Works by students, chosen by artist and guest juror Paul Stephen Benjamin, will be featured in the Annual Juried Student Exhibition at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts Feb. 25-April 3.
This will mark the 45th year for the annual exhibition, presented by the UAB College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Art and Art History. It will feature 38 artworks created by UAB art students, exhibited in an AEIVA gallery.
At 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 25, there will be a free, virtual opening reception for the exhibition via Zoom. Register for this event online. A virtual tour of the show will be available on AEIVA’s website uab.edu/aeiva in March. This exhibition is sponsored by the Jemison Visiting Professorship in the Humanities and by the Friends of the UAB Department of Art and Art History.
AEIVA’s galleries are closed to the general public in accordance with UAB’s current policies regarding limited access to campus.
The Juried Student Exhibition is an experiential learning opportunity for the students of the UAB Department of Art and Art History. The show is open to all students who took art and art history courses in the past two years.
Featured in the exhibition are works by students Erika Aho, Alan Atkins, Kaitlyn Avery, Mickey Bolyard, Cicely Hill, Cameron Canevaro, Xie Beth Craig, Katie Davis, Matthew Davis, Ashley Frith, Josh Hoggle, Dani Ivey, Maddie Manston, Erin McMahon, Hayley Mikell, Pelatiah Morgan, Caroline Myers, Harper Nichols, Sabrina Palmer, Blanca Parga, Brittany Peters, Derriann L. Pharr, Rosalia V. Reyes, Levi Sanford, Kenny Saylor Jr., Troy Shirley, Cole Swarts, Molly Sinclair, Alexander Tucker, Diane C. Tucker, Kameron Williams, Ta’Ron Williams, and Chris Youngblood.
Exhibition juror and Atlanta-based artist Paul Stephen Benjamin said he is honored to be the 2020-2021 juror and praised seeing “the diverse media applied” to the works and thanks students who submitted them. The chosen pieces — a small sample of the hard work being put in by the students and faculty — “reflect an adroit use of concept, aesthetic and craftsmanship,” he said.
“These are unprecedented times, and the work being created by artists now tells our story, collectively, and your story, individually,” Benjamin said. “Whether your work was selected or not, I challenge you to continue recording history through your eyes. That is the profound responsibility of being an artist.”
Benjamin received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his Master of Fine Art degree from Georgia State University.
Benjamin, a recipient of The Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia Working Artist Project, exhibited works at the MOCA GA in 2017 as a part of the award. Winner of the 2014 Artadia Award, he has also been awarded the Winnie B. Chandler Fellowship, Diasporal Rhythms Artists Recognition Award, Hambidge Fellowship, The Atlanta Contemporary Art Center Studio Program and the Forward Arts Emerging Artists Award. In 2016 Benjamin exhibited “Black is the Color” at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta.
For more information, visit uab.edu/uabarts.