Students chatting and looking at art in gallery

Winners Announced at the 2025 Student Annual Exhibition

Kent State University’s School of Art Galleries presented the 2025 Student Annual Art Exhibition, where a variety of talented artists works were on display for the general public’s viewing.  

The exhibition featured a variety of mediums including sculpture, painting, ceramics, textiles, and mixed media pieces submitted by students across Kent State. The artist reception took place on March 21, from 5-7 P.M., and concluded with six artists earning awards for their work.  

Artist Atoosa Fadaei’s artwork, “Paradox,” was voted Best in Show for Graduate Students. Fadaei explains that her winning art piece features a balance of opposing ideas, combining fragile and tougher materials such as concrete and thread. The concrete in her work appears raw and vulnerable, whereas the threads she uses are what holds the work suspended in space.  

Atoosa Fadaei next to her artpiece "Paradox"

“This sculpture emerges from my ongoing exploration of displacement, war, and the fragility of belonging,” Fadaei said. “Combining concrete, fabric, and thread, the piece embodies the tension between weight and suspension, permanence and rupture.” 

Cassandra Jeffries’ painting, “We’ve got 3 minutes before the sun goes down,” was voted Best in Show for Undergraduate Students.  

“My work is inspired by the environment and its ever-changing landscape,” Jeffries said. “I use landscape as a conduit for internal social anxieties, relating them to the sublime and systems in nature.” 

Cassandra Jerffries next to her painting "We've got 3 minutes before the sun goes down"

Jeffries also explained that during hikes, she creates watercolor studies which inspire the shapes of her artwork and ground her to her environment.  

This year’s student annual art exhibit was sponsored by the Richard S. and Alita Rogers Family Foundation. The exhibit was juried by the School of Arts Gallery Committee and awards were chosen by internationally exhibiting and local artist Moema Furtado. This year’s awards were sponsored by the Richard S. and Alita Rogers Family Foundation, All Media Art and Supply, Professor Emeritus Janice Lessman-Moss and Director of Exhibitions and Collections Anderson Turner and his partner Professor Aoife Mooney.

 

Congratulations to Our Student Winners: 

Echo Davis next to her beaded ceramic vase

Gallery Directors Award – Echo Davis

 
Caroline Perkin's and Anderson Turner

1st Runner Up, Graduate – Caroline Perkison

 
Carla Wagner next to her large scale painting

1st Runner Up, Undergraduate – Carla Wagner 

 
Yellow large textile

Textiles Award – Berend Hawks

POSTED: Tuesday, March 25, 2025 01:36 PM
Updated: Wednesday, March 26, 2025 10:27 AM
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