Winners named in 2015 Young Sculptors Competition

Written by Susan Meikle, university news and communications, meiklesb@MiamiOH.edu.

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"Untitled III," (vinyl, white ash) by Derrick Velasquez is the winner of the Young Sculptors Competition for the $10,000 William (Miami '36) and Dorothy Yeck Award.

Derrick Velasquez of Denver, Colo., is the winner of the 2015 Miami University Young Sculptors Competition for the $10,000 William (Miami '36) and Dorothy Yeck Award.

Winners of the competition, sponsored by Miami's Hiestand Galleries, College of Creative Arts, were announced Sept. 25.

Velasquez was selected for his work "Untitled III," which is now part of the Miami University Young Sculptors Collection.

Velasquez received a bachelor's of arts degree in studio art and in art history from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 2004, and his master's of fine arts from Ohio State University in 2008. He is currently an adjunct faculty member of art at the University of Denver.

Among other awards, he received the 2015 Colorado Creative Industries Career Advancement Award and was named a 2015 Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum Artist Fellow.

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"Two Inches Off (Uneven Plane)" (wood, stainless steel, latex paint) by Stef Halmos (Miami '06) won second place.

Stef Halmos of Brooklyn, N. Y., received the second place award and $1,500 for her work "Two Inches Off (Uneven Plane)." 

Halmos received her bachelor's of fine arts degree from Miami in 2006 and her master's of fine arts from the California College of the Arts in 2012.

Kyle J. Bauer of Baltimore, Md., won the third place award for his work "A Trophy For Brian, 2014." He received his master's of fine arts from Louisiana State University in 2011.

Works by the winners and other finalists will be exhibited through Oct. 9 at Hiestand North Gallery.

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"A Trophy for Brian" by Kyle Bauer won third place.

Through the generous gift from William and Dorothy Yeck of Dayton, Miami is able to provide students and the community at large the opportunity to develop a critical understanding of sculpture in the 21st century. 

The 2015 Young Sculptors Competition, which focused on non-representational sculpture, was judged by Anne Barlow.

Barlow is director of the New York City-based Art in General, a nonprofit organization that assists artists with the production and presentation of new work.