Students from Hastings College and five other private schools were a part of the 15th annual Nebraska Independent College Foundation (NICF)/O’Keefe Elevator Company Art Show. Of the 16 Hastings College students exhibiting at the show, three were honored during the awards reception.
Pat Nelson of Ayr, Nebraska, was recognized with Best of Show and a $500 prize for “Windows of the Soul.” Myranda Sonksen, a sophomore from Burlington, Colorado, received second place and a $200 prize in the 3D category for her piece “Etch-A-Sketch,” and Jake Arnett, a senior from Bennington, Nebraska, was awarded third place and a $150 prize in the 3D category for his glass piece, “Color Splash Vase.”
The annual competitive undergraduate art exhibition is housed in the O’Keefe Elevator Company gallery in The Old Market in Omaha. As in past years, the O’Keefe Elevator Company donated the gallery space as well as $2,000 for prize money to the student artists. The three outside jurors who were asked to judge the show were Holly McAdams-Olson of the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, Joel Damon of Project Project and Paige Reitz of the Union for Contemporary Art.
For the second year in a row, Hastings College played an integral role in producing the show. Turner McGehee, an art professor at Hastings College, organized the gallery display with the help of Hastings College students Autumn Teff, Lauren Fedden and Hannah Adams. Working together, the group hung 150 pieces of art in preparation for the show.
Hastings College entries included:
- “Self-Portrait,” a graphite piece by a first-year student Karlie Norton of Littleton, Colorado.
- “Seventeen,” a woodcut/collage piece by junior Lauren Fedden, of Papillion, Nebraska.
- “Unique Millennial,” a woodcut piece by Lauren Fedden.
- “Ophelia Feels,” a woodcut piece by Lauren Fedden.
- “I Am Happy,” a digital painting by first year student Hannah Adams of Cairo, Nebraska.
- “Intersection of Roofs,” a woodcut piece by special student Cheryl Wray of Hastings, Nebraska.
- “Garden Corner,” an etched piece by Cheryl Wray.
- “Stripes,” a watercolor piece by sophomore Melissa Loney of Omaha, Nebraska.
- “Blush,” an etched piece by Melissa Loney.
- “Fungi,” a mixed media piece by senior Cheyenne Knehans of Riverton, Nebraska.
- “Rupture,” a mixed media piece by Cheyenne Knehans.
- “Directionally Challenged,” a laser-cut masonite piece by first-year student Madison Black of Fairbury, Nebraska.
- “Cookbooks,” an oil on wood piece by special student Pat Nelson of Ayr, Nebraska.
- “Window of the Soul,” an oil on wood piece by Pat Nelson.
- “Color Splash Vase,” a blown glass piece by senior Jake Arnett of Bennington, Nebraska.
- “Etch-A-Sketch,” a paper and paint piece by sophomore Myranda Soncksen of Burlington, Colorado.
- “Board Axe,” a wood piece by first-year student Benjamin Friend from Lincoln, Nebraska.
- “Intimate,” an oil on panel piece by first-year student Jordan Ismaiel from Hastings, Nebraska.
- “Purple Mountains,” an oil piece by first-year student Abigail Olson from Broken Bow, Nebraska.
- “Moody Blues,” a watercolor piece by Abigail Olson.
- “Free Spirit,” a watercolor piece Abigail Olson.
- “Elegance,” a woodcut piece by sophomore Autumn Teff of Fremont, Nebraska.
- “Pleiades-Pages,” a digital painting by Autumn Teff.
- “Pleiades-Cover,” a digital painting by Autumn Teff.
- “Minuit,” a woodcut piece by Autumn Teff.
- “Twist,” a wood piece by sophomore Dacia Hartman of Hastings, Nebraska.
- “Altar Native Current,” a steel and motor piece by junior Jeric Minton of Atlanta, Georgia.
Hastings College is a private, four-year institution located in Hastings, Nebraska, that focuses on student academic and extracurricular achievement. With 64 majors and 15 pre-professional programs, Hastings College has been named among “Great Schools, Great Prices” by U.S. News & World Report and a “Best in the Midwest” by The Princeton Review. For more, go to hastings.edu.
