2021 Student Independent Exhibition

Now in its 75th year, the Cleveland Institute of Art's Student Independent Exhibition (SIE) is an honored tradition that’s never conventional. Organized entirely by students, who choose the jurors and mount the exhibition, SIE offers fresh—and sometimes surprising—approaches to contemporary art.

The show will be available for viewing online and in Reinberger Gallery from February 12 through March 12. Guests may see the show in person on Wednesdays and Fridays; email the gallery to schedule an appointment.

Join us for the SIE 75 virtual opening night event via Zoom! It will begin at 6:30pm with an SIE Committee-led walk-through of the exhibition via the show's website, and then at 7pm, awards will be announced. Award recipients are listed on the show's website and below:

NAMED SIE 75 AWARDS

Sue Wall Painting Award
Ewuresi Archer
"Untitled"

Mary Ann and Jack Katzenmeyer Award for Outstanding Craft
Elias Betchik
"Strata"

David and Ann Deming Award
David Ross
"Double Suspension"

Almut and Gary Zvosec Award
Megan Lubey
"Girl Scout Law"

Karen Skunta & Company Design Excellence Award
Adam Goss
"Cantilever"

Trznadel Family Award
Anny Nguyen
"Ghada"

The Christopher Gentner Creativity Award
Sebastian Schenz
"Pussy!"

The Gwen Cooper ’63 Award
Derek Walker
"Remain Myself"

The Nunes Family Prize
Ash Sark
"Compression"

BOARD OF DIRECTORS AWARDS

Board Grand Prize
Derek Walker
"Remain Myself"

Board 2nd Prize
Megan Lubey
"Girl Scout Law"

Board 3rd Prize
Anny Nguyen
"Ghada"

Board Honorable Mentions with Distinction

Seneca Kuchar
"Carburetor No. 4"

Cale Ours
"Veins"

Maxmillian Peralta
"The Scribe"

Ash Sark
"Compression"

Board Honorable Mentions

Ewuresi Archer
"Untitled"

Elias Betchik
"Strata"

Nick Birnie
"Shifts"

Greyley Cook
"Fairy Home"

Frank Hadzima
"Assless Chaps"

Crystal Miller
"Ethereal Gaze"

Theo Papadimoulis
"Greatest Show on Earth"

Noah Zirpoli
"Untitled 6"

This year's SIE jurors were:

Alex Da Corte was born in Camden, N.J. in 1980. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of the Arts, Philadelphia, and a Master of Fine Arts from the Yale University School of Art. Da Corte was most recently included in La Biennale di Venezia 2019, the international exhibition May You Live in Interesting Times curated by Ralph Rugoff; as well as the 57th Carnegie International in Pittsburgh. His most recent solo exhibition was held at Kölnischer Kunstverein, Köln, Germany (2018).

Luci Jockel is a jewelry artist based in Philadelphia. She currently holds the position of Jewelry and Metalsmithing Lecturer/Coordinator at Towson University. She received her Master of Fine Arts from Rhode Island School of Design in Jewelry and Metalsmithing in 2016 and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2014. Recently, she was honored with the 2019 American Craft Council Emerging Voices Award as a Shortlist Artist.

Sarah McKenzie is a painter based in Colorado. She holds a BA in film studies from Yale University and an MFA from the University of Michigan. Early in her career, from 2001 to 2006, she taught Foundation and Painting at CIA. Sarah’s paintings capture architecture in transition—structures and spaces that are fluid rather than fixed. Past series have focused on construction sites, abandoned buildings, hotel rooms and parking garages. Her current body of work takes on the adaptive and highly coded architecture of exhibition space—the white-walled interiors of museums and galleries.

Laila Milevski is an illustrator, comic artist and adjunct faculty at Maryland Institute College of Art. Milevski is interested in editorial, publishing and sequential illustration, and their personal work focuses on research-based nonfiction illustration. Before completing an MFA in Illustration Practice at MICA, Milevski worked at Candlewick Press in the design department and self-published mini-comics and zines. Subjects of interest have included WWII displaced persons, spirituality in architecture, Antonioni’s movies, and the Soviet experience.

Sponsors