InLiquid.com is pleased to present the winners of the 2003 Emerging Artists Competition and Exhibition, a juried selection of work by Northeast region visual art students. The competition provides students an early opportunity to gain exhibition experience and an audience for their work outside of the academic setting, while providing the community with a preview of the best new creative talent on the horizon.

"Now in its second year, the student art competition is InLiquid’s way of demonstrating our support for the art world’s next generation of talent, who are often limited in exhibition opportunities," said Rachel Zimmerman, founder and director of InLiquid.com.

The competition was open to junior and senior students enrolled in degree-granting undergraduate art programs, as well as MFA candidates. The competition theme, DiscrimiNATION, was devised in collaboration with MYX Gallery, which is part of the Multicultural Youth Exchange, a Philadelphia-based organization that facilitates cross-cultural communication among youth to promote global tolerance. MYX and InLiquid formed a partnership on this project with the hope of encouraging young talent to engage in meaningful cultural discourse through their artwork.

Students were invited to submit work that addresses the notion of discrimination as it exists in the U.S. today: an insidious and subtle undercurrent that can be every bit as devastating as the more blatant expressions of previous eras. It is hoped that by exploring the impact of this phenomenon and the guises behind which it hides, our society can ultimately discover ways for hidden discrimination to be unmasked and overcome.

Out of a large field of strong entries, the competition jurors – artist Harry Anderson; Paul Curci, artist and publisher of the Philadelphia City Paper; and Melissa Franklin, Director of the Pew Fellowships in the Arts – selected thirteen exceptional artists, all of whom combine a strong personal vision with a professional level of presentation and craftsmanship. The approaches to the competition theme vary widely, encompassing everything from symbolism to documentation, advertising to conceptual sculpture, autobiographical expressions to political statements.

The winning artists are: Eliseo Art Silva (First Prize winner), Maryland Institute College of Art; Mike Whitson (Second Prize winner), University of the Arts; Amanda Edmondson, (Third Prize winner), University of the Arts; Patrick Michael Baird, Parsons School of Design; Sabrina Lessard, Tyler School of Art; Maria Loun, Tyler School of Art; Raymond Majerski, Maryland Institute College of Art; Holly Lynne Mullan, Rosemont College; Regina Pietanza, University of the Arts; John Julio Romano, Parsons School of Design; Allyson Smith, Maryland Institute College of Art; Sarah M.F. Smith, Parsons School of Design; and Dawoud Young, Tyler School of Art.


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