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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Jordan Strickland
(405) 325-2691
OU Graduate Receives Prestigious International Sculpture Award
- Caelie Winchester recipient of the International Sculpture Center’s Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award for 2009-
NORMAN, OKLA. (June 8, 2009)- The University of Oklahoma School of Art and Art History is proud to announce Caelie Winchester of Norman, OK has been awarded the prestigious International Sculpture Center’s Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award for 2009. Winchester is a recent graduate of the University of Oklahoma School of Art and Art History.
“With this sculpture, I hope to convey that there is a lot going on inside of a person that is not always expressed on the outside,” says Winchester. “Working with life-casting is really gratifying to me because it shows a person exactly how they are, flaws and all.”
Winchester’s sculpture, Totem, will be exhibited at the International Sculpture Center (ISC) in Hamilton, NJ from October 10 – Jan. 10, 2009. Her work also will be featured in the October issue of Sculpture Magazine and on the www.sculpture.org website.
The ISC established the annual “Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award” program in 1994 to recognize young sculptors and to encourage their continued commitment to the field. It was also designed to draw attention to the sculpture programs of the participating universities, colleges and art schools.
“This year there were an unprecedented number of nominees; 441 students from more than 176 colleges and university sculpture programs in North America and abroad,” says Jonathan Hils, associate professor of contemporary sculpture at the school. “The jury, paneled by Jeanne Jaffe, Willie Cole, and David McFadden, went through over 1,300 images of sculptural works.”
The panel only awards 12-22 students this honor each year. Since 2004, the OU contemporary sculpture program has now had 2 student award winners and 1 honorable mention recognized through this competition. In this span of time, over 1700 students have been nominated and only 96 award winners have been selected.
“This is the most prestigious award available for a sculpture student in a BFA or MFA program. It is very rare that a BFA student receives this award as they are competing against many master’s level students from around the world,” says Hils. “This award signifies the creative excellence fostered in the contemporary sculpture program and should provide significant confidence in the School of Art & Art History’s role as a facilitator for contemporary art. This is a significant international recognition of the creative spark of our contemporary sculpture program and the talent fostered in Oklahoma.”
The University of Oklahoma is an equal opportunity institution. For accommodations on the basis of disability, please call the School of Art and Art History at (405) 325-2691. For more information, please visit, http://art.ou.edu
