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The University of North Georgia (Å·±¦ÓÎϷƽ̨) is hosting a first-of-its-kind alumni art show at the Gainesville Campus from July 24-Aug. 11 with Hannah Pearson's "23: The Lost Years" receiving best-of-show honors. 

The summer alumni art show is themed "Transitions," and artists submitted explanations of how their work fit the theme.

Pearson's 23 is part of a series titled "The Lost Years." Her transition from college to "the real world" was challenging for the Athen, Georgia resident.

"This piece has given me a great opportunity to exhibit with my peers who I am sure have all gone through their own version of the same journey," Pearson said. "I am so grateful for being named best in show. It was definitely very encouraging to get that news."

I wanted a way to give our alums an exhibition opportunity, to highlight their post-Å·±¦ÓÎϷƽ̨ work and create a sense of community that lasts beyond graduation.

Victoria Cooke

Å·±¦ÓÎϷƽ̨ director of art galleries

"'The Lost Years' was the first digital collage series I made after graduation, two years later," Pearson said. "It is a marker for the beginning of my journey toward acceptance and acknowledgment that life will have many transitions, but that there is a wealth of transformation that can happen within them."

The juror of the show was Natalie Mault Mead, chief curator of the Huntsville Museum of Art in Huntsville, Alabama. She has also served as curator for the Louisiana State University Museum of Art in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

"Hannah Pearson's '23: The Lost Years, 2022' visually defines this notion of transition by presenting an image that is in itself transitioning," Mead said. "The composition cleverly consists of a sitter that is made up of collaged, pixelated squares representing an evolution of imagery, alongside descriptive words including the artist's notes indicating things they wish to change. There was something about seeing the artist's process that appealed to me in terms of representing 'a period of change' and the notion of transition."

The event had an impressive amount of interest among alumni artists. Many said they were inspired to create new work and grateful for the opportunity to reconnect with their Å·±¦ÓÎϷƽ̨ visual arts colleagues.

"I wanted a way to give our alums an exhibition opportunity, to highlight their post-Å·±¦ÓÎϷƽ̨ work and create a sense of community that lasts beyond graduation," Victoria Cooke, Å·±¦ÓÎϷƽ̨ director of art galleries, said, adding that it may become an annual event.