On March 16 the department of communication, media and the arts along with Nova Southeastern University’s Art and Design program opened the doors to NSU’s art world once again, signaling the start of the 13th annual Student Juried Art Exhibition. The art exhibition, featuring over 70 pieces of student art, will be running on the second floor of the University Center in Gallery 217 until April 15.
Despite the name, the Student Juried Art Exhibition is not juried by NSU students. Instead, as associate professor and Director of the NSU Art and Design program Kandy Lopez-Moreno explained, there is a main juror that picks first, second or third place, then there are faculty choices and a dean’s choice.
“With faculty’s choice, the other professor Miriam Ahmed, who is in the graphic design concentration, and I end up buying the piece and it becomes part of the collection we have on display in the department. It was Holly Baumgartner’s first time at the exhibition as the new dean and she loved it so much she bought two pieces,” said Lopez-Moreno.
Although the Student Juried Art Exhibition is not open to all students, Lopez-Moreno explains that you do not have to major in art or graphic design in order to attend. If you take an art course within the academic year you are able to submit up to three pieces.
“Students come and ask either myself or their other professors to see which pieces they should submit. Based off that and their quality of work is how Professor Ahmed and I determine which ones get in. It’s nice because there’s a graphic design perspective and a studio art perspective when looking at these pieces so it’s not one sided, and we always try to include at least one of the pieces from the student that’s submitting,” said Lopez-Moreno.
While submissions for students to showcase their art have closed, Lopez-Moreno’s advice for students who want to submit artwork next year is to practice and take all their artwork, regardless of if it is homework or not, seriously. She stresses how there are also multiple opportunities throughout the year to have one’s artwork showcased in the department, as well as submitting projects to local and international journals. A fantastic and incredibly interesting opportunity is with the Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education with their Agar Art Contest, noted Lopez-Moreno.
“Some of the students that are in my class,” Lopez-Moreno said, “specifically for drawing or methods of materials, end up going to the biology lab and start making artwork from bacteria. We take those pieces and submit them into a show online, which starts off being juried through Facebook. So far, we’ve placed top 50 for the past three years and we were just published about our art and science projects.”
If you’re not the most artsy person but still wish to experience more art, Lopez-Moreno suggests checking out the NSU Art Museum in Fort Lauderdale and its year-round events and exhibitions.
The exhibition, titled “Lux et Veritas,” will be on view from April 2 until Oct. 23. NSU’s Student Juried Art Exhibition will be on view until April 15.
“Everyone should go. It’s free entry for students. Also, starting April 1 they’re going to showcase pieces from graduates from Yale and have their top five Black artists talking about their experiences being black at Yale. So Kehinde Wiley, who is really recognizable in the art world, along with Wangechei Mutu and others will have their art in the exhibition,” said Lopez-Moreno.
