Student art to be shown at the Figge Museum Dec. 7-Feb. 23
Seven Augustana students will have artwork on display at the 2024 College Invitational in the Katz Gallery at the Figge Art Museum. The show runs from Dec. 7-Feb. 23 at the museum in Davenport, Iowa.
“It's an honor to be included,” said Megan Quinn, Augustana professor of art. “To have a juried exhibition at a museum on your résumé as a young artist is impressive.
“This show gives students positive affirmation on their value as artists. They also enjoy seeing their work next to other students' work in this context.”
Eight colleges and universities are featured in the 13th installation of this bi-annual show. Each piece is chosen by the institutions’ art professors to showcase campus talent and creativity.
In addition to Augustana, participating institutions are Black Hawk College, Clinton Community College, Knox College, Monmouth College, Scott Community College, St. Ambrose University and Western Illinois University.
The installation’s closing reception and awards ceremony is at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 20.
Augustana students' artworks and artist statements are below:
Eden Swails '27
"Bounty of Summer"
2024
Pastel
18" x 24"
Artist statement: I created this piece in hopes of capturing both the beauty of abundance and simplicity of daily life. Pastel allows for a wide variety in texture, from the soft skin of the fruit to the shine of glass bottles. The light blue backdrop harmonizes with the blue scattered through reflections and shadows. Tension is created between the organic forms of the fruit and man-made tableware. Ultimately, this still life is an ode to the richness of life, encouraging us to embrace the ordinary and discover the extraordinary within it.
Emma Gocken '25
"Untitled"
2022
Graphite, charcoal, colored pencil
18" x 24"
Artist statement: Is the pawn large enough to support an elephant, or is the elephant small enough to balance on a chess piece?
Fynn Greene '26
"Portrait of Self as an Olympic Athlete (Aftermath)"
2024
Pencil
18" x 24"
Artist statement: Inspired by this summer’s Olympics, I was asked to draw myself as an Olympic athlete for my figure drawing class. I chose a laying pose because I wanted to get creative with the prompt and draw a pose that wasn’t an action shot, especially since I’m not a particularly athletic person. The isolated figure allows the viewer to imagine their own narrative of the race, only showing the conclusion. I used color only to highlight some of my defining features while not drawing attention away from the athlete as a whole.
Gray Cunnar '25
"Fruity Fashion"
2024
Alcohol markers and ink
Individual illustrations 11" x 5"; combined 32" x 40"
Artist statement: "Fruity Fashion" explores the nature of fruit, femininity and textiles. The illustrations depict women donned in garments inspired by the traditional and modern clothing of the countries each corresponding fruit originates from. Each woman is modeled after an actual person from these cultures. They are not famous or well known, just simply people, existing, and often forgotten. Just as they are forgotten so too is the art of women, labeled as crafts, as different from fine arts. These illustrations are meant to draw attention to what we so often forget and ignore from day to day.
Lillie Ana Olvera '26
"Hail To The Queen"
2024
Colored pencil, charcoal, paint markers
18" x 24"
Artist statement: This piece was a class assignment where the goal was to use chess pieces as our main focal point. I decided to do a fun twist with this and turn it into a vintage horror movie poster. The main scheme of this piece is that the woman who loves playing chess filled her time with the board game so much that it began to consume her life. The Queen piece slowly began to take over her dreams, follow her everywhere the woman went and waited very patiently on her desk begging for the player to begin a game so the Queen could strike when the player was the weakest.
Lauren Hoffman '26
"College Mail"
2022
Collage, multimedia
8" x 11"
Artist statement: This piece is meant to symbolize college taking me away from my family, as I am left with just the words that colleges have said to me. The piece is made out of mail that colleges would send, even my acceptance letter to Augustana. By cutting out the pieces of paper and gluing them to an art board, I recreated a family photo.
Charley Williams '25
"The Best Supper"
2024
Marker on paper, blacklight activated
18" x 24"
Artist statement: This piece was a very fun assignment, and we were supposed to take a realistic piece and make it abstract or vice versa, so I picked out "The Last Supper." The ZABA album by the Glass Animals inspires the visuals of this piece. I made the decision to make the background more muted with textures to bring out the bright colors of the rest of the piece. After realizing the complexity of the piece I was working with on a deadline, I made the background first and then colored everything else on a piece of paper, cut it out and glued it on.