PRESS RELEASE
UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL ARKANSAS
COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS AND COMMUNICATION
February 14, 2014
CONTACT: Barclay McConnell, (501) 450-5793, barclaym@uca.edu
BAUM GALLERY TO HOST ANNUAL STUDENT COMPETITIVE
By Brandon Riddle
College of Fine Arts and Communication Media Office
CONWAY — The Baum Gallery of Fine Art at the University of Central Arkansas will present the 2014 Student Art Competitive exhibition, featuring artwork in any medium by UCA students from any academic department, March 2-16.
The exhibition will open with a public reception on Sunday, March 2, from 2-4 p.m.
Dusty Mitchell, Arkansas artist and contestant on Bravo’s reality series Work of Art: The Next Great Artist, will serve as the juror. He will give a talk about his work and his Bravo competition experience at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 24, in the McCastlain Hall Art Lecture Hall, Room 143.
Works submitted will be eligible for cash prizes totaling $1,000. Many of the works will also be on sale to gallery patrons.
“We actually have an extremely talented faculty as well as a talented student body at UCA, said Barclay McConnell, director of the Baum Gallery. “I think that’s proven each year in the annual competitive when you see the work that these students are producing. The work is excellent.”
The number of selected works varies each year.
“It depends on the juror,” McConnell said. “Every juror’s eye is different.”
In the 2013 Student Art Competitive, 170 works were submitted by 83 artists. Fifty-seven of the 83 were chosen for the final exhibition.
“Any student with passion and talent for art, regardless of major, can win the competitive,” McConnell said. “It is not always an art major.”
Baum Gallery exhibitions and events are always free and open to the public. Hours of operation are Monday-Friday 10-5, Thursday 10-7, Sunday 1-5. The Baum is located in the west wing of McCastlain Hall on UCA’s campus.
For more information visit the Baum’s website https://uca.edu/art/baum/ or contact McConnell at (501) 450-5793 or barclaym@uca.edu.
The Baum Gallery of Fine Art is an educational art museum, serving as a learning lab for the students, faculty, and staff at the University of Central Arkansas and as a cultural resource for the entire Arkansas community. The Director and the Faculty Exhibitions Committee select national and international touring exhibitions, sponsor juried student shows, and cooperate across disciplines to curate original exhibits distinctly suited to an academic environment. The gallery hosts exhibitions and events that invite interaction and encourage dialogue about visual art: the creators, studio processes, history, criticism, curation, and cultural contexts. The gallery maintains institutional memberships in the Arkansas Museums Association, The Association of College and University Museums and Galleries, and the American Association of Museums.
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