The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art presents the 2014 Young Contemporaries, featuring 63 works of art by students at the College of Charleston. The exhibition will be on view April 4 – May 3, 2014, and is juried by Maryland-based artist Bill Dunlap.

Young Contemporaries FeaturedThe opening reception and awards ceremony on Friday April 4, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. will be open to the public and include complimentary refreshments and light hors d’oeuvres. Local artist and gallery owner Robert Lange will determine which accepted works will receive the seventeen awards and more than than $6,000 in prizes.  A walkthrough with the artsits will be held Thursday, May 1, at 6 p.m.

“Young Contemporaries is an opportunity for students to have their work chosen by a nationally prominent juror and exhibit in a professional gallery setting,” explains Karen Ann Myers, associate director of the Halsey Institute. “The annual exhibition shows off the brightest talents coming out of the College’s School of the Arts, including painters, sculptors, printmakers, and photographers and really helps students to learn how to prepare for future gallery exhibits and helps them to practice the type of professionalism necessary for success in such a competitive field.”

For the 2014 Young Contemporaries exhibition, visiting artist Bill Dunlap was chosen to select the student works. On March 14, the Halsey Institute received 504 submissions from 156 students. Artwork from the following mediums was submitted: 170 paintings, 95 drawings, 38 mixed media, 59 prints, 75 photographs, 2 videos, and 65 sculptures.

“The goal of the show is showing the best of the best, but also have it take on the flavor of what the students are producing at this point in time,” says last year’s juror, Scott Stulen. He continues, “It’s a little bit of a snapshot, in certain ways, of what’s happening within the College.” The Post and Courier calls the Young Contemporaries exhibit, “One of the highlights of the year.” This year’s entries are sure to impress.

Concurrent with Young Contemporaries will be the Salon des Refusés exhibition, showing in the Hill Exhibition Gallery within The Marion and Wayland H. Cato Jr. Center for the Arts. The origin of the Salon des Refusés dates to Paris in 1863, when artists who had been rejected from the official Salon caused such a protest that Emperor Napoleon III ordered another exhibition held for them. Among the painters in this Salon des Refusés were Camille Pissaro, Henri Fantin-Latour, James M. Whistler, and Edouard Manet.

These annual exhibitions are jointly produced by the Halsey Institute, the Studio Art Department, and the Student Visual Arts Club at the College of Charleston School of the Arts.

About the Juror – Bill Dunlap

Bill Dunlap is an artist who divides his time between Western Maryland and New York City. His work has been shown extensively in galleries and museums across North America and Europe, including recent solo shows at the University of Maryland and at galleries in Boston, Denver, and San José. Recent group shows include galleries in London, New York, and Los Angeles. His work is included in several permanent collections, including the library collection of the New York Museum of Modern Art and recent acquisitions by the Universities of Wisconsin and Maryland. His work was recently featured in an exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and he is currently engaged in a large-scale ongoing commission from the University of Maryland to paint murals on barns across the state. He and his work have been featured widely in print, television, radio, and on many art blogs. He has also worked as an illustrator, and his images and cartoons have appeared in magazines and newspapers nationwide. www.billdunlap.com