2018 Student Art Show

Pictured: Tutor David Townsend presents the 2018 Charles Vernon Moran Prize and Honorable Mention to Cora Allen and Barnabas Holleran

By Julia Cooper

This year we are having our 27th annual St. John’s College Community Art Exhibition!

Every year the Mitchell Art Gallery, following its splendid exhibitions from throughout the year, concludes the semester with a show on exclusively student art.

Students are invited to submit up to three works of art each, and as an enrolled student, they are given the opportunity to have their works matted and framed for free by the gallery.

Any work submitted by seniors are up for consideration for the Charles Vernon Moran Prize! The prize is given to a senior to encourage them to continue their art careers.

Faculty and Staff are also welcome to submit work to the show, and everyone is also given to opportunity to put their art up for sale!

The exhibition opens just before the end of the year, and the Charles Vernon Moran Prize is presented at the opening reception. The reception also included live jazz by the St. John’s Jazz Coalition. This year the Prize went to Cora Allen for her two portraits, Reflection and Nobody Deserves Mime and Untitled, a polymer sculpture. Barnabas Holleran received Honorable Mention for his three hand crafted rings, one of walnut and maple, the second of maple and copper and the third of walnut and fire coral. Tutor David Townsend presented the prize.

This art show is really important because it represents everything that St. John’s is outside the program. There are few moments such as the club fair and sports events and art shows such as these where we can really see how much extracurricular life thrives here at St. John’s. Having an outlet for the arts to show their merit provides encouragement for the students  to continue to make art and think visually and creatively outside of the program.

It is so exciting to see how talented the students are and how motivated they are on their own. The St. John’s program provides incredible skills which actually benefit our artists. Learning how to listen and slow down your brain in the way students practice during class provides a level of articulation and deliberateness to their art. I myself have seen my own art change as I have changed throughout these years at St. John’s, and the Art Program and shows such as these encourage me to continue to evolve my artistic personality.