This year’s annual juried student exhibition at the University of Memphis is not to be missed. Barbara MacAdam of ARTnews magazine selected a wonderful combination of student works that display the potential of art education in AMUM’s vast main gallery.
MacAdam has acted as deputy editor of ARTnews since 2005, having been a senior editor for the distinguished publication since 1987. The magazine is the oldest and most widely circulated art mag in the world, founded in 1902 by James Clarence Hyde as Hyde’s Weekly Art News, now published eleven times a year.
The award for Best of Show was well-chosen, given to Katie Maish’s large installation of snapshots compiled to portray a lazy day at the Levitt Shell.
- Katie Maish
- Asleep at Levitt Shell
The Centennial Award was granted to Michelle Foster’s sculpture, Mrs. Bee, a creation that acts as a sort of caricature based on a kindly, yet authoritative figure from the artist’s past.
- Michelle Foster
- Mrs. Bee
Photography is well-represented, especially with the soft light and vintage quality that helps to explore uncomfortable southern territory in Kathy Barnes’ digital print.
- Kathy Barnes
- Daughters of the Field
Paul Eade’s pair of abstract oil paintings are a definite highlight of the graduate student space.
- Paul Eade
- Cathedral II & Cathedral III
But all types of media are celebrated, such as Renee Embry’s interactive piece, executed over many sheets of tracing paper as an exercise in animation.
- Renee Embry
- Untitled
- Renee Embry
- Untitled
I’d have to say that the most auspicious works were the many sculpture pieces represented. I was particularly taken with the magical quality of Alexandra Pearson’s small box of finely crafted holy relics. But other artists display an amazing range of technique and interesting new perspectives with ceramics, newspaper, and even neckties.
- Alexandra Pearson
- Reliquary #1
The exhibition ends on March 10th, so be sure to take time to see the finest, most exciting new works that the university’s artists have to offer.
