Solomon Adufah

Solomon Adufah, a Ghana native now from Olympia Fields, is the winner of the 2017 Rickert-Ziebold Award at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, the most prestigious award in the School of Art and Design. He is shown here with one of the large-scale portraits he created for the competition. (Photo provided)

April 04, 2017

Solomon Adufah wins Rickert-Ziebold Award

by Andrea Hahn

CARBONDALE, Ill. – Solomon Adufah is the sole winner of the 2017 Rickert-Ziebold Award at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. 

Aduafah, a native of Ghana living now in Olympia Fields, created four large-scale portraits of African individuals, each with a unique patterned background. 

“Not every art student participates in this competition,” he said. “Only those of us who have done this know how much goes into it, the planning and the work. I think we all deserve recognition for that. I’m very humbled to be selected for this award.” 

In addition to the winner, these artists also qualified as finalists in the competition (listed with hometowns and medium):

Reid Bright, Johnsburg – metal sculpture

Katelyn Gregorowicz, Winfield – communication design

Kayla Lashley, Chicago - painting

Adam Lundquist, Homewood - printmaking

Lula (Lucas) Morton, Murray, Ky. – industrial design

Michaela Murphy, DeKalb – communication design

Joshua C. Rives, Carlinville – multi-media including painting, ceramics, metal work and printmaking

The Rickert-Ziebold Trust Award exhibit features work from all eight finalists, and it runs through Saturday, April 8, at the Surplus Gallery in the Old Glove Factory (432 S. Washington St). Weekdays the gallery is open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. On Saturday, it will be open 10 a.m.-noon. A reception for the winners is 5:30-7:30 p.m. on Friday, April 7, with an awards presentation at 6:30 p.m. 

Sun Kyong Kim, chairman of the Rickert-Ziebold committee and associate professor of metalsmithing and jewelry, said the competitors this year were remarkably well-prepared. Part of the competition is to utilize the gallery space assigned, she said, and installation went very smoothly this year -- a result of preparation and planning on the part of the art students who competed.

The annual Rickert-Ziebold Trust Award honors the late Joseph Rickert, a prominent lawyer and former state senator from Waterloo, who loved the arts and appreciated SIU Carbondale’s place in the cultural life of the Southern Illinois region. His family established the award in 1974, and it is the most prestigious award offered by the School of Art and Design.

The competition is open to graduating seniors majoring in art.