UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The spring 2024 winners of the Gallery@104 student art competition are first place, Marianna Renda, fourth-year student in the B.F.A. Sculpture program, and second place, Megan Dale, fourth-year Graphic Design student. This art competition is sponsored in the fall and spring by the Office of Academic Affairs and Outreach in the College of Arts and Architecture. The winners’ pieces and selected other submissions will be displayed in 104 Borland through summer 2024.
Gallery@104 was established in 2022 as a biannual exhibition and juried competition for undergraduate Arts and Architecture students in any major, with the goal of showcasing work in a space frequented by current and prospective students.
Renda’s piece, titled “The Invasive Species,” features bead embroidery on canvas.
"'The Invasive Species' aims to confront the viewer as to who is the true invasive species. The obvious answer may be the depicted pesky insects that have taken over our neighborhoods, but I present the idea that humans have similar behaviors," wrote Renda, a previous winner of the Gallery@104 competition, in her submission materials. "I live in the suburbs of New Jersey, where residents want to have the proximity of New York City while also having the escape to open farmland. As a consequence to the land, forests are cleared and replaced with housing developments. I have been noticing this trend growing each year, as I see more condos taking the places of trees and the biodiverse life that they hold."
Dale’s submission was an illustrated children’s book, titled “Boon’s Big Adventure,” which she had created as one part of an experience for colorblind kids. The book, written by fellow student Peyton Harris, tells the story of Boon the Bunny, who must go on an adventure to get back his colorblind glasses. Dale used a high-contrast color palette to be easily differentiated in the red-green colorblind spectrum. The book was illustrated in Clip Studio Paint digitally and compiled into InDesign where text was added.
The current exhibition also includes submissions from Austin Hill (photography), Ryleigh Jones (mixed media), Brayden McCrea (oil painting), Ethan Flynn (digital art), Griff Graph (Griffin Lee, digital art and photography), Max Cheever (digital art), Katelyn Morganti (mixed media), Bannesa Hernandez (acrylic painting), Zander Faust (pencil drawing), Siyu Yang (photography), Eden Balog (illustration), Maya Knupp (paint and pen illustrations), E.D. (Emma Dowell, acrylic painting), and Adriana Forsythe (watercolor and ballpoint pen).