Fresno State’s 2022 Senior Art Show held its reception for projects created by graduating seniors at the Phebe Conley Gallery and announced award recipients, including the President’s Showcase Award, on April 1.
The art show displayed a variety of pieces ranging from self-portraits, acrylic and oil canvas paintings to ceramics, sculptures and mixed media.
Andrew Turner’s sculpture, “The Four Horsemen,” was on display at the event.
Turner describes his sculpture, which includes four handmade knights’ helmets, as a “correlation” between social class and mental health.
“In my body of works, I [show] that I struggled with my own issues with mental health and PTSD due to a trip when I moved to Guatemala in 2005 and experienced Hurricane Stan, which was about two weeks after Hurricane Katrina,” Turner said.
He said that during his firsthand experience with Hurricane Stan, he saw a lot of things that he still deals with today, and that through his work on “The Four Horsemen” he has been able to address his experiences in a healthy way.
“It’s better than a psychologist, right? Like, the creation of art is where I can zone out,” Turner said.
Later during the reception, Turner won the Sculpture Award for “The Four Horsemen.”
He said that leading up to the announcement was “gut wrenching,” but he is excited he won and felt that the award is “well-deserved” after working “really hard” for it.
Other art projects on display included self-portraits, such as the ones submitted by Jose Soria and Angel Lesnikowski, who both won awards for their works. Lesnikowski’s “Self Portrait” won Best In Show and the Edward O. Lund Foundation Award, while Soria’s “Seven of Hearts” self portrait won the Painting Award.
Soria said he was surprised when he found out that “Seven of Hearts” was chosen for the Painting Award. He said his self-portrait displays his relationship with religion and how it changed during the beginning of the pandemic.
“Because [‘Seven of Hearts’] being a self-portrait, it’s tied to a specific person. I didn’t think that something like that would get chosen, just because there’s other things that are more universal in what they represent. But I felt pretty happy that my self-portrait stood out to them,” Soria said.
After finishing “Seven of Hearts” less than a month ago, Soria said having the chance to display his projects in the Senior Art Show was “bittersweet.” Soria described the process of his peers coming from class and working on their projects to seeing them on display for the community as an opportunity he was glad to have been given.
Lesnikowski won two awards and one honorable mention at the reception, including honorable mention for “The Coyote vs. Bird. Which one are you?” in Best in Show and the Edward O. Lund Foundation Award- Drawing for “Self Portrait,” and she was one of three award winners of The President’s Showcase Award for her “Self Portrait” drawing.
Lesnikowski, who felt like she couldn’t stand out when she first started as a freshman in art, said she felt “a lot of affirmation” after winning her awards.
She describes her artistic medium, as seen in “The Coyote vs. Bird. Which one are you?”, as oversaturated landscape paintings with a black figure interacting with the space.
After hearing that “Self Portrait” was selected as one of the three award winners for The President’s Showcase Award, Lesnikowski said “it makes me feel acknowledged by the president and his wife.”
“I’m happy that they chose me out of the other students. There’s three of us together, [and] I know the other two, as well, so it just feels really nice,” Lesnikowski said.
The 2022 Senior Art Show is free and open to the public until April 8, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Phebe Conley Gallery on campus.
Other award recipients included:
Honorable Mention- Painting: “The Coyote vs Bird. Which one are you?” by Angel Lesnikowski.
Painting Award: “Seven of Hearts” by Soria.
Drawing Award: “Self-portrait, 2022” by Natalie Inthisane.
Sculpture Award: “The Four Horsemen” by Turner.
Ceramics Award: “I Am” by Adelina Ruvalcaba.
Mixed Media Award: “Modern Figures” by Orlando Lopez.
Printmaking Award: “Lovers” by Lily Castillo.
Animation and Video Award: “Tortilla Bot” by Veronica Torres Corona.
Photography Award: “Echoes of the Past” by Roberto R. Sandoval.
The Fresno Printmaker’s Guild Award: “The Chosen Path” by Roberto R. Sandoval.
The President’s Showcase Award: “Self Portrait,” a drawing by Angel Lesnikowski; “Scenes of Monterey: Shoreline Park and Lovers Point,” a painting b y Lyndsie Lyman; “Three Familiar Monsters, The Old West, and Untitled” series of three drawings by Hernan Angele.
Best in Show and the Edward O. Lund Foundation Award: “Self Portrait,” a drawing by Angel Lesnikowski.
