Story and Photos by MALEAH GRIFFIN
Tiger Media Network
The Student Honors Exhibition hosted its opening reception on Friday. The show features student art works, created in studio classes during the current school year. The artists submitted up to four pieces in hopes of their work being accepted into the show. At the event, $7,000 worth of scholarships were awarded to students. Amongst these were three $1,000 Fields Scholarships, which were presented to Thais Villalobos, Skyler Ash, and Lucy Martin.
Art and Design freshman Sophia Ballenger had two pieces of art accepted into the show; an ink and charcoal drawing, “Internal Theatrics” and a ceramics piece, “Gemini Post-Coral.”
“‘Internal Theatrics’ was one of my favorite pieces I did in Drawing I. I really fell in love with the piece, so I was excited when it got accepted into the show,” Ballenger said. “I created my ceramics piece this semester in Ceramics I. It’s a really cool piece; it’s hand-built, uses underglazes, and the colors came out super vibrant.”
A man admires Katelyn Blanco’s painting, “Two Friends Watching an Approaching Storm,” hung first thing when entering the gallery 
An Interior Design artwork. 
A guest admires a print art piece. 
A guest admires one of the $200 scholarship-winning works. 
A student walks into the gallery looking at the many artworks. 
A man admires a hand-thrown ceramics set. 
Two guests admire the layout containing all paintings. 
Guests react to one of the works awarded a $1,000 Fields Scholarship 
A conversation with the Gallery Director and Professor, Colin Schmidtberger. 
Students conversate over an art piece. 
Guest Judge, Rodney Wood, addresses the crowd and artists. 
Guests enjoy the provided snacks and drinks. 
A scholarship winner accepts her award from the judge. 
Thais Villalobos poses with her scholarship and artwork, “Note to Self.” 
A student commemorates the acceptance of her artwork in a photo with loved ones 
A student with gallery artwork holds flowers presented to her by loved ones. 
The Gallery log fills quickly as many people attend the opening reception
This year’s juror was Rodney Wood, an artist, educator, and arts advocate and activist. He was a fitting candidate, having curated over 200 exhibitions and judging or jurying more than 50 art shows. As an artist, he started in metalsmithing and sculpture, dedicated much time to photography, and is known widely for his oil paintings.
Out of the approximately 260 artworks entered, around 80 were accepted into the exhibition. Wood had the task of sorting through the works, choosing what made the cut to be displayed in Moss Thorns Gallery.
“Fort Hays State University is pouring a lot of amazing artists out into the world, and I had no idea,” Wood said.
Wood said the biggest challenge of judging this show was doing it online on just a small screen. To look at sculptures with only one view is hard. Missing out on the gravity of size is also difficult.
“It’s not to scale, which makes it tough as some pieces, in person, have a presence,” he said. “They’re alive.”
An example of this was Katelyn Blanco’s painting, “Two Friends Watching an Approaching Storm.” The work of art depicts two bison-like creatures standing in a flowering field, beneath a vibrant storm of pink, purple, and blue. Hung first thing after the gallery entrance, it caught much attention throughout the evening.
The challenges of judging digitally were closely followed by the difficulty of deciding what makes it in with such a small rate of acceptance.
“I was very happy with my choices. It is tough though, because there were a lot of other really good works,” Wood said. “I’m an educator and art advocate. I don’t believe in the, everyone gets a medal, but I want everyone to keep making art.”
The show was a hit amongst Wood, staff, students, and citizens alike.
“This show, in particular, surprised me when I saw it in person; both the skill of Colin (Schmidtberger) putting together the show, and the quality and diversity of the works,” Wood said.
Ballenger said that while she has attended many FHSU art shows in the past year, she felt this was one of the best shows she’d seen, between both student and teacher exhibitions.
“It was really cool to see what all the students were working on from all grades and all medias, all in one place,” she said. “I think it’s a good representation of what the art department here has to offer.”
The display was curated by Schmidtberger, an instructor of interior design who also serves as the gallery director.
“The student Honors Exhibition is unique in the sense that there are so many diverse mediums that are in it,” he said.
Schmidtberger said this makes the setup process both interesting and challenging in how to group things together as the Student Honors Exhibition is one of the larger exhibitions held in the space. His process included working in groups based on depictions of images or colors used within artworks. Using his knowledge, he filled the red brick wall with all black and white art pieces, accentuating the works themselves, as they bounce off from the red. Overall, the layout allows all the pieces to work together in their setting, effectively creating something pleasing to the eye.
The exhibition will remain in the Moss-Thorns Gallery of Art until April 18. The gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.