Among the noise and excitement, Sam Rosby demands the crowd’s attention one last time. It is strange for him at first, but once he begins his words flow effortlessly as if he were hosting a dinner party.

“This is how the art world actually works,” Rosby said. “You’re a maker because you have to be a maker and what do you do with it… you show it. Maybe you’re going towards rewards or recognition, using it toward getting into the next school, as a resume builder. It’s all good.”

A crowd of students and staff gathered around Rosby in room C200 at William Rainey Harper Community College in anticipation of the annual Harper Student Juried Art Exhibition award ceremony Tuesday morning. Out of 174 pieces entered, only 23 made the final cut for the exhibit.

The Exhibition is coordinated by Rosby, who has taught ceramics and 2-D design at Harper College for the past 28 years. The exhibition has been running for the past 20 years and Rosby has been in charge for the last 15.

Once a year the Art Department puts on this exhibition and it is open to the whole Harper community to participate. Even if you are not in an art program, you are eligible to enter a piece that will compete for a place in the final selection.

“I think it’s an important thing as it’s an introduction to how artists show their work, put out their work,” Rosby explained.
Once all pieces are submitted by the pre-determined deadline, a juror has to go through and pick only a few for this small, exclusive show which means a lot of rejections.

“I have been rejected from more shows than they possibly will ever enter,” Rosby exclaimed. “In the real world, nobody gives you a leg up.”

The space provided to house the exhibit in room C200 is quite small. It can fit small groups of people comfortably but that does not include the art. The exhibit is designed for 2-D and 3-D art such as paintings, photography, and sculptures.

The size of each piece plays a part in whether it will be selected. The overall flow is important because of the allotted space allowed. Unfortunately larger pieces may not be chosen regardless of what they could mean to the exhibition.

“What are the really important pieces, the must-haves,” Rosby asks. “Maybe it’s the color, the form is great or maybe it pushes the envelope on what you see.”

April 11 was the deadline given to all artists who wished to enter the exhibit, but Rosby explained that it is always a false deadline and that students actually have until the morning that the visiting juror reviews their work.

Nicole Schemansky, a Harper student, notes that she was up all night working on her piece, Bereavement, in order to meet the deadline. When asked when she finished her work, a tired and sullen-eyed Schemansky replied, “5:30 a.m. Yeah, I haven’t gone to bed.”

Earlier that morning all hands were on deck preparing for the entries to be viewed and judged. All pieces in storage are quickly displayed in a manner to stand out and be noticed.

By 10 a.m. the juror, Dave Menard, who is himself an artist, a Harper College alum and a Professor of Art at Rockford University, begins his selection of finalists. By noon he has 23 pieces selected for this year’s exhibition.

The pieces that Menard picks for display is a huge achievement for the students. Their hard work pays off in a major way by being shared with the rest of the Harper community.

A select few also received awards for their contributions to the exhibit.

The Sue L. Shultz Memorial Endowment Fund and the Renee Windle Danforth Memorial Endowment/Fine Arts Scholarship made it so that six awards were available for artists in the exhibition. Two awards were provided by Menard awarded to Elizabeth Patino and Gene Zielnicki. The remaining four were faculty merit awards given to Leah Hines, Nicole Schemansky, Bart Kamyk, and Adrian Santiago.

For a full viewing of the art exhibit and the awarded pieces, please click here.

Shemansky also received the Ray Mills Award from the Educational Foundation for the highest scoring piece as chosen by her peers and editors of the Point Of View Student Art and Literary magazine. “I’m really happy,” Schemansky exclaimed, “I never expect anything so it was nice.”

At the end of the ceremony, Rosby announced that he is retiring at the end of the semester.

“It’s kind of a strange feeling knowing this is the last time that I’m doing this,” Rosby recalled. “All the shows are so good that whichever one you decide to leave on is a good show to leave on because they’re strong.”