SEARCHING for a last-minute gift for an art lover? Head down to the Gutstein Gallery to shop SCAD’s latest exhibition.
SCAD’s “Small Works” is a yearly favorite for both its moderate prices and exceptional talent coming out of the university.
The exhibition is open to the entire SCAD network—students, alumni, faculty and staff all are invited to submit works for the juried show.
“We annually open this show right before Thanksgiving so the public can come and purchase works,” says SCAD Exhibition’s assistant curator Ben Tollefson. “It’s great for the holidays, and it’s great to have our commitment to nurturing alumni and our careers and showing off our fabulous faculty. We’re really bringing that to the public and having this open gives exposure to students and alumni and faculty doing really special things.”
Because the show is open to everyone in the whole SCAD family, there are always a lot of submissions.
“The exhibition team, as I represent, collaborates with SCAD Art Sales for the jury,” explains Tollefson. “We jury with a member of SCAD Art Sales and another exhibitions member. We had about 1,300 submissions—it was insane. We whittled that down to 150.”
Tollefson worked with Rebecca Chadwick on the exhibitions team and Kimberly Santos from SCAD Art Sales to cull the works down to a reasonable exhibition size.
“It’s really amazing to have two other people to bounce ideas off of when you’re doing this,” Tollefson says. “It’s overwhelming and it’s a challenge, but it’s also something that we talked through. We definitely speak up for or talk through different works.”
Tollfeson, Santos and Chadwick all considered the work in the context of SCAD’s most public space.
“There’s so much in this show, and I think it’s awesome because this space is always open to the public,” says Tollefson. “We have visitors from around the world visit the SCAD Museum of Art, and many ask where they can see current student work. ‘Small Works’ and many of our other shows at the Gutstein allows the public to view and purchase artwork from students.”
Tollefson highlights work by Honor Bowman Hall, Gonzalo Hernandez, Rebecca Slivinsky, Kristen Heritage, and Robin Miller as artists to look for.
“The year-round exhibitions at the Gutstein are a great example of SCAD’s mission to provide our hometown communities access and exposure to public art,” Tollefson shares.
SCAD’s full service art consultancy, SCAD Art Sales, has placed art in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta and in the Heathrow Airport in England, among other notable projects.
The work in ‘Small Works’ is all priced under $600 to allow easy purchasing.
“Most things, just by nature of being so small, don’t come close to our cap,” says Tollefson.
The exhibition is on display through Jan. 26, allowing you plenty of time to buy that piece you’ve been eyeing.
