Student art on display at Stringer Fine Arts

by Paige Asberry
Staff Writer

Stringer Fine Arts Center does not only house theatre productions and band concerts, it boasts the annual Hutchinson Community College Art Exhibition. 

This exhibition has been in existence for as long as the staff can remember, and is open to any student who creates during their time as a HutchCC student. 

“This exhibition is a way to show off,” said Kim Ivancovich, HutchCC Department 3 co-chair and art professor. “Students work so hard on their pieces and for them to stay in the classroom seems so unjust to me, so I love that we can bring them out of the classroom to highlight them.” 

There is plenty of participation from students, as Ivancovich and Amy Goering build participation into their curriculum, and collaborate on curating the pieces that go into the show. It is not competition based, students can submit however many pieces they want. In the case that there are too many submissions, Ivancovich and Goering will choose a student’s best or second best piece. 

“Our goal is to represent as many students as possible,” Ivancovich said.

The art exhibition is juried, which means that a judge is brought in to look through the whole show and award first, second, and third place. This year the show was judged by John Eberly, the director of the Hutchinson Art Center. First place was awarded to “Life of the Party”, oil on canvas, by Marisol Chavez. Second place went to “Butterfly”, paper relief, by Hanna Crockett. “Her Injustice”, graphite, by Brant Schafer won third place. The winners, in order, will receive a $50, $30, and $20 gift card to Hobby Lobby.

“Another thing that I love is that students get to decide if their pieces are for sale. It gives some real world experience in the land of pricing, which is always difficult,” Ivancovich said. “If they ever go out and have a booth or exhibition, pricing will be part of that. It’s very difficult, because you have to consider materials, time and then the idea as well, the mystical third component. I tell students to consider what price it would take for them to part with it, and to be OK with never seeing it again.” 

A lot of pieces done by the students are precious to them, and not for sale.

By selling their pieces at HutchCC, the student is given every dollar of their earnings. HutchCC is an educational institution, which means that they are not required to take any percentage of the payment, whereas formal galleries take 30-40%. Individuals that are looking to purchase any of the pieces can contact Bethany Newburn to make arrangements. 

The last day of the Student Art Exhibition is April 26, the same day as the Summer Send Off Concert. The artists that placed in the exhibition will be honored during the concert, as a way to publicly celebrate the work that the artists put into their pieces. 

“The students earned this. Art is hard work, and I’m so excited to present this show at the end of the year,” Ivancovich said.

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