Winthrop University is home to many talented artists, all of whom come with their own unique style. From painting to graphic design to sculpting and everything in between. If the medium exists, Winthrop most likely has a practitioner of it somewhere among their student body.
Unfortunately, it is not always easy to have your work noticed among the sea of other artists. This is especially true now as COVID-19 forces the doors of galleries to close. Inspiration and outlets can be hard to find in the midst of what seems to be global chaos. However, art still has the power to tell stories and inspire others. The Johnsonian wants to help Winthrop’s creators share these pieces.
The Johnsonian’s Arts & Culture section has decided to introduce a new platform for artists in the form of seasonal Student Art Showcases. These showcases will give artists an opportunity to have their work published in The Johnsonian and seen by all of the newspaper’s readers.
For each showcase, six art pieces will be chosen, limited to one per artist. These pieces will be on display with the name, class, and major of the artist. There will not be a ranking system to the showcase, but the six will be chosen from all submissions by the section editors of the Arts & Culture section based upon several factors including display of skill, uniqueness, adherence to the theme, and overall visual quality of the submission.
The four themes chosen for this semester to base artwork upon and their scheduled showcase dates are Autumn (Sep. 30), Halloween (Oct. 28), Thanksgiving (Nov. 18), and Happy Holidays (Dec. 2).
In order to submit an art piece for one of the showcases, artists must take a high-quality photo of the art and send it via email to either the Arts & Culture Editor, David Botzer, at botzerd@mytjnow.com or the Assistant Arts & Culture Editor, Chloe Wright, at wrightc@mytjnow.com. Pieces must be submitted no later than midnight on the Wednesday before the intended showcase. For example, those interested in participating in our first showcase will need to submit their work by midnight on Wednesday, Sept. 23.
The Arts & Culture section is excited to see the works of art that will be produced for the showcases and hopes that the artists who submit their pieces are able to gain beneficial experience from the process. While these showcases are unfortunately only open to artists that produce still, visual artworks, we would love to hear from musicians, poets, writers, actors, dancers and other artists from around the university at the aforementioned emails about the exceptional things you are doing involving your craft and potentially feature you in our recurring Artist Spotlights throughout the year. One of the Arts & Culture section’s main goals this year is to celebrate the incredible artists among the student body of Winthrop University.
