City College’s annual Student Show will open for viewing from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday in the Atkinson Gallery. For students, this art exhibition will be the biggest of the year. The distribution of $10,000 in scholarships presents bright opportunities for art students in need.

Forms of art include painting, drawing, ceramics, sculpture and design. Artwork will be organized into beginning, intermediate and advanced categories.

At last year’s Student Show, 256 students submitted work to be exhibited and 71 were accepted.

“I love this show. It just lifts me up, and it’s such a positive experience,” said head of the Atkinson Gallery Dane Goodman. “Even rejection is important [when submitting art to be exhibited in the gallery]. In order to be considered, students need to have taken an art class at the college within the last year. Students can only submit two pieces, and they decide how to frame it – it’s all part of the process of being an art student here.”

Dan Connally, professor at the College of Creative Studies at UCSB, will serve as the juror of the exhibit this year, following Judy Larson, director of the Reynolds Gallery at Westmont College, who was the juror in 2009.

“The chance that you’re always going to be accepted in every show is very slim,” said Goodman. “Students benefit from more than just the showing of their work, it’s the whole experience. The teachers are genuinely teaching and when students leave here, they really know what they’re doing.”

The Atkinson Gallery is located in the Humanities Building on East Campus. Gallery hours are from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The Student Show runs through May 14.

For more information, contact Dane Goodman at 965-0581, ext. 3484.