Art and design students at Wayne State College have the chance to show their work in the Juried Art Show, which will be open from April 24 through Aug. 1. 

“Every spring we have an open call for art students to submit entries into a juried show,” Andy Haslit, professor of art history and gallery director, said. “A juried show is when we have an outside juror, in this case, somebody who was a visiting artist here a couple, three years ago. The juror selects of all the entries which works are going to be in the show, and then at the juror’s discretion, grants awards like best in show, honorable mention, that type of thing. But it represents the works of everybody across the art department that chose to submit.”  

Some of the works being presented are done by studio art students and art education students, in particular.  

“A part of their senior capstone project is that they’ll have a senior exhibition, that’s what’s up right now, but this gives people an opportunity to show if they are not seniors or if they are graphic design students,” Haslit said.  

Haslit said this year’s juror will be Camille Voorhees, an art teacher in the Omaha area.  

“It’s not like a specific type of art that needs to go in,” Alexandra Splittgerber, a studio art and graphic design double major, said. “There’s a broad range. Like, it could be sculptures, paintings, digital art or photography.” 

“It’s unique each year,” Haslit said. “The idea of a juried show is pretty common in community and college art galleries, but the thing that makes it interesting is each year is different from every other year, just because of the nature of what gets submitted. Different media, different topics, different styles, so there’s something unique about every art show even within kind of a tradition that’s done every year.” 

“I entered six pieces,” Splittgerber said. “I have two wood burnings, two paintings I entered and then two prints. The requirement is you can only enter three of each medium. Just to keep it so one person isn’t the entire show.” 

Haslit said there aren’t many other requirements; it just needs to be made within the last two years and not have been in a juried show before. 

“It’s a chance to see the breadth in the range of art that Wayne State art students are producing in a variety of different media,” Haslit said. “Like every art show, it’s a chance to kind of take a break in the middle of the day, go look at things and get back to studying. I think it’s a big accomplishment for the students that did put together submissions and got into the show.” 

“It’s not just for students to see,” Splittgerber said. “Sometimes families will come up for the opening and stuff like that, so it’s a nice community thing, not necessarily just for art students.”