Exhibit brings Midwest artists to Southern
One piece of art brought to the Midwest College Salon is from Todd Cero from Kansas University. The piece is titled “Surburbia” cast in porcelain.
Artists from all over the Midwest have the chance to display their art work in an annual event.
Through April 21, the Missouri Southern art department will be hosting “Midwest College Salon.”
The exhibition is being hosted at the Spiva Art Gallery on campus. The show features student artists from across the Midwest.
“We want art to kind of bust from the seams here at this university, and hopefully start making a statement for what we are and what we do here,” said Dr. Burt Bucher, assistant professor of art.
The Midwest College Salon is an annual event, but the exhibition is expanding. The exhibition will feature two new categories this year – fabric installation and collaborative drawing.
Awards and prizes are also part of this exhibition. Juror David Mohallatee, printmaker at Eastern Kentucky University, will select category winners for cash prizes. There is an award in four categories. Best in Show will receive $400, Best 2D receives $200, Best 3D receives $200 and Honorable Mention receives $100.
The exhibition will be capped off at 7-9 p.m. April 21 with a closing ceremony.
Bucher said the department sent out mailers to 101 universities. The effort resulted in participation from Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma.
“The best time to come is the closing ceremony,” said Whitney Fair, secretary of Art League and freshman studio art major. “It will be the last time to see the show before it’s taken down. We’re trying to make it fun.”
Bucher is working to expand the show to incorporate more participation from other universities throughout the Midwest.
“That will only allow us to grow as a department and as a university,” he said.
Bucher believes getting more universities involved would be a networking tool for the university as well as the students.
As the exhibition grows, so would the need for a larger venue.
“Essentially we have a very small gallery, and the larger we get and more participation we get, this could be a very major event for people across the Midwest to come to,” Bucher said.
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