The Crossman Gallery is currently featuring the annual 2023 Student Juried Exhibition. The program, organized by Crossman Gallery Director and lecturer Dr. Ashley Dimmig, features selected works from UW-W students in a variety of mediums through Feb. 23. Dimmig is particularly excited about this exhibition due to the opportunity it provides to all students, not just those in the Department of Art and Design.

“It is unique in our exhibition calendar in so far that it opens up the gallery to the potential of showing art made by any student across campus including open to UW-Whitewater Rock Campus students,” said Dimmig.

The Crossman Gallery is located 950 W. Main St., Whitewater, in the Greenhill Center of the Arts and is open Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is free and open to the general public. 

Local professional artist David Najib Kasir serves as this year’s juror for the exhibition. Kasir is a contemporary oil-painter living and working in Milwaukee. The Student Juried Exhibition received nearly 100 submissions of which he reviewed and carefully selected the top 20 pieces to be featured in the Crossman Gallery. 

The awards ceremony was held on Friday Feb. 17, which included prize money for Best in Show, media-specific awards, and honorable mentions, which were made possible thanks to the Annette and Dale Schuh Endowment. 

The award winners included: 

Lily Regalia, The Breakfast Table – 1st Place

Jaehui Jeong, Portrait – 2nd Place

Jessica Lacki, Untitled – 3rd Place

Hollyn Peterson, I Will Do It Myself – Best of Painting

Anneliese Burke, Reaching – Best of Drawing

Evan Halpop,  Yssa Sto. Domingo Action Portrait – Best of Photography and Digital Media

Isabella Clark, Healing Hair Tie – Best of 3D and Mixed Media

Samantha Martinez, Money Well $pent – Honorable Mention

Grace Busch, In Complete Darkness – Honorable Mention

MaryJane Hopkins, Flowing From the Source Like It Was Honey – Honorable Mention

Janet Nelson, Purple and Teal Emotion – Honorable Mention

Dimmig, who oversees both the Crossman Gallery and the Community Engagement Center Gallery  took over the position in August. Before joining the Art and Design Department at UW-W she held the Wieler-Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial position at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. Her extensive and worldly experience in the academic and non-academic art world has encouraged a perspective which considers not just the artist but the audience in which engages with the art. She is hopeful that exhibits such as the Student Juried Exhibition will encourage more student and public engagement with the gallery. 

“One of my goals as the new director is to think more about the people that come into the gallery. We have spent a lot of energy on how to use the gallery for the artists that are displaying their work, but so much of my experience coming into this job is thinking about audiences and thinking about how people react to exhibitions and art,” said Dimmig. “I want to get more people in there…we are looking to have different events, we are thinking about having a fashion show, we are thinking about having a poetry reading.” 

Diversifying the types of exhibits at the gallery is a priority for Dimmig, who believes that opening up the space in a more dynamic way will increase viewership at the gallery. 

“By diversifying what we offer at the gallery, we are opening up the chances, the more things that are offered, the more opportunities that something may resonate with somebody.” 

To keep up with all the new and exciting exhibits to come at the Crossman and Community Engagement Galleries follow them on Instagram at Crossman.gallery or the UW-W College of Arts and Communication Events page.