Annual Student Awards Show 2021

Juror Statement

Our committee had a wonderful time reviewing the submitted works of art. We were truly impressed by the breadth of styles, techniques and concepts. In particular, we commented often on the intricacies of many pieces, the relationship of your intent with the medium, and the unique voices you are presenting to the world. Knowing your voice is so important at this time. With all the upheavals to our daily routines, social spaces, and future plans, having confidence in your unique perspective provides an invaluable locus in life.

We commend all who submitted artworks for consideration. Regardless of inclusion in this exhibition or awards, we encourage you with your creative inclinations to explore further, broader, and deeper beyond your individual ground work achievements. Continual next- and/or sub-level exploration will garner you the most valuable personal gratification.

Process

The act of jurying a selection from works of diverse media using only screen images seems a flawed process. Reproductions substituting for the actual can so often grossly under or mis-represent actual physical aspects of artworks. (Though this undue disservice to the physical characteristics of artworks predates COVID-19 times since the beginning of reproductions!) Particularly with 3-D works, we’ve suggested that some selections be re-photographed to better represent in-round physicality for presentation in a virtual.

From what the submitted images do evince, a near steady consensus emerged among the judges with regard to stand-out works. In our selections, we as jurors responded to command of medium—fluency and ambition in the formal handling. We were also drawn to intensity of realization—evidence where sensitivity to one’s own touch appears to resound as generative for further formulations of exploration and discovery.

The resilience of those who submitted have made it the best show it could be in these circumstances. Even in the best of times the process of making art requires a balance between focused exploration and openness to the unknown and unexpected. You will see in the selections we made that we recognized and valued both positions. Culminating exhibitions like this one may can be seen as a summation of a time, a department, or an artist’s work. In this case it is also lets us see a community of young artists, who, though they have been separated by circumstances, remain peers working towards a future in the arts.

Jurors

Jedediah Caesar

Jedediah Caesar is an artist, educator and curator based in Los Angeles, CA. His work explores landscapes as accumulations of resources and negotiations, and how individuals and communities shape those negotiations within apparatus of spectacle and power. He has exhibited his work at the Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; the Oakland Museum of California Art, as well as shows at Susanne Vielmetter Gallery, Los Angeles and D’Amelio Terras Gallery, New York. In his role as the Director of the Todd Madigan Gallery at California State University, Bakersfield, Caesar has developed a program committed to diverse, experimental practices in contemporary arts.

Paula Durette

Paula Durette is a professor of animation and intermedia at California State University, Fresno. She received her MFA from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She is a Creative Capital grantee and an award-winning animator and video artist. Her works have shown nationally and internationally at many venues, including the Stockholm International Film Festival and the San Francisco International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. Her work addresses ideas and issues surrounding underrepresented groups.

Perry Hu

Perry Hu is an artist and a second-generation Chinese American. Among his earliest memories is the 1972 live-feed of Nixon using chopsticks at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Based in New York City since 1997, Perry has specialized in providing exhibition services to museums and galleries, including the exhibition design for projects at Asia Society, China Institute, Japan Society, Queens Museum, and Clark Art Institute. His photography and research activity in recent years has largely explored connections to ongoing developments in Chinese society.

April D Arnold
Untitled 2 (view 1)
Chicken wire and yarn
24 x 204 x 24 inches
RW Witt Scholarship Award Third Place

April D Arnold
Untitled 2 (view 2)
Chicken wire and yarn
24 x 204 x 24 inches
RW Witt Scholarship Award Third Place

April D Arnold
Untitled 2 (view 3)
Chicken wire and yarn
24 x 204 x 24 inches
RW Witt Scholarship Award Third Place

Scott Azevedo
Looted Vessel (view 1), 2020-2021
Acrylic paint, coiled seatbelts, and found objects
8 x 9 inches
Certificate Award Second Place

Scott Azevedo
Looted Vessel (view 2), 2020-2021
Acrylic paint, coiled seatbelts, and found objects
8 x 9 inches
Certificate Award Second Place

Soul Stratum (installation) by Denise Benitez-Gonzalez

Denise Benitez-Gonzalez
Soul Stratum (installation), 2020-2021
Steel, dyed cotton fabric straps, greenware clay, and rebar tie wire

A Dharma Drama (view 1) by Denise Benitez-Gonzalez

Denise Benitez-Gonzalez
A Dharma Drama (view 1), 2020
Found objects (bike rim, metal stool rim, tree branches), steel rod, plastic beads, yarn, wire, chain, leather strips, screws, and spray paint
52 x 23 x 12 inches
University Art Award

A Dharma Drama (view 2) by Denise Benitez-Gonzalez

Denise Benitez-Gonzalez
A Dharma Drama (view 2), 2020
Found objects (bike rim, metal stool rim, tree branches), steel rod, plastic beads, yarn, wire, chain, leather strips, screws, and spray paint
52 x 23 x 12 inches
University Art Award

A Dharma Drama (view 3) by Denise Benitez-Gonzalez

Denise Benitez-Gonzalez
A Dharma Drama (view 3), 2020
Found objects (bike rim, metal stool rim, tree branches), steel rod, plastic beads, yarn, wire, chain, leather strips, screws, and spray paint
52 x 23 x 12 inches
University Art Award