Juried Art Show brightens Vendor’s Alley with year’s worth of creativity

Visitors to the reception for the eighth annual Juried Art Show admire the paintings on display. The showcase of artwork done by Foundations in Art and Design students took place in Vendor’s Alley in the Gordon Willey building.

The eighth annual Juried Art Show hit the halls of Durham College on April 13, showcasing the best creations from the college’s Foundations in Art and Design (FAD) program.

Comprised of art pieces – photographs, sculptures, paintings and more – created by FAD students, the show covered Vendor’s Alley in a collage of eccentric yet brilliant offerings that consistently stopped passers-by in their tracks to have a look.

“The exhibit functions primarily as an important collective culmination of all the creative processes that each individual student experiences throughout their academic year,” said Sean McQuay, the Durham College FAD professor who organizes the display. “It gives them a chance to show off any acquired skills and works like a kind of testing ground for developing new visual ideas and concepts.”

The show also included a contest judged by Greg Murphy, dean of the School of Media, Art & Design and Gabrielle Peacock, chief executive officer of the Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa, Ontario. The winners of the contest will be on display at the Station Gallery in Whitby, Ontario during the month of May, giving art aficionados beyond the college an opportunity to appreciate the work done by its students.

“This show makes it more serious for them,” said Herb Klassen, a professor with the School of Media, Art & Design who works with McQuay on the show. “It gives them a sense that their work is at a professional level.”

The winning piece, The Bay Harbour Butcher by Jessica Wallace, will ultimately be bought by the School of Media, Art & Design and displayed in its office.

Klassen noted that with more manpower to help, they’d like to expand the showing to other parts of the year. “We’d like to see if we can get more things like this happening other than just at the end of the year and in other parts of the school,” he added. “We really appreciate the Station Gallery giving us the chance to display the works in a more public setting.”