Students at NKU were given the opportunity to put their artistic talents on display in the university’s annual Juried Student Exhibition located in the Fine Arts Building’s Third Floor Gallery and Main Gallery, featuring an array of mediums including painting, ceramics, photography, printmaking and visual communication design.

One of the artists on display is junior photography major Emily Thomas.

With three photographs chosen to be displayed in the galleries, this is Thomas’s first time participating in the exhibition.

“Just having critiques in class and posting work on social media has helped boost my confidence, but I feel that participating in these exhibitions will bring my work to a new level of exposure that I need to reach in order to advance in my career as a photographer,” Thomas said.

With a focus on outdoor scenes, Thomas’s pieces include “Homemade Court,” “Gate” and “Overgrown Stairs,” the last of which stands out as a black and white close-up view of stairs that are being overcome with plants.

Junior art student Kaitlin Peed is participating in her second art exhibition. All five of Peed’s original submissions were selected to be displayed in this exhibition.

Her pieces include: a painting titled “A Girl and Her Sled,” a drawing titled “Adam” and three sculptures. The sculptures are titled: “Voyager,” “Celtic Cycle” and “The Innocence.”

Peed chose these five pieces because she is proud of her craftsmanship on all of them.

“This experience helps me grow and adapt to the ever-changing art world,” Peed said. “It makes students think on what art people are interested in and how important craftsmanship and design are to galleries.”

Jessica Holtman, a junior spacial art major, has two pieces in the current exhibition. Holtman’s first piece is a still life oil painting titled “Bistro Still” and her second piece is a sample of a series of decorated cups that she is currently working on called “Time-seeds.” Holtman’s artwork has been displayed five times in exhibitions, three of those being at NKU.

“I submitted ‘Bistro Still’ because it was a very technical and classical style oil painting,” Holtman said. “I enjoyed making this painting and wanted to show the skill set I’d acquired in my 2D studies. My ‘Time-seed’ cups are a new style of work I’ve been obsessing over for a few semesters.”

Students were able to enter up to five pieces of art to be displayed in the galleries. The visual arts department brought in an outside juror to evaluate the submitted artwork. This year’s juror is the owner of the Marta Hewitt gallery, Marta Hewitt. She looked at and selected the works that were installed in the third floor galleries.

Some aspects that the juror considered when making her decision were: creative expression, demonstrated craft/technique in media, evidence of problem solving in artwork, consistent thematic body of artwork or consistent stylistic range in artwork and effective use of form.

Director of exhibitions and collections at NKU, David Knight, believes that the exhibitions are important for students because they are given the chance to learn about the juried exhibition process.

“It is very important for the students to see their artwork in a professional setting,” Knight said. “It gives the students the chance to see their peers work and showcase their work to the faculty, friends and family, and even our alumni.”

On March 30, a public reception was held from 5 to 7 p.m., with an awards ceremony at 6 p.m. Students have the chance to be awarded one of the nine Merit Awards, one of the four purchase awards, or the highest honor, the Best of Show award. The Best of Show award is granted to a single artist who is best overall of the other entries that were submitted.

The exhibition will be displayed in the third floor main galleries in the Fine Arts Center until March 31. NKU students, faculty and alumni are encouraged to come view the artwork.