2021 Student Annual

Online exhibition beginning April 6, 2021.

University Galleries of Illinois State University is pleased to present the 2021 Student Annual. All current Illinois State University students were eligible to participate, and this year’s exhibition was an open-call format, meaning that all submissions have been included.

EXHIBITION
Since 1974, the Student Annual has showcased new artwork produced by students at Illinois State University. This exhibition has offered many students the first opportunity to have their work reviewed by professionals outside the University. Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, this year's exhibition is presented online with one in-person installation.

View Student Annual Exhibition

View Awards and Scholarships Video

The Wonsook Kim School of Art is pleased to present the 2021 Marshall Dulaney Pitcher Award to MFA student Erika Shiba. This award honors outstanding students in the visual arts who demonstrate exceptional artistic talent, dedicated studio practice, and academic excellence. 2021 marks the 51st anniversary of this prestigious award, which was established by the Pitcher family in memory of painting student Marshall Pitcher. University Galleries has traditionally dedicated exhibition space within the Student Annual to winners of the Marshall Dulaney Pitcher Award, and works by Shiba will be on display at University Galleries through May 16. Additional images of her work are included in the online exhibition. To view Shiba’s work at University Galleries, make a free reservation.

Awards are supported by: Barry Blinderman (in memory of Karolee Johnson); Kelsey and Jonathan DeGreef (in honor of Richard D. Finch); Therese and Bob Franklin (in memory of Jen Franklin); Normal Editions Workshop; Program in Creative Technologies; Randy Reid; Silica Ceramics Club; Irving S. and Joan Tick Memorial; University Galleries; Wonsook Kim School of Art; and the following areas within the Wonsook Kim School of Art: Glass and Graphic Design.

JUDGES
This year's studio judge is Chicago-based artist and educator Cecil McDonald, Jr. His solo exhibition, In the Company of Black , was presented at University Galleries in 2018. Following the exhibition, University Galleries purchased one of McDonald’s photographs for the permanent collection. His work has been exhibited at Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago; Philadelphia African American Museum, Philadelphia; Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago; New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans; Terrain Exhibitions, Oak Park, Illinois; and Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago. McDonald has received grants, fellowships, and residencies from 3Arts; Artadia; Light Work, Syracuse, New York; Latitude, Chicago; Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago; and Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, Chicago. He has received the Joyce Foundation Midwest Voices & Visions Award and the MAKER Grant | Coney Family Fund Award, which is presented to artists “who demonstrate a commitment to a socially conscious, progressive, and sustainable artist practice and career development.” McDonald’s work is included in the collections of the Willis Tower, Chicago; Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland; Bank of America’s LaSalle Bank Photography Collection, Chicago; The Joyce Foundation, Chicago; Prairie Center for the Arts, Peoria, Illinois; and the Chicago Public Library, among others. He received a BA in fashion merchandising and an MFA in photography from Columbia College, Chicago, where he currently teaches photography.

This year’s design judge is Yeohyun Ahn, a Madison-based designer, educator, and researcher, integrating creative coding, digital fabrication, and physical interaction into spatial typography and graphic design. Her interdisciplinary typography project, TYPE + CODE Series, has been featured in the Washington Post, PRINT, New York Times Magazine, Letter Arts Review, Creator’s Project, and Designboom.com, among others. Her work has been published in the books Graphic Design: The Basics; Type on Screen; and Data-Driven Graphic Design, and she has been invited to present research papers by Leonardo, EVA London, and IEEE VIS Arts. She has also presented at ISEA, AIGA, SEGD, Alicante Design Education Forum in Spain, and TypeCon. Her new project, Social Homelessness on US Campuses, is a multidisciplinary art and design project bringing awareness to Asian female faculty in America. She states that having immigrated to America as a designer brings her awareness of social inequity, discrimination, and marginality. She has presented through SIGGRAPH, ARTECH, and IEEE GEM. She received a Graduate Fellowship from Maryland Institute College of Art. She was a freelance graphic artist for the New York Times Magazine, and has taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago State University, and Valparaiso University. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design and Interaction Design at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

General Information

Students may submit work from March 2 through March 14, deadline at 11:59 p.m.
Access the online entry system.
All current ISU students are eligible to submit works. Students must be enrolled at ISU during Spring 2021.
Each student may submit up to two works.
There is no cost to participate.
You must use your ISU email address to log-in to the Outlook application. You may enter an alternative email address within the application to receive notifications.
Watch this quick video tutorial about documenting your artwork from home with limited lighting and a smartphone.
Please review the list of accepted file types. The restrictions on file types are linked to our Flickr Pro account, through which we will share the exhibition.
Please contact us at gallery@ilstu.edu or (309) 438-5487.