Winners for the Graduate and Undergraduate Competition Have been Announced!  
 

Graduate Competition First Place Winner


Lucy May

Royal College of Art (London)

Winning Gallery



Lucy May completed her BA in Fine art at The Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, University of Oxford. She is currently working on completing her MA in Art at the Royal College of Art in London. According to Lucy "My work is founded on an ongoing investigation of memory and the imagination, and revels in the grotesquely beautiful and the dusty annals of the past. The current sculptural work takes its cue from graphic sources such as the etchings of Rembrandt, Goya and Durer. It is heavily informed by Italian Baroque sculpture and therefore religious motifs. Said motifs and arresting details from etchings are worked up into fantastical tableaux and figures. Their form, although recognizably in homage to traditional sculptural idioms, are molten and indeterminate; subject matter and meaning are thus rendered subservient to the seething and writhing mass of secretions and organic growth." To read an interview with Lucy, please click HERE.

Graduate Competition Second Place Winner


Justin Lowman

Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA

Winning Gallery



Justin Lowman earned a BA in Art History and Classic Humanities from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He is currently concluding his MFA Candidate at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. Justin describe in his own words his works "I want to reinvigorate various kinds of contexts both public and private to produce renewed awareness of being. With a change in focus or through a unique set of materials, one can see the familiar in new ways in order to pause and reflect on a moment, to capture a fleeting glimpse or perhaps even to smile and gain a sense of wonder. Producing this kind of situation is important to me because so much of our lives are bombarded with speed and information that challenges our ability to process our lives. As the quality of contemporary life feels increasingly rapid, we observe that time still measures the same as it ever has. Why then do situations sometimes feel painstakingly slow while others exceptionally fast? Taking time to appreciate the small things in moments of contemplation affords the viewer an opportunity to digest and restore." To read an interview with Justin, please click HERE.


Graduate Competition Third Place Winner


Jessica Wohl
University of Georgia

Winning Gallery

Jessica is currently working on her Masters of Fine Arts at the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia in Drawing and Painting. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration and Art History at the Kansas City Art Institute. In Jessica's words "I’m interested in the concept of the family. What is a family, and by what is it defined? A family constitutes a group of multiples with a shared common bond, and I investigate the nature of, and the power of that bond. I’m interested in exploring the illusion of a family: how it portrays itself to the world, how they hold themselves together, and what might happen they let themselves fall apart. Collecting family photographs, stories, memories and imagery connects my personal experience to a larger history. I also collect culturally derived patterns and ornament, most specifically, lace, as it references my Russian ancestors. Collecting, accumulating and arranging are all ways in which one manipulates their environment to achieve perfection, and it is in the obsessive nature of my work in which I emulate the quest for perfection that many families undertake and display. " To read our interview with Jessica, Click HERE.


To see a full-breakdown of the Graduate Winners and Finalists, click HERE.



 

Undergraduate Competition First Place Winner


Sara Sisun

Stanford University

Winning Gallery
Sara Susin was born in Denver, Colorado. She is currently completing her BA at Stanford University with a major in Studio Art and a minor in Creative Writing. She has been painting at the Art Students League of Denver since 1990. She has taken classes from Heather Delzell, Kevin Weckbach, Kim English, Ron Hicks, Ken Velastro and Quang Ho. In 2004, Sara won the Allied Arts Award. In 2005 she was highlighted in Southwest Art Magazine's annual "21 under 30" feature. Sara has sold paintings to private and corporate collections including the Kaiser Permanente Corporate Collection. Sara plans to pursue a career as an oil painter. To read an interview with Sara, Click HERE.

Undergraduate Second Place Winner


Jessica Brown

University of Alaska

Winning Gallery
Jessica Brown is completing her BA in Art degree at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Jessica has participate in a number of solo and group exhibits. In her own words "I believe in the off-kilter, the beauty of the asymmetrical, and the balance of opposition. I revel in the surprising, messy and often humorous nature of life. My works are inspired by the question marks surrounding cultural dualities such as mind/body, man/nature, and self/other. Whether with painting, performance, or installations my aim is to stimulate introspective dialogue in my viewer and expand their intrigue of the absurdities of life." To Read an interview with Jessica, click HERE.


Undergraduate Third Place Winner


Zach Stein
University of Kentucky

Winning Gallery
Zach Stein's installations, monotypes, and paintings tend to be experimental in nature. This is achieved by the fact that Zach utilizes a variety of mediums in an intuitive manner-- everything from hot glue to rum. He is an artist who is not afraid to test the limits of his materials. Zach is currently a student at the University of Kentucky. Zach is currently and undergraduate student in art education/studio at University of Kentucky. To read an interview with Zach, click HERE.


To see a full-breakdown of the undergraduate Winners and Finalists, click HERE.