The art department has celebrated students’ artwork every year for as long as the art department has been in existence.

The prizes for winning in the annual student art exhibition include cash prizes from the Arts Council for CSUN.

This year, the Juried Art Student Exhibition is being held from April 23 through May 8.

There are over 300 pieces entering the exhibit from both graduate and undergraduate CSUN students.

The awards for the winning pieces were announced on Friday, April 23.

Michelle Giacopuzzi, office manager and exhibitions coordinator for the CSUN art gallery, said the art department and art galleries organized and started the event.

“Jim Sweeters, gallery director, myself and three other student assistants organized it solely,” Giacopuzzi said.

Giacopuzzi said students may enter up to three pieces of art during a three-day period.

“This year, the entry dates were April 12, 13 and 14,” Giacopuzzi said. “Within that time we had 382 art pieces entered. The next day a three-member jury judged all 382 pieces. This year the jury was Michael McMillen, professional artist, Carl Berg, gallery owner and Annie Buckley, art writer.”

There were 82 art pieces chosen this year. Giacopuzzi said each jury member is different in how they come to their decisions.

Annie Buckley said she was very honored to be involved in an event like this one.

“It was a pleasure to see so much well-made work in a variety of media and from different perspectives,” Buckley said. “I particularly appreciated seeing work from various disciplines including fine art, design and animation and from different points of view. It is always difficult to choose works to include or exclude and our panel looked at, discussed,and debated each of the entries to come to our decisions. That no ones work stood out as best in show is evidence of what was reflected in the all work we saw: the engagement, commitment, and enthusiasm of students at CSUN.”

Art major Joanna Rodriguez, 20, said she saw the art works in the art gallery and said she was very impressed.

“I stopped by the art gallery on Monday afternoon and I was impressed with the art pieces that I saw,” Rodriguez said. “I saw a lot of different art forms like design and animation. It’s always good to see a variety when you go to art shows,” said the 20-year-old. “I’m considering entering the exhibit next year although I don’t know how good my pieces will be now that I’ve seen this year’s entries.”

Ryan Schift, English major, has as much of an interest for art as he does for reading and writing.

“I’m not an art major. My strength is in reading and writing, which is why I majored in English but I also have a deep interest in art,” Schift, 22, said. “I enjoy looking at it. I like to think I have good taste in art. I have seen the pieces in the art gallery and I thought they were incredible. Some of my favorites were the oil on canvas paintings. I think it’s really cool how they blend the colors together. The students are very talented.”

Giacopuzzi said she believes there are many benefits for students who entered their work to the Juried Art Student Exhibition.

“Among many other benefits, if (their work is) selected, their artwork will be on display in a professional gallery,” she said. “They can use that for their resume. Also, as potential professional artists, they learn how to become confident with their work and not take rejection personally.”

The art gallery is open to the public, Monday through Saturday from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. and on Thursdays from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.