Juried Student Show

Guest Juror Malcolm Mobutu Smith

November 27–December 8, 2017

The 2017 Juried Student Show is being dedicated in the memory of Billy Mayer, a long-time member of the art faculty who died unexpectedly at his home on Saturday, Nov. 11, at the age of 64. Mayer was a professor of art and the head of the college’s sculpture and ceramic programs, and had taught at Hope since 1978.

Open to all students at Hope, the competitive Juried Student Show is an annual fixture in the De Pree gallery. Each year, the Department of Art and Art History invites a recognized artist or curator to select and judge the student work. 

Malcolm Mobutu Smith is an associate professor of ceramic art at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. He earned his MFA from the New York College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 1996, and studied at both the Kansas City Art Institute and Penn State University, where he received his BFA in ceramics in 1994. Smith’s professional activities involve workshops, lectures and residencies including visits to Haystack Mountain School of Craft, Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts and the Robert McNamara Foundation. His works are in numerous private and public collections.

Smith is guided by improvisations that merge form with graphic flatness. His clay work is inspired by the intersections of graffiti art and graphic structure, as well as formal relationships via comic books and playful organic abstraction via jazz. His works rely on wheel-thrown and hand-built elements—most commonly presented as abstractions of cups, bottles, and vases—as well as an interest in drawing and 3D printing.

Press release for the 2017 Juried Student Show 

Juror's Talk

Monday, November 20 | 4–5 p.m.
Cook Auditorium, De Pree Art Center and Gallery

Closing Reception

Friday, December 9 | 5–6:30 p.m.
De Pree Art Center and Gallery