Students and faculty will be honoring "Icons of Art" by dressing in costume for the 72nd Annual Student Art Show today from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Ball State University Museum of Art. The Student Art Show will be in conjunction with the Art Museum's 70th Anniversary Exhibition.
The 70th anniversary is composed of several works of art, including various prints made between 1935 and 1937, Peter Blume, director of the Museum of Art, said.
"We will celebrate the anniversary by taking a look at what sorts and themes and interests were important to artists at that point," Blume said.
The exhibition will feature collections from university co-founder Frank C. Ball and his grandson David T. Owsley along with some former professors' collections.
"Students tend to live in the here and now," Blume said. "But the here and now is formed by a whole lot of history that came before that."
This exhibition is in tribute to that history, he said.
On the third floor of the museum, the 72nd Annual Student Art Show will feature between 80 and 100 pieces of contemporary art created by students in the Department of Art.
David Hannon, assistant professor of art and one of the planners of the art show, said students came up with the idea to honor artists between 1930 and 2007 during the art show.
"The museum's changed a lot over the years," said Hannon, who will be dressing as a character from Edward Hopper's "Night Hawks" painting.
Sam Minor, associate professor of art and one of the planners of the exhibition, said between 200 and 300 people on average come to the student exhibition each year.
The pieces in the show are chosen by a juror; this year Dee Shaad, the chairman of the Department of Art and Design at the University of Indianapolis, was the juror.
"The show is an art show, so it displays the best of the work from the Department of Art," Minor said. "We bring in a juror, it's not a local juror, and he spends a whole day going through around 400 pieces of artwork."
A committee of faculty and students choose the juror each year. The committee spent about a month planning the exhibition and the opening.
"The opening is really nice," Minor said. "There's food. We have a musician that comes in, we have a costume competition and we have awards."
The Women's Student Art Week also gives out awards at the exhibition opening, Minor said.
Senior Ross Wagner, a painting major, said this year will be his third year in the Student Art Show. Last year, he won four awards at the student show. Wagner said the show is a good way for the department to show what the students have been working on all year.
"Artists can best visually show what's going on in mankind," he said. "It would kind of [be] a disservice not going to investigate. It's kind of like a science fair, but with art."
If you goBall State's 72ndStudent Art ShowWhen: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Where: Ball State Museum of ArtExhibition open until: April 29
If you goBall State Museum of Art 70th Anniversary Exhibition Exhibition open until: April 29
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