Each year, The Stanlee and Gerald Rubin Center for Visual Arts hosts its annual Student Juried Art Exhibit that highlights the artwork designed and produced by art majors. This year, the exhibit will begin on May 6 and will run until August 6. The finalists for the fine arts category were disclosed April 25.

Kerry Doyle, director and managerial lecturer for the UTEP Department of Art is in charge of the event. “We invited two jurors from the outside, one in the area of graphic design and the other in the area of fine arts to judge work that is produced by UTEP art students over the course of the year,” Doyle said.

Orlando Portillo, creative director of YeYe studios in Chihuahua, Mexico, was invited to judge the graphic design competition.

He judged 24 pieces on April 15 to be featured in the exhibit. For the fine arts category, Alejandro Almanza Pereda selected 38 pieces from the different categories including printmaking, metals, sculpture, ceramics, paintings and drawing. Almanza Pereda received his MFA from Hunter College in New York. His work can be found in the Goetz Collection, Kadist Collection, ASU Museum, Museo Del Barrio, Colección Jumex and Museo de Arte de Lima.

“The judges are professional creators and graphic designers and it’s a subjective judging process so they judge the pieces they feel best exemplifies contemporary art production,” Doyle said. With over 400 pieces submitted, only 62 were selected for in the exhibit.

Students were allowed to submit up to 5 pieces at $4 for every submission, and the jurors judged anonymously without nametags on the pieces. “They don’t know the students, or the names of the students and they choose the work that they think best exemplifies the production of the art department during that year,” Doyle said.

Josue Emmanuel Fierro, senior studio art major, entered the sculpture category and is one of the finalists to be featured in the exhibit.

Two of his pieces were chosen. “I’ve been working with gum wrappers this semester,” Fierro said. “I like working with the gum wrappers because of the small scale and how familiar we are with them. Yet they are something that doesn’t get much attention. Something that we discard. So I’m interested in what can be explored there as far as folding, shaping, tearing collaging and printing both monotypes and screen prints,” Fierro said.

The opening reception for the exhibition will take place on at 5 p.m., Friday, May 6 and will last until 7:30 p.m. There will be several cash prizes such as $150 for Best Sculpture, Best Print, Best Photograph/Digital Image and Best Painting.

The ultimate prizes are the Arlene Smith McKinnon Endowment Purchase Award for Overall Best of Show and the Sarah and Tom Lea Purchase Award for Best Life Drawing or Life Painting, both a $750 award. “We are always too proud to host this student exhibition,” Doyle said.

“It is the only time during the year that we are showing student art work here at the Rubin Center and we are really proud to give the students a professional venue and to share their production with our audience.” Gloria Heredia might be reached at [email protected].