Plymouth State University

IMAGE: Alyssa Hanchett, “Sloth” 2009

Plymouth, N.H.—Student artists from a variety of academic disciplines at Plymouth State University will experience the process of submitting work to be selected by artist judges during the annual PSU Juried Student Art Show.

The show opens March 17 from 4–6 p.m. and continues through April 14 at the Karl Drerup Art Gallery. The exhibition is an annual celebration of the talent and creativity of the art students of Plymouth State University.

Student artists are participants as well as viewers. Showing their work alongside their peers opens them to other artists’ styles. Preparing for an exhibition is a valuable process, and students say it is important to be happy with their own work, even if jurors don’t select it.

Jurors are selected to judge the student submissions, which include works in a variety of media such as painting, drawing, photography, graphic design, ceramics and sculpture.

Jurors for the 2010 exhibition are Colby-Sawyer College art faculty Loretta Barnett and Bert Yarborough.

Fine and Performing Arts Department Chair Loretta S. W. Barnett works primarily in sculpture. Barnett’s sculptures are “playful and layered with meanings, and often incorporate elements of painting and photography.” Her interests lie in concept-based sculpture and the melding of intellectual and physical aspects of nature. Barnett focuses on the continual breaking down of barriers between art in the landscape, and landscape as art. Nature is at the core of her work—both human nature and the natural world. A graduate of Boise State University (BFA) and Ohio State University (MFA), she teaches courses in sculpture and art in the landscape.

The work of Associate Professor Bert Yarborough, whose expertise is in drawing, painting and printmaking, has evolved from an earlier focus on abstract, iconic images inspired by his experiences in the Provincelands National Seashore in Provincetown, Mass., and time spent in Nigeria as a Fulbright Fellow. He began working with the figure as a way of reaching a level of expression he felt he hadn’t attained through abstraction.

While drawing remains a key component of Yarborough’s exploration of the human form, he has begun to extract essential elements from the seashore—the water, sun, birds and figures—and reconstitute them with the mark-making language of his previous abstract work. extension and distillation of his engagement with the figure.

Yarborough teaches painting, drawing and printmaking at Colby-Sawyer, along with a capstone class in professional practice and portfolio. He holds MFA and MA degrees from the University of Iowa, and a BA from Clemson University.

The Karl Drerup Art Gallery is open Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Wednesday until
8 p.m. and by appointment, and is closed most holidays and PSU vacations.

2010 Juried Student Exhibition Winners

BEST OF SHOW OVERALL

Mario Giordano – Touch Me, Heal Me

Best in Show Level A Jaclyn Wood

Best in Show Level B Julie Nichols

Best in Show Level C Alysha Volkman

Best in Show Level D Tamara White

Best in Show Level E Ali Urella

Honorable Mentions

Level A
Michelle LeBlanc, Cortland Johansen, Jaclyn Wood

Level B
Zach Breen, Leah Nelson, Joe Bianchi

Level C
Eric Knuffke, Tak Yoshida, Nathan Cote

Level D
Mario Giordano, Kara Andersen, Glenn Madon

Level E
Elysia Michaelsen, Patrick Quinn, Katherine Berna

Also exhibiting:

Tarrah Robillard, Bailey Whitehill, Christina Kolb, Katie Cotnoir, Christine Lenzie, Hilary Austin, Sam Smart, Craig Maines, Bradley White, April Deschenes, Ali Stevenson, Matt Clive, Tyler Hanatow, Olivia Benish, Emily Galli, Callie Garp, Mitchell Cahill, Joe Bianchi, Ashley Rouillard, Tim Pietrasik, Tyler Goodwin, Katherine Clark, Sam Brown, Karen Munro, Tess Barbato, Adam Bastille.

For Gallery information, call (603) 535-2416 or log on to www.plymouth.edu/gallery.

Information about events at PSU is available online at ThisWeek@PSU, Thisweek.blogs.plymouth.edu.