Annual Juried Student Exhibition and Silent Auction Opening Reception and Award Presentation

DSU’s Art Department invites the public to the opening of its Annual Juried Student Exhibition on Thursday, March 17, from 5:00 to 7:00 pm. The Annual Juried Student Exhibition allows the department to highlight the work our students have produced in the past year and affords students an opportunity to gain professional experience by preparing work for exhibition and submitting it to a jury process. Students submitting work are also eligible to win monetary awards in a variety of categories. The awards are made possible through the generous support of art patrons from the Cleveland community.

This year’s juror is Ashley Chavis, a ceramic artist and curator, who teaches at Northwest Mississippi Community College. Chavis also runs the college’s art gallery and is faculty advisor of the students’ art club, Les Fauves.

Chavis’s creative energies are devoted to producing functional pottery that has a unique sense of tactility and surface design. His work has been exhibited regionally and nationally and can be found at Southside Gallery in Oxford. He is a member of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA), Southeastern College Art Conference (SECAC), Southern Graphics Council International (SGCI), and Sycamore Arts Council.

Professor Chavis commended the variety and quality of work submitted. The work he selected from the numerous submissions reflects the diversity of our students’ aesthetics and interests.

This year’s exhibition includes a silent auction of student and faculty work to benefit one of our students who lost the use of her legs when she became the victim of a car accident. The student has been an inspiration for all in the Art Department, she has never let her health issues limit her ambitions nor cloud her optimism and sunny disposition. The student is in need of a new wheelchair and her colleagues and faculty are hoping to raise $1000 through the sale of original works of art donated by them to help defray the costs of a new wheelchair. The silent auction will take place during the opening only, winning bids will be announced at the end of the day.

Please join us in celebrating our students’ success on Thursday, March 19, from 5:00 to 7:00 pm. Awards will be presented at 6:00 pm. The Annual Juried Student Exhibition will remain on view from March 17 to April 22, 2015. The gallery is open Monday-Thursday from 8 a.m.- 5:00 p.m. and on Friday from 8 a.m.–4:30 p.m. For more information, please contact the Art Department at 662-846-4720.