Bachelor of Arts Exhibition Prizes Awarded at Grinnell College Museum of Art

May 9, 2023

Jurors Jonathan deLima and Jill Wells discuss Joy 2 with Celia Meagher ‘24.

Opening attendees with Look! Please Touch! by Clare Newman ‘23 — Opening attendees with Look! Please Touch! by Clare Newman ’23

The 2023 Bachelor of Arts Exhibition (BAX), which features 71 works in the creative arts by 25 third- and fourth-year Grinnell College students, opened on Friday, April 21, in the Grinnell College Museum of Art. The exhibition will be on display through May 22.

Jonathan deLima, who manages the contemporary corporate art collection for the Krause Group, and Jill Wells, a Des Moines-based artist, served as co-jurors of BAX 2023. deLima oversees art locations in the US and Europe and developed the art program for Des Moines’ Krause Gateway Center, designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Wells, a 2005 graduate of Drake University, is known for her dynamic, colorful, and tactile multimedia works investigating race, history, stereotypes, accessibility, and human experiences.

DeLima and Wells conducted a roundtable discussion with Grinnell College students and mentored many students individually before the awards ceremony. The co-jurors selected the following awards:

Inez Louise Henely ’14 Best in Show Award

Kelly Banfield ’24, Sisterhood of the Traveling Spoons, 2021-23, Wood, flaxseed oil

Tammy J. Zywicki Memorial Prize for Photography

Luca Blankenship ’23, Späti Sitzen, 2023, 35mm film

Louis Glenn Zirkle Memorial Prize for Sculpture

Clare Newman ’23, Look! Please Touch!, 2022, Ceramics and wire

Jurors’ Merit Henely Awards

Harper Crosson ’23, My House: a series, 2022, Monotype
Jenera Kim Prieto ’24, Celadon Head, 2022, Stoneware
Celia Meagher ’24, Joy 2, 2023, Oil on Plexiglass
Mordecai Gonzalez-Rodriguez ’23, Untitled, 2023, Found objects sculpture

Jurors’ Award of Recognition

Milton Severe, GCMoA Director of Exhibition Design, was given a special award from the jurors for his collaboration with students on the exhibition. A donation to Trans Mutual Aid was made in Severe’s name.

Matthew Kluber, Chair of the Studio Art Department, announced the two students who received prizes from the studio art department for their portfolios:

Third-Year Art Prize: Stella Lowery ’24
Fourth-Year Art Prize: Andrew Thompson ’23

A team of five Grinnell College students worked closely with Milton Severe, GCMoA Director of Exhibition Design, to organize this year’s BAX Exhibition: Jillian Bhuyan ’24, Georgia Carbone ’24, Mordecai Gonzalez Rodriguez ’23, Stella Lowery ’24, and Karis McCaskill ’24.

BAX 2023 award winners — 1) BAX award winners and jurors at the opening reception. L to R: Jenara Kim Prieto ’24, Andrew Thompson ’23, Stella Lowery ’24, Mordecai Gonzalez-Rodriguez ’23, Harper Crosson ’23, Celia Meagher ’24, Luca Blankenship ’23, Clare Newman ’23, juror Jonathan deLima, Kelly Banfield ’24, and juror Jill Wells.

Information for visitors

The Grinnell College Museum of Art is free and open Tuesday through Friday, 11 am to 5:30 pm and Saturday noon to 5 pm. For more information, please visit grinnell.edu/museum or call 641-269-4660.

Grinnell College Museum of Art, Bucksbaum Center for the Arts, 1108 Park St., Grinnell. Information about the exhibition and programming available at: grinnell.edu/museum or call 641-269-4660. The museum is open to the public and always free. Visitors may use the west (Park Street facing) or north (campus facing) doors to the Bucksbaum Center for the Arts. Minors under age 18 need to be accompanied by an adult. Grinnell College welcomes the participation of people with disabilities. Information about parking and accessibility is available on the college's website: grinnell.edu. Accommodation requests may be made to Conference Operations at 641-269-3235 or calendar@grinnell.edu.