The Annual Curated Student Exhibition opens Friday, Mar. 12 and, with a revised focus, promises to provide an even greater learning experience for students.

"The U of L Art Gallery provides an exceptional opportunity for the professional development of Art Studio majors as they near the completion of their degree," says Dr. Josephine Mills, Director/Curator.
"The Annual Curated Student Exhibition gives students realistic experience with the process of applying for exhibitions and receiving feedback from an established curator."

This exhibition is only open to senior art majors to focus attention on those with the goal of becoming professional artists. In applying for this exhibition, students follow the same process and standards for documenting, describing and proposing their work, as they will when applying to public art galleries and artist-run centres or for grants.

Art Gallery staff provides advice on preparing the proposals and share insights into what curators look for when deciding to book a studio visit and choose artwork for an exhibition. To further that real life experience, an established curator from outside of Lethbridge is invited to create the exhibition.

The curator views the proposals and selects a short list of students for follow-up meetings during their time on the U of L campus. From these studio visits, the curator makes the final selection and works with the Art Gallery staff to lay out and install the exhibition.

"The Annual Curated Student Exhibition provides a showcase of excellent work by art studio majors in that year and gives the students a valuable achievement to list on their résumés," says Mills.

As well, students who are not selected to display their work receive feedback on their proposals, and can learn how to improve as they prepare to begin their careers.

The Annual Curated Student Exhibition is in the U of L Main Gallery, Mar. 12 through Apr. 9, with the opening reception on Friday, Mar. 12 at 8 p.m.

The guest curator this year is Sandra Dyck, the curator at the Carleton University Art Gallery in Ottawa.