16th Annual Student Awards Exhibition

School of Art

Through March 25th

During the weeks of March 12 - March 25, the School of Art and Design (located on North Campus) is holding its Sixteenth Annual Student Awards Exhibition, which is conducted as a juried art exhibition of the artwork of currently enrolled art students who are proficiently skilled in the categories of painting, fibers, photography, digital photography, printmaking, ceramics, jewelry making, mixed media, and illustration. Students are allowed to submit two pieces of artwork to be exhibited, but it is the jurors who make the final decision as to which work will be shown and subsequently judge and award prizes to the artists. The exhibition is funded by endowments from alumni and other influential individuals who have recognized the artists" achievements. On occasion, however, the cash prizes will include restrictive stipulations. Last Saturday, an awards ceremony for the artists and their families was held in the Art and Architecture Lecture Hall.

According to Wendy Dignan, Academic Programs Associate, the cash prizes range from two hundred and fifty dollars to one thousand dollars. As a result of artists" turnover and non-restriction to one medium, each successive exhibit is distinctively different from the one before it. This year, artwork was submitted from a new category, electronic media, which incorporates computer technology and other related technologies to produce different aspects, not previously construed and utilized. The final result is art with sound and even music. Consequently, it should not come as a surprise that much of the electronic art by the student artists resembles projects by University engineering students.

Matt Nisbett, a senior from the Art School, submitted a ladle that was laced with metal wasps in successive size from the tip to the cup of the ladle. Nisbett"s specialty definitely resides with jewelry making as he also made an intricately designed metal finger ring with a cylinder for holding a personally symbolic bean, but the ring was not included in the art exhibition. Nisbett says that his ladle was inspired in part by his fascination with insects. "I would like to travel around the world and see (various) sights, possibly with money," he said, reflecting on what he would like to do proceeding his graduation from art school.

Michael Underwood, another student artist, submitted a photographic masterpiece entitled "Three Incidents: Ann Arbor, MI," which was a set of three photographic stills. "I chose to study at the University School of Art and Design because I wanted to work with Joseph Grigley, a successful professional artist (he was recently included in the Whitney Biennial), who also happens to be a very honest and generous professor," Underwood said. He began studying art in high school with indefinite plans for a career in art. "I"m not too dedicated to the notion of the starving bohemian life, and I think that several other careers are open to art students. We are some of the only University of Michigan students with virtually unlimited access to cutting edge technology-Alias 3-D imaging, Avid digital video editing these skills can always get you a job somewhere," Underwood said.

Underwood, who is a senior this year, plans to attend the California Institute of Arts for their MFA program, following graduation. "Being a more progressive school, they have no media-specific departments so it will be a good place to experiment and get a lot of work done over two years," he said.