Prizes Awarded in Goldfarb Student Art Exhibition

Purchase Prize winner Jessica Emonds poses in front of her work, "Untitled 2" (4 x 5 negative, digital print). Photos by Steve Laschever.

Purchase Prize winner Raza Kazmi with his work, "Untitled (Book Intervention)," video and sound.

Brigid Loftus, who won the Juror's Prize for Outstanding Work by a Freshman, poses with her work, "Can You See Me?" (steel, glass, meat).

Sylvie Grenier Glickstein won a Juror's Prize for Outstanding Work by a Part-Time/Nontraditional Student. She has two ceramic works in the Goldfarb exhibition.

Andrew Reardon also won a Juror's Prize for Outstanding Work by a Part-Time/Nontraditional Student. He is pictured in front of his work, "Near Death Experience" (mixed media, projection mapping).

Mother and son Lyn Harper and Graham Steen both had pieces accepted for the Goldfarb exhibition, and by coincidence, their works were displayed next to each other.

Two Hartford Art School students won top honors on March 14 at the opening reception for the 24th annual Alexander A. Goldfarb Student Exhibition in the Joseloff Gallery. In addition, two new prizes were presented this year, for outstanding work by a freshman and outstanding work by a part-time/nontraditional student.

In another first, works by a mother and son were displayed side-by-side in the juried student art exhibition, purely by chance.


Purchase Prize Winners

Jessica Emonds, a senior majoring in photography, and Raza Kazmi, a senior media arts major, won this year’s Purchase Prizes.

Emonds won a Purchase Prize for her 4 x 5 negative and digital print, Untitled 2 (2012), and Kazmi won for a video and sound work, Untitled (Book Intervention), 2012.

Each year, two student artists are selected to receive Purchase Prizes in the amount of $1,000 each, made possible through the Alexander A. Goldfarb Endowment Trust. The winning students’ artwork becomes a part of the Goldfarb Memorial Collection, to be owned by the Hartford Art School and proudly displayed throughout the University, in offices and public spaces.


Two New Prizes

Two new prizes were awarded this year, for outstanding work by a freshman and outstanding work by a part-time/nontraditional student. The prizes are given for the artists, not for a specific piece of work.

The Juror's Prize for Outstanding Work by a Freshman was presented to Brigid Loftus. Loftus has a piece in the Goldfarb exhibition titled Can You See Me? (2013), made of steel, glass and meat.

The Juror's Prize for Outstanding Work by a Part-Time/Nontraditional Student was awarded to Sylvie Grenier Glickstein. Glickstein has two works in the exhibition -- Out of Milk (ceramic, 2012), and Heads or Tails (ceramic 2012).

A second Juror's Prize for Outstanding Work by a Part-Time/Nontraditional Student was awarded to Andrew Reardon. Reardon has a work in the exhibition titled Near Death Experience (mixed media, projection mapping, 2012).


Mother and Son Exhibitors

In another first for the Goldfarb Exhibition, works by a mother and son – Lyn Harper and Graham Steen – were displayed next to each other, purely by coincidence. Harper is a part-time student at the Hartford Art School, and Steen is a junior majoring in mechanical engineering in the College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture.

"I was looking for two works that could hold their own on a shared pedestal and those were both strong, visually heavy works," said Lisa Gaumond, managing director of the Joseloff Gallery. "A couple of days after I placed them, one of my gallery monitors told me they were mother and son."


Exhibition Runs Through April 14

The annual juried student art exhibition and prizes were established by Alexander A. Goldfarb, who was dedicated to the arts and to furthering the careers of young artists.

The exhibition is open to all undergraduate and graduate students of the University of Hartford. Each year, students are invited to enter their finest work, which is juried by a professional in the visual arts. Entries reflect a wide range of media, including drawing, painting, graphic design, illustration, sculpture, ceramics, video, and photography.

This year’s invited guest juror was Martha Lewis, painter and educational curator of ArtSpace New Haven. There were  291 entries for this year's exhibition, from more than 170 students. The final exhibition features 85 works in all media from 74 students: 13 freshmen, 10 sophomores, 18 juniors, 25 seniors, and eight part-time/nontraditional students. All majors of the Hartford Art School are represented, as well as cinema, mechanical engineering, and psychology.

The Goldfarb exhibition, which is free and open to the public, will remain on display through April 14. Joseloff Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. For more information, call the Joseloff Gallery at 860.768.4090 or visit www.joseloffgallery.org.