Harrison Galleries on University Boulevard will host the third annual BFA Juried Exhibition through April 25. The exhibit showcases the work of 10 UA undergraduate students.
Works by Adam Hill, Amber Jones, Brooke Howell, Clinton Graham, Ethan Murray, Joe Robertson, Julie Miller, Sarah Anne Finley, Yimin Li and Jacob Davidson will be showcased.
Harrison Gallery, located in downtown Tuscaloosa, features paintings, mostly in American or European Romantic and Hudson River School traditions, and photography by prominent Tuscaloosa area photographers.
Amber Jones, a senior majoring in ceramics and sculpture, said she loves working with Harrison Gallery.
“Jim Harrison, the owner, is very supportive of our department and is just an all-around great man,” she said.
This is Jones’ second time to be featured in the exhibition.
“The three pieces I have in the show are all ceramic, and through these pieces I am exploring form and texture through both a subtractive and additive process, as well as experimenting with metal oxides such as red iron oxide and cobalt carbonate as a way to achieve both color and texture,” she said.
Jones grew up around Lake Tuscaloosa, and she said the forms and palette she uses help her evoke memories of life on the lake.
To view or purchase Jones’ work, you can visit her Facebook page by searching “Going to Tuscaloosa//Sweet Tea Flavored Art.”
Yimin Li, a sophomore majoring in digital art and painting, will also be featured at the exhibit. Li is from China, and he said he always imagined himself making a career out of art.
“I was not as well-trained as most art students before I went to college,” he said. “There were doubts about having art as my major from family, friends or even sometimes myself.”
Li said he kept working and was accepted in the BFA review in 2009.
“Now I feel like I’m actually seeing my childhood dream coming true,” he said. “Considering my personal experience, it was the most exciting thing I’ve ever had.”
Li has two paintings in the exhibition, “Still Life” and “Woods Hall in Snow.” Li said “Woods Hall in Snow” is one of his favorite pieces, and he completed it in 2009.
“It is a painting based on the actual sketch of the building with a combination of personal imagination of a snowy scene, since we had not gotten that kind of heavy snow in Tuscaloosa then,” he said.
Li said he is currently working on more pieces and looking forward to having them showcased next year.