Congratulations to Madeline Mae Gentry, winner of College of Western Idaho’s 2021 Juried Art Show. Gentry’s submission, a set of photographs titled The Waiting Game, was selected by juror and Chair of the Department of Art at The College of Idaho, Alice Vinson, from more than 30 entries. Fourteen of these entries, including Gentry’s as Best in Show, were chosen for the 2021 Juried Art Exhibit.
Gentry was born in Nampa, Idaho, but grew up in Mobile, Alabama. Now back in Idaho, she is studying Media Arts at the College. She plans to graduate this fall and would like to find a program to help her develop her creative eye. Her ultimate goal is to travel the world to tell her own stories and others.
“I was excited to enter the Juried Art Show with my Waiting Game diptych because I felt it was something very now and very relatable,” expressed Gentry. “It has been one year since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. In this year we have done a lot of waiting. Waiting for a test. Waiting for a cure. Waiting in social isolation. Waiting in self-quarantine. Waiting for this all to be over. While much of the pandemic has been a year of unknown timing, The Waiting Game depicts two measurable intervals of time many have faced in the past year, Twenty Minutes, and Fourteen Days.”
“Over the course of the last year we have kind of all suffered through COVID-19,” said Vinson. “This piece stood out to me because it was one of the first pieces of art I have seen that hasn’t really taken a side. It seemed very neutral, and it was about something we can all relate to… this isolation and sense of desolation and boredom.”
Gentry will receive a $150 cash prize for her winning entry.
Watch Juror, Alice Vinson, Announce the Winner of CWI's 2021 Juried Art Show
