Students’ art will be up on display for public viewing starting Sunday in the Tarble Arts Center for the 2009 All-Student Show.

The show will feature many varieties of art including photography, sculptures, drawings, paintings, digital art and more.

Student submissions are selected for exhibition by a panel of judges.

The artwork then are judged for awards.

Jeffrey Boshart, responsible for selecting the judges and member of the Student Affairs Committee, said that a lot of thought goes into deciding on judges.

“We try to come up with three people that we think will represent their areas well,” said the Eastern art professor. “We have had critics, art historians, painters, sculptors… and most of these people are not single focused.”

William Scarlato, one of the judges this year and a professor of art at Benedictine University in Lisle, Ill., said that he is open to many forms of art and their ideas.

“I’m looking for the quality of an idea, and how the form supports that quality,” Scarlato said.

Judges help to play a role in selecting who will receive one of several awards available to entrants.

Awards range from Best-of-Show to assorted merit awards for different art categories.

The prize for Best-of-Show is $200.

The Eastern art department faculty will also be giving out special awards.

Michael Watts, director of the Tarble Arts Center, said the students’ work is displayed as professionally as possible.

“We treat this exhibition like we do every other exhibition in terms of how we handle the work,” he said.

One purpose of the art show is to allow current art students to have a chance to experience the competitiveness of the art field, Boshart said.

Judges provide students with a statement of what they saw and liked to give students some insight to their work.

“It offers our students some reference point beyond the classroom,” Boshart said. “It’s not just what we as faculty say, it’s how they react when put into competition.”

It’s not only art students that can enter the competition; general education classes can qualify students for entry.

“The rules for this are very broad,” Boshart said. “If you’ve had an art class in the last year, you’re eligible to enter. Any time we can get students from outside of the art area, in my opinion, it makes the show better.”

Students can visit the Tarble Arts Center to view the exhibition until March 29, free of charge.

Awards will be presented on opening day.