Scenic photograph wins top prize in student exhibition
Palm Beach State College student Brittani Wilson was given an assignment by her professor to create a piece of artwork for a local business. What she created has now turned into the most recognized piece in the annual student exhibition currently on display at the Palm Beach Gardens campus.
The work, a digital photograph titled “By the Creek,” was awarded Best in Show earlier this month out of 126 pieces in the exhibit. Wilson received a $100 prize.
The project began after a representative from the PGA Plaza asked Associate Professor Sherry Stephens if any students were willing to create a panel display that could be installed on one of the plaza’s storefront windows.
Wilson, a TV and film production major, took on the challenge and decided to create a scenic image entirely on a flatbed scanner in Stephens’ digital photography class. She arranged pebbles, flower petals, leaves, tinted plastic wrap and other objects in layers in three scans. Then she assembled them into one image using window framing to unify the scans into one scene showing a peaceful stream.
Wilson spent a few weeks putting the project together and gathered most of her materials from home.
“I think the piece helps portray some of the beauty of nature and gives off some sense of tranquility, like watching a creek change through the seasons,” said Wilson. “Designing this piece definitely presented a new way of working with scanography for me. I’ve worked on a scanography piece before, but not as an attempt to create a piece of scenery. Everything is placed upside-down, so you have to be aware of how you are creating layers and what is overlapping other objects.”
The judge who chose Wilson’s photograph for the Best in Show honor was Sibel Kocabasi, an artist who works at the JF Gallery in West Palm Beach.
“It was an honor to be chosen by Palm Beach State College to serve on the jury for this amazing art exhibition,” said Kocabasi. “I was very excited to see the very high quality of work created by the students. It was also a great opportunity to experience the exceptional quality of art education at PBSC. I hope this exhibition will help to bring a fresh new audience to the PBSC art program and will encourage the students to continue using art in their professional, as well as their personal lives.”
In addition to Wilson’s honor, students won first-second-and third-place awards in seven categories. The following is a list of the first-place winners, who took home a $50 prize.
Drawing 1 Isabella Panto, Venus
Life Drawing 2 Osvilma Palazzotto, Untitled
Ceramics 1 Lilian Tetzlaff, Unrestrained Imagination
Ceramics 2 Chris Trapasso, Watch for Sharks
Traditional Photography Kimberly Krieger, Katie and Max
Digital Photography Aaron Novotny, Untitled
Design Fund Daniela Bedoyd, Colombian Culture
The student prize funds have been provided for the last 15 years by K & M Electric Supply, Inc. The company’s president, Derrick Hoskins, took art classes at the College and has been attending the student show for the last 15 years.
Wilson’s “By the Creek” can be seen along with the other artworks now until May 6. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Thursday. The Art Gallery at Eissey Campus is located in the first floor of the BB building, 3160 PGA Blvd. For more information, call the gallery at 561-207-5015 or visit www.palmbeachstate.edu/ArtGalleryPBG
