UF to Host Juried Student Art Exhibition; April 12 is Opening Celebration

The University of Findlay will host a Juried Student Art Exhibition from April 10 through April 26 in the Dudley and Mary Marks Lea Gallery, located in the Virginia B. Gardner Fine Arts Pavilion.

An opening celebration and awards presentation is planned for 7 p.m. Thursday, April 12, in the gallery.

Art submitted to the juried show must have been completed by UF students after April 2011 and not previously submitted to the Juried Student Art Exhibition. Pieces will include painting, drawing and mixed media, printmaking, ceramics, sculpture, photography and other types of visual communication and design.

Steven Walker, of Westerville, will be the guest judge for the juried show. His work appears in the Sharon Weiss Gallery in Columbus, Ohio; B. Deemer Gallery in Louisville, Ky.; and Glave Kocen Gallery in Richmond, Va.

Since his “leap into the fine art world,” Walker’s landscapes have earned recognition in several juried competitions, including the Richeson 75 competition. In 2008, the beginning of Walker’s statewide traveling exhibition began at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; it appeared as part of the museum’s exhibitions through 2012. In 2009, Walker was part of a western art exhibition, The Black West, at the Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, Ga.

After earning a bachelor of fine arts degree from Virginia Commonwealth University, Walker worked as a freelance illustrator for clients such as the Boy Scouts of America, Highlights for Children, the Columbus Marathon and the National Cherry Blossom Festival. Walker’s work earned honors through the Illustrators Club of Washington, D.C., the Society of Illustrators (L.A.) and the United States Air Force Illustration Program.