A large portion of a wall in the Walter Piehl Gallery was occupied by one graduating student’s work in the 2019 Capstone Exhibition at the Northwest Arts Center.

The Northwest Arts Center in Minot had big plans for the summer with the Juried Student Show, the capstone art show for the graduating seniors of 2020 and exhibitions of two guest artists. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the exhibitions had to either be put online for viewing or postponed to the fall semester.

The two exhibitions that are currently on display in the Northwest Arts Center have also been put online to be viewed. “Preserving History” from Jamie Azevedo will be on display

The Northwest Arts Center began taking submissions on April 1 Juried Student Show for Minot State University students. The juried student show has been an annual tradition for art majors since the 1980s. They get to show of their own styles in media of their choice and a qualified external juror gives artistic awards of distinction.

This year’s show will be juried by Ian Mabry, the Assistant Professor of Art at Dickinson State University. He has a focus in ceramics, having a sort of specialty for jurying three-dimensional artwork. A Facebook post on the Northwest Arts Center page said, “… perhaps an irony in our current situation.”

The pandemic has forced everything to go digital, abiding by the social distancing and online learning guidelines. At a faculty meeting last week, Greg Vettel, Northwest Arts Center director, said that a new plan was discussed for displaying the artwork in person. A drive-through style exhibition could possibly be in the works for a one or two day event toward the end of April. High traffic areas outside on campus are optimal, but it was still in the works as of April 1.

The Juried Student Show is online at www.minotstateu.edu/nac/jss.shtml. It will also be posted to the Northwest Arts Center Facebook and Instagram pages, each containing links to their other social media accounts.

Seniors and other graduating students have had to hold off on having their capstone exhibition, showing their best work. If the situation improves and the pandemic status is lifted, Vettel is hoping the art students will be able to display their pieces proudly in the Walter Piehl Gallery in the Northwest Arts Center at the end of June. If the pandemic status is not lifted, the exhibition will have to be online, as well.

Should the students have to submit their work for a virtual exhibition, physical works like drawings, paintings and three-dimensional would have to be submitted by taking a photograph of it, listing the artist’s name, real size and media. Videos describing the art is an idea that Vettel mentioned, talking about their creations like they would in a real gallery.

The two guest artists that were supposed to have their art on display from April to May had to push their exhibitions back to the fall semester.

Reinaldo Gil Zambrano is a printmaking artist originally from Caracas, Venezuela, not based in Spokane, Wash. For the Americas 2019: Paperworks exhibition, Zambrano won best of show with “La Sopa: Como Decia Mama.” It’s an achromatic relief print on paper, meaning that it lacks color and is only black and white with shades of gray.

The exhibition that has been postponed is called “MELAO’,” containing woodcut prints. It was originally scheduled to run in April.

May’s exhibition would have been “Gas Bubble in Eye” by Roxi Mathis. Her art has been displayed in multiple galleries around the state with the North Dakota Art Gallery Association.

Mathis mainly works in watercolors and her latest show contains pieces that show what she saw during the recovery of her three eye surgeries on her detached retina.

COVID-19 has strongly impacted the Northwest Arts Center and the art students at Minot State. “We are doing the best we can under the current circumstances,” Vettel said. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, people have been told to self-isolate and quarantine themselves. The exhibitions being posted online instead of completely canceled is uplifting and gives the citizens of Minot some light.”