We all had a great time.   The turn-out was wonderful! Art lovers poured in throughout the evening to celebrate our student’s work, free food and be a part of our awards ceremony.

Each year, after everyone works hard creating all of this wonderful work,  they are reminded to invite friends and family.   Afterall, this is often their first show.  Family support and pride, is always a joy to see : )

And friends celebrating one another is also the best : )

We were thrilled to see our Provost, Dr. Haggray : )

She has attended all of our shows, since she took office here, and is an avid appreciator of everyone’s works.

Dr. McClellan, our Alexandria Dean of Liberal Arts is a long-time  supporter of our art program, students and department events.  He’s come to nearly every show for so long that I presume, that  ‘decades’ would be the appropriate time frame descriptor.

Our two jurors were Nikki Brugnoli and Jon McMillan.

Nikki Brugnoli, our 2D Juror, is the Assistant Graduate Programs Coordinator, at George Mason University.

Our 3-d juror this year, Jon McMillan, is the Assistant Professor of Ceramics at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

They not only determined this year’s award winners, they were kind enough to come and hand out the award certificates.

The best part of the show is watching the surprise on our students faces.  They work so hard all year and rewarding them is inspiring.

After the list of honorable mentions, which included:

Sophia Woolston, D’Arcy Dean, Allen Beland, Daniel Rivas, Nala Ktzleb, Nora Drake, Mohamed El-Haddad, Lyle Priddy and Wesley Walker, we had our 3rd place prize, which went to Ireen Clayton-Jones for her piece “Nyquil Haze”

Our second place prize went to Christopher Tait, for his “Artifacts”

With our first place award going to Miyuki Matsuoka.

Her ‘Warriors’ made out of clay,  were thoughtfully conceived and wonderfully executed.

After the wards ceremony, there was plenty of time to enjoy the art and celebrate one another.

Mohamed Elhaddad won an honorable mention for his photo and string work.

A beautiful painting always brings great pride.

Stacy Slaten is so proud of her students!

It’s a great show as always and we can’t wait to see what the students produce next year!

So much Art to take in.  Hopefully everyone is inspiring the next art maker.

Pete Van Riper, our advanced drawing teacher, was thrilled to see the works, and our Dean, Dr. McClellan and Jessica Gardner were loving the entire reception.

The faculty are always big fans of everyone’s work.  Stacy and Jessica did a great job getting their students involved and working on the show.

Supportive friends are the best!

The show will be up until May 4th, 2018!  Come on over to see the art, the new building and perhaps say hello to us, at the new Fine Arts Office, in room 342.

Post by: Britt Conley,  Fine Art Department Studio Assistant