Nearly 70 Student Artists Featured in SUNY Oneonta’s Annual Juried Art Show 

By JOSHUA YOUNGQUIST
SUNY Institute for Local News
ONEONTA

SUNY Oneonta’s campus is filled with color, texture and creative energy this spring as the 2026 Juried Student Show continues at the Martin–Mullen Art Gallery. The annual art exhibition, which opened March 24 and runs through May 2, features nearly 70 student artists and more than 90 works spanning painting, sculpture, ceramics, photography, digital art, mixed media and experimental forms. 

A reception for the exhibition will be held on Thursday, April 30, offering the public an opportunity to meet some of the student artists and experience the work firsthand. There will also be 17 awards presented to students at the 5-7 p.m. event. Both the show and the reception are free and open to the public, part of SUNY Oneonta’s ongoing commitment to showcasing student creativity through its campus art galleries. 

The show contains work submitted by students and selected by a committee of art faculty, alongside work from the past year’s art courses that is pre-selected by instructors. For many students, inclusion in the Juried Student Show is both an honor and a major milestone.  

Artist Madison Budek recalled hearing the news that her work had been selected.

“What first went through my mind was a mix of excitement and shock that I was chosen to have my work on display amongst many other talented artists at this school,” Budek said.

Seeing her work professionally displayed, Budek added, “Feels as though the work and time I put into the pieces is appreciated and acknowledged.” 

Budek, who is a senior majoring in digital and studio art, sees the exhibition as an important step toward her future beyond SUNY Oneonta.

“As a student and artist, it gives me hope for becoming a successful artist within the art world after graduation,” she said. 

The Juried Student Show is a long-standing tradition within the university’s Art Department, and Gallery Director Sarah Simpson said its impact reaches far beyond individual recognition. 

“The Juried Student Show is an annual exhibition that highlights the diversity of work being created in the Art Department. For the campus, it’s a celebration of our student body,” Simpson said.  

With more than 90 works presented this year, she noted that the scale of the exhibition speaks to the program’s strength.

“The number of pieces from such a large group of students demonstrates how robust our art program is and how engaged our students are,” Simpson added.

This year’s show was especially competitive. More than 100 works were submitted by students, but only about 25 could be included due to space constraints. The submission process mirrors professional art-world practices, requiring students to photograph their work, write artist statements and submit their pieces for evaluation. 

For Budek, that process comes with both excitement and risk.

“Sharing my work publicly feels exciting and vulnerable—art can be a very personal thing to the creator,” she said. 

Simpson explained that the jurying process is designed to balance structure with inclusivity. Both full-time and adjunct faculty members participate, with each teacher guaranteed a certain number of entries for their students. Additional works submitted by students are ranked by the full-time faculty. 

“This inherently gives the show a wide range of student work across all four years, and brings in students who aren’t art majors but are taking—and excelling in—an art class,” Simpson said. 

Once the selections are finalized, the work of curating the exhibition begins. Simpson described the process as a mix of careful planning and creative intuition. 

“To curate a group show of this scale and breadth, I usually start by laying all the work out in the empty gallery,” she explained, adding, “I try to get around three to five themes, to break up the space in a meaningful way.”  

This year, recurring themes emerged around nature, the human body and character-driven illustration. Simpson noted that several works explored nature “in a fraught and interesting way,” while others focused on “the imperfect woman’s body, as opposed to the cultivated idea of ‘perfection.’” 

In addition to the exhibition itself, several awards are presented to participating students, made possible through donor support. Simpson emphasized the significance of this recognition. 

“I think that these awards not only recognize the hard work and vision of our students, but give them a level of art market value that a student doesn’t always get,” Simpson stated. 

For Budek, the show represents both an accomplishment and a starting point.

“I hope this shows that I am very passionate about my art. And these shows that I have been included in are just the start for me,” she said. 

As the exhibition continues through the first Saturday in May, Simpson hopes visitors come away with a deeper appreciation for the creative voices on campus. 

“Art doesn’t exist in a vacuum,” she said. “I hope it brings people together, gets students talking to each other, and gets a couple of ‘how did they do that?’ and ‘that’s so cool!’ exclamations.”  

More information about the Juried Student Show and SUNY Oneonta’s other art exhibitions can be found through the art galleries website located online at suny.oneonta.edu/art-galleries. 

This story was created by student reporters through the OnNY Community Media Lab, a program of SUNY Oneonta and the SUNY Institute for Local News.