The College of Arts holds The CWU Juried Undergraduate Art+Design Exhibit every year for students to submit their work, view their peers’ projects and potentially vie for awards and prizes.

Only a select few get their art chosen and displayed at the show; it’s a huge honor for the students who get their pieces chosen. The students submit their portfolios to a jury of CWU Art+Design alumni, who then decide on the pieces that will be put on view. Because this event only happens once a year, it is highly anticipated by both the artists and the spectators. 

“I feel very lucky to be picked out because there’s a lot of great work in the art department and the fact that it’s juried and that only a select few get into it, I feel really honored and proud of my work,” Taylor Perez, a senior graphic design major, said. Not all who enter their work into the show get picked and get the opportunity to have their work displayed, the chance to win an award and the possibility of their work getting sold.

Recognition in the show can also help boost the prospective careers of student artists. “They elevate not only my work, but my name and my existence, which is good, especially now that I’m almost a senior and it’s important for me to start making connections and a name for myself,” a junior graphic design major, Jade Cupples said about the impact of the show. This event is great for students to help validate their talents, and to help them feel reassured and confident in their art while getting exposure and their work seen.

The inspiration to create ranges for artists when creating intricate pieces varying from paintings to pottery. For Rita Tumbusch, a junior studio art major, their work details their experience with mental health, providing viewers with the perspective of how one deals with mental health on a day-to-day basis. One such painting is that of their antidepressants. 

“Yeah, this piece is kind of just like living with depression,” Tumbusch said. “Dealing with my mental health and dealing with society and everything.” As a multimedia artist, Trumbusch’s pottery also details their struggle with mental health in the form of hands protruding out of an urn, titled “Escape.” Mental health is a topic that isn’t often displayed, as an uncommon subject to speak about, but it doesn’t always have to be like that. 

Since painting is a form of storytelling through the eyes of the creator, it doesn’t necessarily need to be a rigid medium. “I’m not a big planner, so I just kind of go with the flow,” Tumbusch said. Many of the art students like to take this approach when it comes to creating. 

Working with their hands rather than their minds can also aid in the creative process. Fellow artist Faith Johnson, a junior graphic design major, went with the flow when it came to creating her painting of a river in the forest. Her inspiration came from the scenery of CWU itself, as Johnson states: “I was walking between this building and because you take a bridge over it and I was like oh that’s really pretty and I took a photo and went home. I painted it.” Art doesn’t have to be something you think of or always know, but the inspiration of life itself and what surrounds us is what artists see as art in real life, and take to a canvas.

The CWU Juried Undergraduate Student Art+Design Exhibit will be available for students to view until May 4, 2024.