Gallery • 3 Photos

Beth Pyles

Senior Sophie McDowell’s woodcut “She Never Left the Garden” won the prize for best print in the showSenior Sophie McDowell’s woodcut “She Never Left the Garden” won the prize for Best Print in the show.

A student juried art show held at Guilford College had its closing reception on Friday, Dec. 5, in the galleries of Founders Hall.

A juried art show means that the pieces are being judged by a panel. Although it may have been a competition, most of the artists there just seemed happy to show off their work. The art show had a wide variety of media such as drawings, paintings, prints and sculptures, and the rooms were glowing with brightly colored pieces.

Senior Sophie McDowell’s art was hung along a wall, and the vibrant colors of her prints could easily catch anyone’s attention walking up the stairs.

“I think it’s important for all artists to show their work. Art should be seen, so it’s really nice that we have this opportunity to show it in a space that all students can walk around in,” McDowell said.

McDowell and sophomore Madison Suggs were just some of the artists featured in the art show. Suggs, for one, had a lot to say about the significance of the show.

“It gives our whole Guilford student art community a sense of inspiring comradery,” Suggs said. “You get to see totally different parts of various people that are here.”

Suggs

had three pieces in the art show, one of which was a self portrait that was inspired by Frank Cadogan Cowper’s piece, “After Vanity.”

Among the people enjoying the art show were two Guilford Guides, LaKeisha Williams and Mollie Blafer.

“We were just downstairs with a student who was excited because someone wanted to buy her piece, and she said she wouldn’t even know how much to sell it for,” Blafer said. “So I think it gives students hands-on experiences because this is what a lot of those students that are art majors want to be doing, and it’s hard to get that experience for the first time. So I’m glad that they provide this.”

Williams described the show as important for students to put their artistic abilities on display because it is a reflection of their individuality.

“Art is inherently political,” Williams said. “It gives students, staff and faculty an opportunity to see the art that these students create. Once everyone can see it, a larger conversation can be had, and then community is built.”