiency of the graphic design presentations, and the masterful vitality of the paintings and drawings,” Cole said.
In her remarks, Cole observed that Bekka Reese presented a work that is an “obsessively mundane, yet simple and insightful catalogue of things and stuff. Images of the contents of her book bag and the collection of shoes in her closet, for example, resonate with the honesty of her investigation into her own identity.”
Cole said both Sharon Farrelly’s Chaos to Order and Jessica Lowe’s Pillow Fight in the Gallery address sociopolitical issues. “They implicate their audience with participatory installations. Their assertions challenge one’s expectations and demand attention,” Cole said.
Sponsored by the UTC Friends of the Gallery contributors’ fund, the exhibit is available for viewing through January 27 at the Cress Gallery, UTC Fine Arts Center, corner of Vine and Palmetto Streets. Cress hours are Monday-Thursday, 9:30 a.m.-7 p.m. and Friday, 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. The Cress is also open for all Patten Series performances.
