Art, awards, and a speaker

Schick Art Gallery hosts its annual Juried Skidmore Student Exhibition, celebrating the imagination and skill of Skidmore art students, from February 2 through March 5, with an opening reception from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public; the hours are listed below.

For each year’s show, Skidmore art students submit approximately 250 works in a wide range of media, and a guest juror chooses perhaps 50–75 to include in the exhibition. In addition, 10 works are selected for special awards with a combined value of more than $1,000 funded by Skidmore donors, campus organizations, and Saratoga businesses.

The juror this year is John R. Stomberg, the Kelsey Director of Dartmouth College’s Hood Museum of Art. Before joining Dartmouth, he directed Mount Holyoke’s museum and helped lead the Williams College and the Boston University art museums. With a Ph.D. in art history from Boston University and expertise in American art and culture since 1900, Stomberg publishes on issues relating to museums and higher education, and he curates exhibitions to illuminate how art operates in, and often shapes, the wider society.

In conjunction with the student show, Stomberg will give a free, public lecture titled “Art and the Brain: Studio Practice and the Promise of the Liberal Arts.” The talk takes place Thursday, Feb. 9, at 5:30 p.m. in Filene Recital Hall.

Schick Gallery is located in Skidmore’s Saisselin Art Building. Gallery hours are Monday–Thursday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.; Friday, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.; Saturday­–Sunday, 12 noon–4 p.m.; closed during most academic holidays.