Instead of a watercolor painting,

it was torn bed sheets woven

together and painted with acrylics

that won first place in FLUX,

the Honors College and College

of the Arts art show, Friday.

Rachel Stadtler, junior crafts

major with a concentration on

ceramics, said she wanted to

use two-dimensional mediums

to make a 3-D image by playing

with depth and space.

She created the winning piece

“Slump” for a textiles class last

semester and used several different

artistic techniques such as

acrylic painting, splatter painting

and weaving to achieve the

final look.

Jeffrey Ingram, one of the

judges, said the originality of

“Slump” really caught his attention.

Stadtler’s piece was really

“pushing the envelope” and

“testing the boundaries,” he

added.

Stadtler, who also won first

place last year for a self-portrait,

was junior curator for FLUX.

Next year, she will have the full

responsibility of the show as

senior curator, but she still plans

to enter some of her work.

Amanda Meeker, senior fine

arts major with a concentration

in print making, won second

place for her painting of a

young, starving child. She said

her piece “Without” was a gentle

reminder of something she

felt was important.

“I wanted it to be beautiful

and sad at the same time,”

Meeker said.

She added she thought the

piece was especially appropriate

with the recent disaster in Haiti.

Alexandra Nicholis, an Honors

College alumna, has acted as

a judge for the art show since it

began four years ago. She said

she really enjoyed the message

of Meeker’s work.

“I liked the story behind the

painting,” Nicholis said.

She said that in the past four

years, although the show has

been “relatively small” with only

about nine pieces, it has also been

“consistently strong” with really

good, original works of art.

The first- and second-place

winners received gift certificates

to All Media Material in differing

amounts, but the judges were so

pleased with the collection of art

work they wanted to award an

honorable mention.

Carolyn Corrigan, the senior

curator for FLUX and art history

major, won honorable mention

for “Vertebrae,” a metal sculpture

made of galvanized wire.

She said her interest in anatomy

inspired the sculpture.

From bed sheets to wool

coats, the art in the show offered

a lot of variety for viewers. This

variety is partially what inspired

the theme, FLUX, for the 2010

show, Corrigan said. It represented

the constantly fluctuating

art world.

She said the idea behind the

one-word themes is to get people

wondering about the show and

to spark some interest. FLUX was

chosen to express an all-inclusive

show with all different types of

art. It included portfolios by theater,

dance and music majors, as well as works by fine arts, crafts

and fashion majors.

For the past four years, the

Honors College has hosted an art

show that occurs at the same time

as the College of the Arts show

to allow people to experience a

whole night in celebration of students’

art.

Freshman architecture major

Samuel Bender came to the reception

for opening night to see the

students’ artwork. He said he

liked the variety of the mediums

the students used in their art.

Corrigan said the show offers

students a great opportunity to

exhibit their work, and both judges

agreed that the best way for

artists to develop their skills is to

exhibit them and get “feedback”

from other artists.

Nicholis said it is “a sort of hallmark”

of the Honors College to be

supportive of the artistic talent of

its students, and this yearly show

is just another example of that.

Corrigan agreed that the show is

an important way for students to

be creative, but also for others to

see what honors students have to

offer.

“We’re not just smart kids,”

Corrigan said. “We’re creative.

We’re expressive. We’ve got talent.

Come look at it.”

The works will be on display

in the Honors College located in

Stopher Hall until March 24.

Contact Honors College

reporter Bethany English

at [email protected].