This month marks the 36th Annual Juried Student Show in Leffler Chapel’s Lyet Gallery where art students at Elizabethtown College will submit their own pieces. The exhibition will be on display from April 14 through April 26.
The main difference between a juried art show and a regular art show is that there is a judge that selects the presented pieces for the show, rather than an artist who is invited. This year’s judge is professor of art at Franklin and Marshall College Jun Cheng Liu. Liu has been a professor there since 2003.
“A juried art show is a little bit more competitive,” Etown’s gallery director and professor of art Milt Friedly explained. “In the case of a student show you bring an outside judge in.”
Friedly has been a professor at Elizabethtown College since 1987, and he established the Juried Student Art Show in 1988.
“The first show was in the Susquehanna room,” Friedly reminisced. “That was a cafeteria at the time. We had work up on the walls, on pedestals, and the students were eating there!” Friedly said he enjoyed that other students got exposure to the artwork. He believes it’s a good idea to have an outside opinion when it comes to one of these exhibits, and he estimates that there are typically between 75 and 100 pieces in each student art show.
“It’s a lot,” Friedly said. “With the capacity of the gallery, we can only take so many pieces for the show. So, that’s why we have a judge come in to make the selections.” A lot of students submit their work to these shows, and one such student is senior graphic design major Isa Abdul-Rahman.
“I was in the 2022 Juried Art Show,” Abdul-Rahman said. “It was a great intro [to] being a part of an art show. I had some really nice pieces but I didn’t win anything.” Abdul-Rahman was the artist behind the advertising and catalog for last month’s “In Light of Color” art exhibit, organized by associate art professor Kristi Arnold. The exhibit took place between February 9 and March 23. The description on the Fine Arts website reads: “with color, comes light. For without light, color fades.” Abdul-Rahman collaborated with Arnold to create colorful advertisements for the show. The vivid posters adorning the doors to the front entrance of Steinman were all his handiwork.
“My favorite medium is digital [art], mostly Adobe Photoshop,” he said. As a graphic design student, it’s very fitting. Art is becoming more and more modern as the world progresses, and while it’s no longer contained to the physical world, it never loses its meaning.
“Art is really about life,” Friedly said. “You might have the skills, but the idea, the concept? That becomes problem-solving.” He believes that in your work is your soul and when you create, it comes out.
“It’s your voice. That is what’s going to resonate with the audience,” Friedly said. “Sometimes, I’ll see student work, and if that work resonates with me, there’s gotta be something there.” Abdul-Rahman felt a very similar way.
“When I create I always think about things that I like, [things] that a lot of other people relate to. I also think about colors and the way they make people feel,” Abdul-Rahman said. He plans to submit his artwork to this gallery as well as for the upcoming senior art show.
The art gallery hours are listed on the College’s website—weekdays 9 a.m to 8 p.m and weekends from 1 to 5 p.m. The awards ceremony and reception for this art show will take place on Scholarship and Creative Arts Day (SCAD) Monday, April 25 at 5:00 p.m.
