Each year in the spring, the annual Irwin Scholars Exhibition at the Sesnon Gallery showcases some of UCSC’s most promising young artists.
The annual show spotlights award-winning students honored by The William Hyde and Susan Benteen Irwin Scholarship Fund--established in 1986 to generate merit scholarships furthering the education of up-and-coming UCSC art students.
Recipients are chosen from a variety of areas in the Art Department, with each artist working in a different medium--ranging from painting and sculpture, to photography and digital media.
The 2014 Irwin Scholars show will run May 28 through June 14. An opening reception takes place on May 28, from 5 to 7 p.m., including the awards ceremony, which begins at 6 p.m. in the courtyard outside the gallery near the Koi pond.
Admission is free, and the pubic is invited.
"As we settle into the turn of the century, we must contemplate the speed of information, and how it affects our identity and quality of experience,” said Mark Shunney, assistant curator of the Sesnon Gallery.
“The current Irwin Scholars Exhibition represents a diversity of mediums and messages that speak to the next generation of artists confronted by this flattened landscape.”
“This year, the Irwin Scholars ask visitors to evaluate their own assumptions about identity; their work promises to undercut stereotype and the control of media, and to take back the agency to define self through the art process,” Shunney added.
UCSC’s 2014 Irwin Scholarship recipients are:
David Berry, Will Brady, Maytal Gotesman, Courtney Hanson, Eric Harrod, Sonja Holopainen, Joshua Hurwitz, Althea James, Jasen Levoy, Elliott Taylor, Stephanie Toro and Cary Wander.
Sesnon Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, from noon to 5 p.m., and Wednesday until 8 p.m. Admission is free, and parking is free on Saturdays. Group tours are available by appointment.
For more information, call (831) 459-3606, or visit the Sesnon Gallery.
