Jesse Boushee’s many-stringed homemade guitar doubles as a painting tool. Photo by Bill Rerick/The Dakota Student. 

The annual Juried Student Art Show opened this past week. Students could enter artwork they have done in the past year to try to get in the show to possibly win a coveted award.

Best in Show was awarded to an awesome work of art. The piece creatively incorporated sculpture, music and painting into one. The artist, Jesse Boushee, is a friend of mine who I often chatted with in the art department during late nights and weekends. He had been diligently working on the piece for a full semester. I have been excited to see the finished result ever since he explained the concept. When it was finished it blew me away.

Boushee’s Best in Show piece was a homebuilt guitar with 18 strings that could be used to disperse paint, thus producing a piece of visual art. He designed it so one could place a small canvas underneath its strings. Then he would put acrylic paint on the strings and play music. The paint would splatter and hit the canvas in concurrence to the riffs he played. The biggest surprise was how good the guitar sounded as he painted with it. It was a challenging experiment that proved all the work is worth it in the end.

I could go through and talk about the awarded pieces, but I think that would encourage the idea that some art is better than others. This is not to say the art that won was not deserving. Art is subjective, even in juried shows where it is ranked.

One should peruse the gallery and find works that speak to them. People have a tendency to give extra time and appreciation for works of art that have awards tagged on them. This may hinder the natural conversation between the viewer and the image.

Even the artists are sometimes confused as to why they won with a certain piece. There was a common conversation among my friends who got art into the show.

Most of them were astonished their least favorite submission was chosen. One friend explained how he entered his fifth piece last minute, and he was almost upset that it got in the show. I like that piece, but he was frustrated his presumably better work was excluded over this one. The one that got in was even given an award, to his surprise.

People often ponder the mystery as to how the awards were dispersed. Was it the most beautiful work or possibly work that took the most effort? Maybe it took little effort, but showed the artmaking process. I suppose jurors take into consideration into dispersing the awards across the various mediums.

In my opinion, generally the awarded work has an edge over its contemporaries. Something about it makes it stand out and maybe speak a little louder.

I highly suggest visiting the show in the Myers Gallery within the Hughes Fine Arts Center. Take time to address your own thoughts on juried shows and the way they play out. Maybe think about how you would award the art.

Bill Rerick is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected]