Printmaking student and nature enthusiast, Sasha Colbert, was chosen as this year’s President’s Purchase Awardee by Superintendent-President Dr. Lori Gaskin, who appreciated the work for its intricacy and beauty.
Colbert’s etching, “Staying Late”also won her a $1,000 scholarship and first place as an intermediate/advanced printmaking artist.
“I was surprised and a little overwhelmed at first,” Colbert said. “It’s encouraging to know that people respond to my work.”
The original price listed by the young artist was a mere $50; Gaskin thought it was worth a bit more and purchased it for $200.
When asked what was so consuming about Colbert’s piece, Gaskin said, “It was learning about the intricateness of it, the modality in which it was created and what it evoked when I looked at it.”
Most of Colbert’s current works of art have involved printmaking in some variation. There are different processes in the use of traditional printmaking. Using woodcuts is popular, as well as silk-screen prints, allowing a different type of surface to be revealed.
The scholarship, which was also awarded to a few other selected students, will help them advance in their artistic aspirations. Colbert says she will use the money to buy a new camera, an important step in creating her printmaking art.
“I am usually just using my cell phone camera,” said Colbert. “I work a lot from photographs, so it’s going to be very helpful.”
Colbert recently had work in Lia DeWit’s first curated show, “Chaos and Creation.”Her passion for printmaking is primarily about finding beautiful things in unlikely places. The inspiration from the piece displayed in DeWit’s show was a response to a geology trip she took with a group of students from City College —where they explored Eastern Sierra Nevada.
Once the Student Exhibition ends on Friday, May 16, Colbert’s etching will hold a permanent place in the President’s office, where her piece, alongside previous winners from the years before, will assemble in a sort of mini gallery inside the administration building.
This was also the first year the Atkinson Gallery has been back in the Humanities Building since its renovations. From tables filled with tiny dinnerware sets molded out of clay to large installation pieces distorting common perceptions, many agree the Annual Student Exhibition was a large success.
Director of the Atkinson Gallery Sarah Cunningham, and representatives of the art community gave speeches about this year’s exhibit on opening night, April 25. They praised the students, as well as the helpers to congratulate such a well-executed event.
“This program is truly about appreciating and celebrating the creations of our students in all different ways shape and form,”Gaskin said.
Colbert is returning to City College next semester to be a professional volunteer for printmaking and help alongside instructor Stephanie Dotson. As for the summer, she hopes to collect a new set of inspiration from her geology trip headed to the Colorado Plateau.
