Trusewych wins Chreptowsky Prize at Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art Competition (02/08/04)

Trusewych wins Chreptowsky Prize at Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art Competition

by Marijka Kulczycky

CHICAGO - Ruslan Trusewych, 22, a recent graduate of Grinnell College in Iowa, received the Vera Chreptowsky Prize in the first juried student competition, Juventus 2003, held by the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art in Chicago.

Mr. Trusewych was one of 12 art students and recent graduates selected from an international competition held by the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art (UIMA) last year. The competition drew submissions from the U.S. and Canada and presented jurors with a wide range of styles and media formats. An exhibition of the works of the 12 students was held at the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art in Chicago from December 19, 2003, to January 24.

At the opening reception on December 19, 2003, attended by more than 300 visitors, the first and second prizes were awarded by the jurors, along with a monetary stipend. Mr. Trusewych received the top prize, named after the chairman and co-founder of the UIMA, Vera Chreptowsky. Stacie Maya Johnson, a graduate student at the University of Illinois at Chicago, received second prize.

The 10 others chosen for the exhibition were: Adrianna Bamber, Tonia Bonnell, Aimee Brown, Danielle Nelson, Rocyeun Kim, Karin Patzke, Melissa Scherrer, Barbra Tolentino, Faith Veenstra and Erik Waterkotte. They were selected by a panel of jurors that included Nicholas Sawicki, faculty member, department of art, Grinnell College; Tom Palazzolo, artist; Marissa Woloszczuk, artist; and Michael Griffin, digital artist.

The students selected represented the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Rhode Island School of Design, the University of Alberta in Edmonton and the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, among others.

Mr. Trusewych, raised in Chicago and a third-generation Ukrainian Institute participant, works with "mundane industrial construction materials (wire mesh, vinyl tubing, etc.) to transform them into works that undermine their functionality and redirect attention to the exceptional within the ordinary, the rational within the irrational and the human within the ideal."

A graduate of the School of Ukrainian Studies and a member of Plast, he is the son of Dr. and Mrs. Tymish Trusewych of Downers Grove, Ill. Mr. Trusewych has received Best in Show awards twice from the Faulcnor Gallery Student Salon Show, a creative arts grant and an art fellowship at Grinnell, and has exhibited at the Grinnell College Forume Terrace Gallery. He submitted two very powerful constructions and two collage diptychs, which were judged best of show.

"A strong sense of craft runs through Ruslan's work with a very painstaking and deliberate use of materials-wire, beading, mesh - that are often industrial in nature or carry industrial associations," observed Mr. Sawicki. "What is interesting about his work is his revisitation of minimalism. The strong symmetry of his work looks back to the sculpture of the '60s."

Mr. Johnson has a B.A. in communication studies from the University of Iowa. She has participated in group shows at the University of Illinois, the 1926 Gallery in Chicago and the University of Wisconsin.

Juventus 2003 sought to highlight the diverse ideas currently engaging students and recent graduates of studio art programs. The exhibition is partially supported by a grant from the Governor's International Arts Exchange Program of the Illinois Arts Council. Plans are under way to repeat the competition in 2004.

The Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art was created to preserve and promote the knowledge and appreciation of contemporary Ukrainian art and culture. It serves as an artistic anchor in Chicago's West Town community, providing world-class art exhibitions, concerts, literary readings, and educational and cultural exchanges. For more information please visit www.uima-art.org.

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