Anyone who has ventured off to the second floor of Talbot Hall will notice a huge display of talent that Nicholls has to offer. This Friday, the 55th Annual Student Art Exhibition, will come to an end. This event, which takes place for one week, once a year, displays Nicholls students’ talent in the areas of painting, drawing, photography, printmaking, papermaking, sculpture, ceramics, design, digital art and graphic design. The art department faculty have worked together each year and created a competition in which students are encouraged to enter.
“The judge goes in and picks out the best pieces. This teaches students not that they are not good enough, but it teaches them how to be competitive. It gives art students the chance to see what their work is lacking,” Dennis Siporski, head of the art department said.
The competition is open to all students who have taken art courses here at Nicholls. This year’s competition was the largest thus far with over 300 entries in the competition.
The competition is a learning process that teaches many valuable lessons. “It’s like people who ask someone to dance in a bar. They are told no and they never ask anybody else again. It’s all about learning to be able to deal with rejection,” Siporski said.
For this year’s competition Ted Barns, chair of the art department at Louisiana College in Pineville judged every area except graphic design, which was judged by graphic designer Blake Coffman.
There was a first place winner chosen in each media and as many merit awards as the judges wanted were given. There was an award given for the best written paper on art history. Another award entitled “The People’s Choice Award” was given to the project viewers liked the most. A top award, Best of Show, was also awarded to the student whose project the judges felt was the best of all that were viewed.
Student winners were awarded prizes in the form of cash and gift certificates, which ranged from $50 to $150. One business,
Southern Camera, donated a $100 gift certificate to their store.
The show gives students a chance to learn and appreciate each other’s work. Projects displayed are very diverse. Students are given the freedom to use skills they have acquired and create their own ideas.
“It’s kind of sad,” Siporski said “because a lot of people that don’t come to Talbot don’t see the show. A lot of people are in Polk or Gouaux Hall and they never leave those buildings so they don’t really get an opportunity to come up and see it.”
If anyone is interested, the art is on display on the second floor of Talbot Hall in the Ameen Art Gallery. The art will be on display until tomorrow.
