Parkland Art Students Receive Exhibition Awards, Scholarships
An awards ceremony was held on April 17
The Giertz Gallery at Parkland College recently announced the scholarship and award recipients of its 57th Annual Juried Student Art and Design Exhibition, currently on display in the gallery through May 10.
The exhibition comprises over 170 student works produced within the last year in Parkland Art and Design classes, including Photography, Painting, Drawing, Metals, Three-Dimensional Design, Two-Dimensional Design, Color Theory, Figure Drawing, and Ceramics. Members of Parkland’s art faculty selected the exhibiting works from submissions.
The public is invited to view the strength and quality of Parkland’s Art and Design program through these artworks which demonstrate tenacity and commitment, revealing the students’ development of critical thinking and visual perception.
A reception honoring the participants was held on Thursday, April 17. During the celebration, students received several awards and art scholarships, including:
Scholarship recipients include Kevin Mikulich (Monticello), who received the Underwood-Alger Art Scholarship; Jasmine Diep (Champaign), who received the Don Lake Art Scholarship; and Reagan Young (St Joseph), who received the Arrowmont-Wingate Scholarship. Additionally, Lauren Cowie and Adison Summers each received a Feldman Ceramic Art Scholarship.
Monetary awards for the Art and Design program include two Parkland President's Award of Excellence, awarded to Lauren Cooke (Sidney) and Annaliesa Merrit (Urbana); the Blair Kling Memorial Award to Fae Allen (Mahomet); the Arts, Media, and Social Sciences Department Chair Award for Excellence in Painting to Ruth Mambo (Champaign); the Arts, Media, and Social Sciences Chair Award for Excellence in Ceramics to De Zhane Polin (Urbana); and the Art & Design Faculty Award to Winter Wolford (Champaign)
Other monetary awards include the Metals Award of Artistic Distinction to Robin Fitzgerald (Champaign); the Chris Berti Award for Excellence to Breannin Flannell (Mansfield); Melissa’s Gift Comrades in Art Award, one to Elva Fini (Champaign) and one to Lisette Gasser (Urbana); and The David M. and Shirley A. Jones Student Award for Art and Design to Cameron Patten (Champaign).
Purchase awards for artwork to be included in the Parkland College Collection were awarded to: Ceil Baptiste (Urbana), Morgan Frush (Urbana), Elva Fini (Champaign), and Cody Rummenie (Champaign).
Merit Awards for outstanding work were awarded to the following students: Harrison Biggs (Champaign), Julie Birdwell (Urbana), Olivia Bresnahan (Mahomet), Camille Buchanan (Bellflower), Kristin Darling (Fisher), Tracy Earl (Urbana), Brogan Hennessy (Mahomet), Edgar Hryhorysak (Champaign), Eunjoo Kang (Champaign), Carolyn Kodes (Champaign), Blessing Omoniyi (Champaign), Samai’a Rudd (Rantoul), Lindsay Talbott (Tolono), Ektarina Tsytsarina (Champaign), Chloe White (Urbana), and Jennifer Zigler (Monticello).
Several Parkland College Art and Design students who were accepted into 2025 Illinois Community College Juried Exhibition at Governors State University were acknowledged at the ceremony. These students include Abigail McNamara, Anisa Abalos, Blessing Omoniyi, Esther Mambo, Rebecca Mambo, Ruth Mambo, Saturn Moore, and Winter Wolford.
The following is a full list of students with art in the juried exhibition, listed by hometown:
- Bellflower: Camille Buchanan, Heather Graning
- Bement: Will Ellenberg
- Champaign: Sarah Anderson, Harrison Biggs, Amy Byrum, Chao-Wen Chen, Ian Clapper, Lauren Cowie, Colton Deweese, Jasmine Diep, Raeann Dossett, Bailey Etchison, Elva Fini, Ian Fisher, Robin Fitzgerald, Sierra Foltz, Carrie Garner, Joan Gary, Zoey Gerard, Veronica Gerios, Edgar Hryhorysak, Charlene Huang, Sandra Hynds, Chris Johns, Eunjoo Kang, Rashmi Kapoor, Betty Kennerly, Carolyn Kodes, Betsy Kruger, Elyse Larsen, Ruth Mambo, Sophie Morgan, John Nine, Blessing Omoniyi, Mimi Ormerod, Cameron Patten, Jessica Phanrana, Cody Rummenie, Sara Taber, Shelby Tate, Willis Thomas, Ekaterina Tsytsarina, Kaitlyn Valentine, Anika Wells, Winter Wolford, Daniel Yi
- Delavan: Jordyn Carton
- Fisher: Kristin Darling
- Gibson City: Emma Swanson
- Mahomet: Fae Allen, Olivia Bresnahan, Olivia Brooks, Morgan Dragani, Brogan Hennesy, Emma Lang, Shreya Patel, Elaina Shoaf, Aidan Talbott
- Mansfield: Shaersti Anderson, Breanin Flannell
- Melvin: Syda Schlickman
- Monticello: Kevin Mikulich, Jennifer Zigler
- Normal: Jay Rardin
- Oakwood: Cj Reitz
- Philo: Charlie Ray
- Rankin: Rebekah Watts
- Rantoul: Jamie Moore. Samai'a Rudd
- Sadorus: Erin Rogers
- Savoy: Gianna Caponigro, Eva Cottrell, Tyra Greer
- Seymour: Beth Chasco, Annabelle Lamb
- Sidney: Lauren Cooke
- St Joseph: Carter Nauman, Raegan Young
- Tolono: Maria Buffo, Lynndsay Talbott
- Tuscola: Oliver Braaten
- Urbana: Ciel Baptiste, Julie Birdwell, Amy Byrum, Tracy Earl, Viktoria Ford, Morgan Frush, Lisette Gasser, Stephen Kaufman, Edwina Kugel, Melissa Merli, Annaliesa Merit, De Zhane’ Polin, Carol Spindel, Adison Summers, Hailey Warfel, Sharon Wenda, Chloe White, Nasier Wylie
- Vienna: Adam Slafsky
All events in the accessible gallery are free and open to the public. Parkland is a section 504/ADA-compliant institution. For accommodation, call 217/353-2338 or accessibilityservices@parkland.edu.
Gallery hours are Monday–Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Saturday, noon to 2 p.m. To find the gallery when classes are in session, use the M6 parking lot on the north side of campus. Enter through Door X-7, turn left, and follow the ramps uphill to the highest point of the first floor, where the gallery is located.
Giertz Gallery acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency. For more information, contact Lisa Costello, Giertz Gallery director, at 217/351-2485 or visit the gallery website at www.parkland.edu/gallery.