Photos by Katelynn Pennington .

Last Thursday, the Department of Art & Art History held the 2018 Annual Student Juried Exhibition Award Ceremony in Rowe Lobby to reward students in the Art major for their excellent works.

Lauren Harkey, partner and consultant of Hodges Taylor Gallery, is the juror this year. Harkey has earned her Bachelor’s degree of Art History and Psychology from UNC-Chapel Hill, and her Master’s in Letters in Modern and Contemporary Art with distinction from the University of Glasgow in association with Christie’s Education in London, England. Furthermore, Harkey has also gone to the University of North Carolina School of Law in 2014 with an outstanding honor.

At the ceremony, the department has announced the student winners of unique pieces presented in the gallery. There are several award-winning pieces worth seeing. Inclusion, by Nicole Rhodes, is a powerful piece that involves mixed media displayed on the wall right above the stairs. At a glance, the art looks like a beam of light shining through the dark. However, in a closer observation, Inclusion combines collages of different body images of individuals from different races and genders. Everyone, regardless of his or her identity and background, makes up the picture. Self Portrait, by Elizabeth Hammock, is another special one. Hammock sketch herself glancing to her right. In the sketch, her eyebrows are a bit raised, and her lips are bent downward. There is also a “postcard” hanging in the lower gallery in Rowe that says: “Dear Mom and Dad, I am at Yosemite National Park and it is absolutely gorgeous! I am so glad that I am able to see it before Trump decides to close thus place, along with all the other national parks. Love, Your Daughter.”

Walking to the upper stair of Rowe, you’ll be able to see more exhibitions. Cacti, by J. Bailey Tatum, is a sophisticated collection. Tatum uses acrylic to construct the humps on the plants. To an extent, the little acrylic cubes look like the pixels that make up the cacti in a Two-Dimensional video game, but their translucent feature adds an expensive sense onto the pieces. Moreover, the rose trigone in front of the second-floor window is also aesthetically pleasing. Thousands of printed roses make up the trigone, and on top of them, there is a large carved rose.

There’re much more to see in the exhibition. All the pieces are exhibited in the Rowe Gallery from Feb. 21 to March 6. If you have time later this week or during spring break, don’t forget to stop by Rowe to appreciate the works done by the Art students.