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News Release

Last modified: Thursday, April 11, 2013

IU Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education to celebrate three Fine Art Award winners

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 11, 2013

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education at Indiana University Bloomington will honor Benjamin Cirgin, Rebecca A. Jones and Katie Hayden, three undergraduate Fine Art Award recipients, at a reception Monday, April 15.

As recognition for outstanding undergraduate creative activity, the office awarded Cirgin, Jones and Hayden first-, second- and third-place purchase awards in the amounts of $1,000, $500 and $250, respectively, for artwork they completed on the IU Bloomington campus in 2012.

The School of Fine Arts Fellowship Committee judged the entries and selected the winners. As part of the award, the artists will have one of their works cataloged in the campus art collection and displayed at Maxwell Hall 100.

"We are honored to acquire these pieces for the campus art collection. Indiana University has a long tradition of artistic creativity that continues with our current undergraduate students," Vice Provost Sonya Stephens said. "Their exemplary creative work serves as inspiration to the entire IU Bloomington community."

Cirgin, a senior studying ceramics in the Bachelor of Fine Arts program, received the first-place award for "I Can't See the Forest." As an artist, he enjoys installing his art for human interaction, and "I Can't See the Forest" is a sculpture intended to be touched.

"The Indiana University fine art department, ceramics faculty, graduate students, peers and the community of artists in Bloomington have given me the tools, experience and the ability to focus my research on why I am driven to make the sculptures chosen by the Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education for this award," Cirgin said.

A printmaking major in the Bachelor of Fine Arts program, Jones has worked in print, digital and mixed media. Her mixed media "Windowscape (4)" uses two- and three-dimensional elements to engage the viewer. Jones encourages viewers to interact with "Windowscape (4") by flipping the pages of a book of sketches that is part of the piece.

"I am thrilled to have my work selected by the Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education for display," Jones said. "When making 'Windowscape (4),' I looked at it every day, building up the layers and ideas for about a year. I am delighted that the piece now has the chance to live somewhere else and become familiar to a new audience."

Hayden is a metalsmithing and jewelry design student in the Bachelor of Fine Arts program who has drawn upon inspiration from the medical sector and experiences affecting her own health. Her jewelry piece, "Endocarditis Blood Cell," incorporates fine silver and medical plastic components. Intended to be viewed from all sides, the fine art broach features artistic elements on both the front and the back.

"It is such an honor to win an art award like this, especially outside of the School of Fine Arts. I am so pleased to be able to share such a personal piece of art jewelry with the larger student body here at IU. I am also very excited to be representing my department of metalsmithing and jewelry design, which is, for the most part, considered to be a niche field in the canon of the arts," Hayden said.

The Fine Art Award reception will take place from 4 to 5 p.m. Monday, April 15, at Maxwell Hall 100. The public is welcome to attend, meet the artists and view their works.

The Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education at Indiana University Bloomington supports a broad range of activities that promote innovation and enrichment in the curriculum and leads campus-wide programs and initiatives in support of outstanding academic experiences for all undergraduates.

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