Gallery of Art and Design Offers Three Exhibits, Visiting Artist’s Lecture in March

WARRENSBURG, MO – The 55th Annual Citation Show will open March 13 in the main gallery of the  University of Central Missouri Gallery of Art and Design. The exhibition is one of three art shows and a visiting artist’s lecture that are planned at the gallery during the same month.

Each year, during the spring semester, the gallery invites students with declared majors and minors in Art and Design to submit their best works of art for inclusion in the Citation Show. An arts professional is selected to jury the exhibition, awarding cash prizes to the top artworks across numerous categories.

“The Citation Show is a chance to see the best work of our students and to celebrate their accomplishments in the classroom,” said Dr. Rahila Weed, chair of Art and Design. “It is a window into our programs, highlighting the incredible talent of our students and faculty.”

This year’s juror is Amy Kligman, executive and artistic director of the Charlotte Street Foundation in Kansas City. Kligman will not attend the reception but the public is invited to hear her talk about her work at 4 p.m. Monday, March 27 in Wood Building, Room 100, where she will be the Kleppe Visiting Artist
Lecturer. This lecture will be simulcast over Zoom. Free Zoom registration is required, and individuals can register online at shorturl.at/yPW23. It is also easy to find the sign-up link on social media. The Gallery of Art and Design is on Instagram @ucmartgallery and on Facebook as UCM Gallery of Art and Design. The Citation Show will be on view through March 31. The public is invited to attend the show reception from 4-6 p.m. March 29. Awards will be announced at 4 p.m. All events are free and open to the public.



Also part of the spring art offerings, in Gallery 115 of the UCM Art Center, “Invented Personas” will also open on March 13. Works in this exhibition represent a curated selection of artworks completed by UCM’s Foundations II students working with visiting artist Johanna Winters. Students were asked to create large-scale papier-mâché masks that present and reflect upon invented personas and their aestheticized representations.

In commenting on the show, Director of Gallery Events, Jamie Platt, noted, “If you only see one UCM art show this year, do yourself a favor and get down here for Invented Personas. I’ve been watching the projects develop over the course of a couple weeks and they are truly strange and compelling.” 

Winters’ name may be familiar for anyone who has been keeping up with events in the Gallery of Art and Design this semester. She is a sculptor and conceptual artist whose recent body of work is a series of meditations on what it is like to age as a woman. In addition to working with students in a workshop and curating "Invented Personas," Winters has curated a five-person exhibition called “Side Stage,” and has twice been a guest lecturer in the Kleppe Visiting Artist Lecture Series, once speaking about her own work and the others as a moderator for a panel discussion with the artists of Side Stage.

Invented Personas will be on view through March 31. The reception for this event coincides with the reception for the Citation Show on March 29.

Among the March offerings, the annual high school art show opens on March 13. The High School Art Exhibition at UCM features a selection of outstanding artwork made by high school students from within a 150-mile radius of Warrensburg, Missouri.  Students are allowed to submit two pieces of work and can enter any original drawing, painting (oil, acrylic, opaque watercolor), mixed media, printmaking (serigraphy, relief, intaglio), fibers, design/graphics, photography, ceramics or sculpture. Upper-level students can sign up for a day of live art competition and workshops with UCM faculty and students at the annual High School Art Contest Day.  Both events are free and open to home-schooled, public and private high school students. The exhibition will be on view through March 31. The public is invited to a reception for the High School Art Exhibition from noon to 2 p.m. March 25. Admission is free.

This work by Naomi Rendell, a student at Lee’s Summit West High School, is an example of the items on display during the High School Art Exhibition at the University of Central Missouri Gallery of Art and Design. The show runs March 13-31.

Learn more about upcoming events at the Gallery of Art and Design by visiting its website. Anyone who has questions about gallery events is encouraged to contact Jamie Platt at jplatt@ucmo.edu.