The William Hyde Irwin and Susan Benteen Irwin Scholarship is the Art Department's most prestigious student scholarship.
At the end of Fall quarter, thirty students are nominated by full time faculty (ladder and lecturer) to submit work for competition. Ladder faculty meet as a group at the beginning of Winter quarter to select the year's Irwin Scholarship recipients. Exceptional students from each area are invited to apply in Winter. Selection is based on the excellence of the nominees' creative work. Twelve students receive $2,500 and a highly-publicized group show in the Mary Porter Sesnon Gallery during Spring quarter.
Please join us for the Opening Reception of the UCSC 2017 Irwin Scholar’s Exhibition at the Sesnon Art Gallery
Opening reception: Wednesday, May 31 from 5:30pm-7:30pm
Love, Sex, Tenderness, & Trauma: Irwin 2017 exhibition you don't want to miss.
The Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery is delighted to present IRWIN 2017, the 31st annual Irwin Scholarship Award exhibition, showcasing the work of a select group of UC Santa Cruz’s most promising emerging artists from the Art Department: Nima Shariat, Alex Escobedo, Jiyeon Choi, Sarah Do, Webster Nguyen, Kevin Patanawong, Julia Aviles, Amber-Rose Kelly, Camille Mariet, Jennifer Hamilton, Bailey Clark, and Luis Contreras.
From love and sex to memory and trauma, IRWIN 2017 will highlight the contemporary conscious through an unconventional lens. Paintings and photos will transcend the boundaries of 2D representation while video and audio works demand a more intimate engagement between spectator and artist.
The exhibition presents a rich collection of innovative works which examine the personal as political, expanding individualized themes into a larger social, political, and environmental framework.
IRWIN 2017 is made possible by the William Hyde and Susan Benteen Irwin Scholarship Fund, which generates annual merit scholarships to further the education of selected UC Santa Cruz artists
More info about the Irwin Scholarship: Since 1986, the William Hyde and Susan Benteen Irwin Scholarship Fund has become a public display of support and appreciation towards art and art's involvement in our culture. Twelve artists are handpicked, anually, by UC Santa Cruz art faculty to receive the most prestigious award in the Art Department. The Irwin Scholarship recognizes and celebrates the vision of promising artists, selected for their academic excellence, creativity, and potential. The Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery is honored to showcase the recipients' outstanding work during the Irwin Scholars exhibition every year. Each artist is chosen because of their dedication to their own processes and inspiration, but as a collective the Irwin scholars become a representative microcosm of the unique artistic and collaborative movements happening at UC Santa Cruz right now.