11/18/19

AMES, Iowa — Five Iowa State University College of Design students won awards in the “Studies in Creativity” annual juried art exhibition on display through Dec. 8 at the Iowa State Memorial Union Gallery.

This year’s show was juried by multimedia artist Mary Jones, an Iowa Arts Council 2018 Fellow. Jones reviewed 78 artworks by 47 artists and accepted 36 pieces by 29 artists for the exhibition. Award winners were announced at a reception on Oct. 17.

Best of Show

Chiihan Tan, senior in industrial design from Johor Bahru, Malaysia, received Best of Show for her wood and steel furniture design titled “Two Men and a Dog.”

“Chairs always seem to be alone. They are silent and passive,” Tan said of her design. “I wanted to break that solitude philosophically by creating interactions between two pieces of chairs.”

Tan said she first developed her design concept while looking for a way to show her parents exactly what she was studying overseas. She also wanted something they could potentially envision using themselves.

“All my siblings and I are away from our home. My parents and our pet dog, Chopper, are the only ones in the house right now. They are the inspiration of my design,” Tan said. “I gave this piece a name in a Chinese dialect, Hokkien. It’s ‘Kueyshio’ (kooay-sheeo). A simple translation means to get cozy with people around you.”

Merit Awards

Students who received Merit Awards include Sydney Schilling, senior in pre-integrated studio arts from Council Bluffs, for her acrylic and colored pencil painting “A Representation of Growth in a Mundane Action” and Jasmine Beul, graduate student in integrated visual arts from Bozeman, Montana, for her ceramic “Blue Swirl Cups.”

“I wanted to use the motif of an orange and the intense lighting as a symbol for female strength and independence,” Schilling said in her artist’s statement.

Honorable mentions

Honorable mentions went to industrial design junior Joe Fentress of St. Louis for his lamp design, “Nio,” and interior design sophomore Cassidy Perrott of Waverly for her charcoal drawing, “Big Cat.”

Fentress designed a floor lamp using a tiered-paper dimming system. “The shade of the lamp is made from four layers of thick paper that, when vertically sliced, compress into a bulbous fixture. A magnet holds the shade to the central steel pipe, allowing the user to set the shade at any level of openness,” he explained in his statement.

Participating artists

Artists with work in the exhibition include:

Taylor Adrian, junior in integrated studio arts from Dubuque
Jasmine Beul, graduate student in integrated visual arts from Bozeman, Montana (two works)
James Casad, senior in integrated studio arts from Davenport
Jack Chasse, senior in interdisciplinary design from Des Moines
Caitlyn Chellew, junior in integrated studio arts from Ames
Xin Chen, graduate student in industrial design from Huludao, Liaoning Province, China, and now of Ames
Naomi Chicoine, senior in integrated studio arts from St. Charles (three works)
Matthew Cook, senior in graphic design from Leawood, Kansas (two works)
Allison Curry, junior in industrial design from Storm Lake (two works)
Journey Dawa, senior in architecture from Anamosa
Christian D’Cruz, senior in graphic design from Bettendorf
Talia Drury, senior in industrial design from Urbandale
Joe Fentress, junior in industrial design from St. Louis
Brett Garrett, junior in integrated studio arts from Des Moines
Gabriel Gonzalez (two works)
Allison Hellman, junior in integrated studio arts from Des Moines
Susana Herrera, junior in design (undeclared) from Sioux City
Regan Kilzer, junior in industrial design from Ames
Lydia Nong, freshman in design (undeclared) from Urbandale
Emma Olson, freshman in pre-industrial design from Hudson, Wisconsin
Cassidy Perrott, sophomore in interior design from Waverly
Sueann Pham, junior in graphic design from West Des Moines
Sydney Schilling, senior in integrated studio arts from Council Bluffs
Natalie Svoboda, sophomore in graphic design from Winthrop
Chiihan Tan, senior in industrial design from Johor Bahru, Malaysia
Abigail West, junior in interdisciplinary design from Des Moines

Contacts

Chiihan Tan, Industrial Design student, chiihtan@iastate.edu
Sydney Schilling, Integrated Studio Arts student, sydneys2@iastate.edu
Joe Fentress, Industrial Design student, fentress@iastate.edu
Letitia Kenemer, Memorial Union Fine Arts, (515) 294-0971, letitia@iastate.edu
Hailey Allen, Design Communications, hallen15@iastate.edu
Heather Sauer, Design Communications, (515) 294-9289, hsauer@iastate.edu

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