Hickman Gallery hosted its annual Juried Student Art Exhibition Reception on Saturday, February 15, 2025. The exhibition features a multitude of works from a range of mediums that Adrian College students submitted. Student submissions were accepted back in January, any student was allowed to enter one work for free, with a five-dollar submission fee for any additional submission with a maximum of five per person. Even though anyone may submit artwork, there is no guarantee that their works will be displayed. This is decided when the selected juror makes their way to campus to select the artwork displayed during the show. Fifty-eight works of art were received during the submission period, with a total of thirty-seven works being selected by the juror to be featured in the show.
Michelle Arnold Paine, this year’s esteemed juror, is a contemporary painter with a unique approach to representational painting. She strives to serve arts communities through connecting people, opportunities, and relationships. When announcing her results, she stated that when picking the work to be displayed she wanted to choose a variety of different media to represent the art submitted. Throughout the exhibition, there was ceramic, sculpture, painting, printmaking, textile, digital, two-dimensional, and three-dimensional artwork on display. The reception as a whole saw a massive turnout with artists mingling and talking about their art with the multitude of guests. All while being entertained by Adrian College Alum and Adjunct Professor Charlie Johnson, who sang a mix of current music as well as original songs.
The awards were broken down into Best in Show, Second Place, Third Place, as well as two Honorable Mentions. All artists received prize money allocated towards future purchases of art supplies. Michelle Arnold Paine announced the winners starting with the Honorable mentions. The two Honorable Mentions were awarded to Nicholaus Gragg Fincher, with his work, c. 1945, 2025, as well as Owen Callahan, with his dry point etching, Study of a Beetle, 2024. The Third Place artist was Mariah Costelli, with her ceramic work, Teapot, 2024. Second Place went to Lainie Troy and her digital design, Nothing Really Matters, 2024. Lastly, Best in Show was awarded to Audrey Moore, with her sculpture, Anchor, 2025. All students are encouraged to create art and submit their artwork to next year’s Juried Student Art Exhibition.
