Contact: Rachel Hood, Bardo Arts Center Marketing Manager | 828.227.2505 | rhood@wcu.edu
BAC Hosts the 55th Annual Juried Undergraduate Exhibition
On view February 21 – March 24, with a reception on Thursday, March 2
Short Blurb: Western Carolina University’s Annual Juried Undergraduate Exhibition is one of the longest-running Catamount art traditions. This exhibition is an extraordinary opportunity for WCU undergraduate students to share their artwork with a larger public and to enhance their skills in presenting artwork in a professional gallery setting. Entries are reviewed by an outside art professional who selects the works for exhibition at the WCU Fine Art Museum. This year, the exhibition juror is Margaret Curtis, a feminist artist and painter who has been creating work since the late 1980s.
Cullowhee, NC | Western Carolina University’s Annual Juried Undergraduate Exhibition is one of the longest-running Catamount art traditions. This exhibition is an extraordinary opportunity for WCU undergraduate students to share their artwork with a larger public and to enhance their skills in presenting artwork in a professional gallery setting. Entries are reviewed by an outside art professional who selects the works for exhibition at the WCU Fine Art Museum. Selected works will be on view at the Museum from February 21 through March 24, 2023. An awards ceremony will be held at the WCU Fine Art Museum on Thursday, March 2 from 5 to 7 p.m.
Artists exhibiting this year are Olivia Bartlett, Cassidy Burns, Matthew Cain, Amanda Clark, Bella Cugini, Erin Elsey, Elise Evans, Annette Gomez, Kinsley Gunter, Heather Hennessey, Chance Holmes-Snowden, Josh Jordan, Gillian Kaminski, Kit Kaufman, Henry Klesius, Kiara Leary, Abby Ledet, Madi Livingston, Madison (Darla) Lohwasser, Joshua Masters, Gloria Melo-Estrada, Naomi Michelle, Jessica Rial, and Matt Stapley.
This year’s exhibition juror is Margaret Curtis, a feminist artist whose multi-layered, narrative paintings address interpersonal and societal power dynamics. She is a 2021-2026 Joan Mitchell Foundation Fellow. Curtis received degrees from Duke University and The Atlanta College of Art. She has shown at the Brooklyn Museum, The Andy Warhol Museum, The Wexner Center, The Mint Museum, and the Asheville Art Museum, among others. Her work has been included in notable exhibitions, from Bad Girls at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in 1993, to Start Talking at the North Carolina Museum of Art in 2022.
Reviews and features of Curtis’ work have appeared in Art Forum, Harper’s, The Oxford American, The New York Times, Art in America, Art News, Modern Painters, New Art Examiner, and other national publications. Her work is in permanent collections throughout the United States. She is the recipient of fellowships at Yale and Duke University and numerous residency awards. Tracey Morgan Gallery currently represents her. Curtis currently has a suite of drawings on view at the WCU Fine Art Museum and will be giving a Visiting Artist talk on Wednesday, March 1 from 1 to 2 p.m. in Bardo Art Center’s lecture hall
BAC 130.
Parking is free for the reception at Bardo Arts Center. The address of the event is 199 Centennial Drive, Cullowhee, NC 28723. This event will include remarks from the juror, awards, complimentary hors d’oeuvres, and drinks.
Visit arts.wcu.edu/juried-23 to learn more about the exhibition. To see BAC’s full calendar of events, please visit arts.wcu.edu/explore or call (828) 227-ARTS, or (828) 227-2787.
