From a media release:
Cress Gallery of Art
University of Tennessee Chattanooga
celebrates
The UTC Department of Art
2015 Juried Student Exhibition
Juror: Joshua Bienko, artist and educator at UT Knoxville
Juror’s Lecture Tuesday, January 20, 5:30pm, Room 356, UTC Fine Arts Center
followed by a Public Reception and Awards Presentation at 6:30pm
in the Lobby of the UTC Fine Arts Center! All Cress events are free and open to all.
Exhibition runs through Saturday, January 25, 2015.
Gallery hours: 9:30am – 7:30pm Monday – Friday; 1:00pm – 4:00pm Sat. & Sun.
This exhibition is supported by the Friends of the Cress Gallery!
Become a Friend of the Cress Gallery today and support the visual arts at UTC!
From 151 entries, this year’s independent juror, artist and educator Joshua Bienko, Assistant Professor of Drawing and Extended Media, UT Knoxville, selected 54 works for inclusion in the 2015 UTC Department of Art Juried Student Exhibition.
The exhibition features work in a wide range of media and materials from charcoal on paper and oil on canvas to mixed media installations and sculpture, digital collage and websites, artist’s books and “zines”, photographs, and six videos.
The Juror designated ten awards to be announced on Tuesday, January 20, during the public reception for the exhibition. In addition, eleven students were especially honored with the Juror’s selection of both their limit of two entries.
Bienko faced a difficult task as submissions were very strong overall, demonstrating a high level of accomplishment. In making his selections, Bienko considered the more ineffable qualities and characteristics that go beyond the personal experience of the student artist or the limits of an assignment to challenge perspective and evoke thought. “I went in looking for work that “stung,” Bienko states. “Work can sting in so many ways. I saw video work that stung based on it’s slow, methodical and purposeful pace. I saw paintings that stung because of their scale and refusal to abide by traditional definitions. I saw drawings that stung preciselybecause of their ability to abide by traditional definitions!”
The UTC Department of Art Juried Student Exhibition is an annual event in the Cress Gallery of Art open to all students from first to fourth year who are enrolled in the UTC Department of Art’s Foundations and Bachelor of Fine Art Professional Programs in Graphic Design, Painting & Drawing, Photo + Media Arts, and Sculpture. All work submitted was created within the Department’s curriculum.
Joshua Bienko holds a BFA Painting from the State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, and MFA from Lamar Dodd School of Art, the University of Georgia, Athens, GA. Bienko’s practice explores the complicated issues of our times, drawing from a diverse range of subject and material such as modern philosophy and aesthetics, the history of art, pop culture and its history, contemporary sports, and rap and hip hop. Bienko’s work has been included in solo and group exhibitions from California to New York, and in Australia and Europe. He has served as a panelist and presenter at institutions across the United States. He also writes about contemporary art and artists and curates exhibitions. Currently Bienko is Assistant Professor of Drawing and Extended Media, School of the Arts and Architecture, University of Tennessee Knoxville. For more information visitwww.JoshuaBienko.com
The Cress Gallery of Art is located in the Fine Arts Center, 752 Vine Street, on the campus of the University of Tennessee Chattanooga. For directions and information about parking please visit www.cressgallery.org or contact the Director / Curator at ruth-grover@utc.edu voice and text 423-304-9789.
