Gussman Juried Student Exhibition - Kendall College of Arts and Sciences
School of Art, Design and Art History

Gussman Juried Student Exhibition

For over half a century, The University of Tulsa’s Gussman Juried Student Exhibition has celebrated the best in student art including ceramics, painting, photography, printmaking, drawing, graphic design and digital media. The Gussman is the capstone exhibit for each academic year where students have the opportunity to be juried by nationally notable artists….Read more about the Gussman Juried Student Exhibition.

Gussman 54 Winners

Best in Show: Karina Cunningham, Movement
Best Digital Illustration: Group Submission, DataBuzz
1st Place: Justin Ortiz, Regresaba
2nd Place: Hayley Rauner, Self Portrait
3rd Place: Katherine Karsten, Sun Puddle
4th Place: Angel Okolie, Confusion

Award of Merit

  • Catherine Pinney Shrouder, Therianthrope 1 (Senior)
  • Caroline Karsten, Ripples (Senior)
  • Megan Ames, Flounder Book Cover and Jacket (Senior)
  • Pinky Rossini, Prescence (Senior)
  • Lauren Kerr, Low Tide (Senior)
  • Melanie Owen, Pondering (Senior)
  • Claire Wintle, Self Portrait as a demon (Sophomore)
  • Helen Ly, The Closed Door (Sophomore)
  • Jennifer Casey, Honey Baked Brie (Unknown)
  • Zach Dodson, The Red Haired Girl Looks Away

Winning works

2022 Gussman Juror

Carolyn Sickles (she/her) is a contemporary arts leader and artist. As Executive Director of Tulsa Artist Fellowship, a cultural initiative of the George Kaiser Family Foundation, Sickles supports an esteemed community of creative practitioners and mobilizes audiences with the transformative power of art.

Carolyn Sickles (she/her) is a contemporary arts leader and artist.As an independent educator, Sickles has taught workshops for New Museum, Dia Art Foundation, Guggenheim Museum, Textile Arts Center, and e-flux; served as a visiting critic at NARS Foundation, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, NURTUREart, The Wassaic Project, Residency Unlimited, Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, Department of Art and Art Professions at New York University, and Hunter College at City University of New York; guest lectured for Teachers College Columbia University, The New School at Parsons School of Design, Steinhardt School of Education, Culture, and Human Development at New York University, and School of Art, Design and Art History at The University of Tulsa. Her site responsive sculptural objects, often identified by landscape interventions with fibers-based materials, have been exhibited at Material Art Fair (Mexico City, MEX), EFA Project Space and Abrons Arts Center (New York, NY), Brandt Gallery (Boston, MA), H&R Blockspace (Kansas City, MO), Living Room Gallery (Miami, FL), and Whitespace at The Mordes Collection (Palm Beach, FL). Select artist residencies include SHIFT Residency, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts (New York, NY ) and Artists-in-Landscape Residency, Pine Jog Environmental Center (West Palm Beach, FL). She received a National Association of Women Artists Emerging Artist Award. Curatorial projects include Hidden in Plain Sight, Projekt722 (Brooklyn, NY), Paper Piracy, Northwood EG2 Gallery (Riviera Beach, FL), A Trump in the Dark, Armory Art Center (West Palm Beach, FL).

Sickles received a MSEd in Museum Leadership at Bank Street Graduate School of Education and BFA in Sculpture, BA in Art History, and Certificate in Gender Studies while attending programs at Florida Atlantic University, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and Kansas City Art Institute. Previous arts leadership positions include Director of Visual Arts & Engagement at Abrons Arts Center (New York, NY). Programs under Sickles tenure have received praise from Modern Painters, First American Art Magazine, PBS Art21, World Literature Today, The New York Times, Village Voice, Hyperallergic, Public Radio Tulsa, The Oklahoman, and Tulsa World. Born in the Washington Metropolitan Area and raised in South Florida, Sickles currently lives with her partner, math educator and musician Nathan Pape, and daughter in Osage County, Oklahoma.

  • About the Gussman Juried Student Exhibition

    On average, over 300 pieces of art are submitted to the Gussman exhibit every year. Around 15,000 works have been submitted in total and approximately 7,500 have received awards.

    The idea for a juried student-exhibit originated 52 years ago between Herbert Gussman, a Tulsa philanthropist, and Brad Place, the head of the school of art at that time. The two friends wanted some way to validate the students’ artwork and from that simple idea grew the art, design and art history department’s most prominent show. Because the pieces are evaluated by notable working artists in the field, the expected standard of work and the process is more stringent than normal course evaluation, and the selection of the award winners holds more gravitas.

    Since its inception, the Gussman has been financially supported by the Roseline and Herbert Gussman family. In 2020, the exhibit received an endowment from the Gussman family that will continue this tradition of generosity and excellence.

    Founded in determination, quality and imagination, the Gussman exhibit began a legacy of supporting and recognizing inspired and thoughtful young artists. Many winners have gone on to be internationally known artists, curators, art educators, a few lawyers and even a senator. But more importantly, it provides a legacy for valuing artistic expression and the creation of art, giving a voice and recognition to the creative spirit that lives inside all of us.