The Truckee Meadows Community College (TMCC) is set to host its 51st Annual Student Art and Design Show, showcasing the creations of students within the Visual and Fine Arts courses. The exhibition will occupy all four gallery spaces at the Dandini Campus, displaying various artworks including photography, drawing, painting, sculpture, and design.
“The artwork submitted to the show has a wide variety of art mediums, all of which shows the passion and talent our student artists have here at TMCC,” said Art Galleries Curator Kyle Karrasch. “While entries are still being reviewed, we average about 76 student submissions each year. With this year's submissions, we’ve already accepted into the show 124 artworks, so we’re on track for a great exhibit.”
The show will run through May 1, offering the community a chance to engage with the innovative work of emerging artists. “This is exciting because it shows our students are very engaged with what they are learning in their classes,” Karrasch added. The event provides students the chance to display the skills acquired during their courses in a professional gallery setting.
Among the works featured in the show are "Rorschach," a photograph by Will Barber, and "Sufferance," an acrylic painting by Grace Herzog. In his third year as curator, Karrasch noted a rise in digital artwork submissions, attributing this trend to the medium’s accessibility and affordability.
An awards ceremony and reception will take place on April 16 from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Red Mountain Building. "Students have the opportunity to win first, second, and third place in their respective artwork categories that comes with a signed certificate by TMCC’s President Hilgersom,” explained Karrasch. Awards such as Best in Show and The Curators Choice Awards will also be handed out, with selected artworks becoming part of TMCC's permanent collection.
Guest juror Tia Flores and Mandy Medlin, owner of Nevada Fine Arts, will determine the award recipients. Flores, Program Director of the Sierra Arts Foundation, is a fourth-generation Nevadan, recognized for her pyrographic calabaza sculptures. Her work reflects Nevada’s natural beauty and has been featured on various platforms such as HGTV and PBS Reno’s ArtEffects.
Flores has contributed significantly to arts education, creating ArtSciMath, a curriculum that merges artistic, scientific, and mathematical disciplines. Her diverse experiences include working with artisans in the Amazon rainforest to develop sustainable crafts.
For more details about the exhibition, contact TMCC Art Galleries Curator Kyle Karrasch at 775-673-7233.