Works by Lukas Kohler (top) and Enan Chediak (bottom) are sharing SIU Carbondale’s most prestigious art prize. (Photos by Russell Bailey)
April 30, 2025
Two SIU seniors share 2025 Rickert-Ziebold art award
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Southern Illinois University Carbondale metalsmithing senior Lukas Kohler spent time during childhood on walks in the woods with his mother, finding wonder in the diversity of textures, shapes and sizes of rocks in creek beds.
Taking flat steel sheet metal and transforming the material into a variety of shapes to replicate the diversity found in a creek helped Kohler, who is from Reading, Pennsylvania, share the 2025 Ricket-Ziebold Trust Award. Enan Chediak, a senior photography major from Herrin, Illinois, also earned the award — the university’s most prestigious art prize. Eight graduating seniors in the School of Art and Design competed this year.
The exhibition is through Saturday, May 3, in the SIU Surplus Gallery, 432 S. Washington St., Carbondale. The exhibition is open to the public from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. today through Friday and from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday. A reception is set for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday in the Surplus Gallery, with the awards presentation at 6:30 p.m.
“I am kind of shocked. I’m friends with a lot of the people, and I was really impressed by their work,” Kohler said. “Being awarded this honor, along with Enan, is extremely surprising, but I’m very happy to have this opportunity as well.”
‘An Explorer’s Dream’
Kohler’s exhibit consists of about nine pieces, with one piece having multiple parts. Kohler said his goal is for visitors to envision they are searching a small creek for a pebble, a little gem, “or something that is nice and interesting while searching for treasure.”
“Each piece is an investigation of process and narrative with the goal of creating something that has a history and tells its own story,” Kohler’s artist statement said. “Exploring these works should inspire the viewer and construct a space of awe and wonder.”
Kohler said he came to SIU because of its well-known blacksmithing program. He became interested in blacksmithing in his high school’s metal shop as a sophomore, “and it was something that I really enjoyed. I found that it came naturally.”
‘Preacher Boy’
Chediak said he is “blown away” that his seven-photograph exhibition of self-portraits also won. The series is “a reflection of my own experience with the conflict between my religious upbringing and my sexual identity,” he said. “So, I hope people will look at this series and see a piece of my humanity, whether they understand or empathize with me at all.”
Chediak’s photos are at the church Chediak has been a part of since he was a child, his home, a mural in Alto Pass, the boat ramp at Crab Orchard Lake during recent flooding and the photography studio in the Communications Building on campus. That image, Chediak said, “is a re-creation of Oscar Wilde and is a capstone to the series prompting viewers to evaluate their perspective of the way I presented myself in the series and connecting them.”
Chediak noted he was home schooled and enrolled in a dual credit program when he was 15 and graduated from John A. Logan College in 2023. He was able to directly transfer many of his credits to SIU, and said SIU Carbondale faculty members Antonio Martinez and Julia Rendleman “taught me so much about photography and helped prepare me for this project.”
Eight finalists
Xuhong Shang, professor and School of Art and Design director, and Najjar Abdul-Musawwir, a professor in drawing and painting and Rickert-Ziebold committee chair, each praised the finalists’ work. The winners were chosen by faculty vote.
“All eight of the finalists did an excellent job in presenting their work and displaying it for the final judging. We were very pleased with their attitudes and how industrious they have been in putting their installations in,” Abdul-Musawwir said.
The art competition is a “monumental step for students to be able to see their work in this venue,” Shang said.
The other six finalists were:
- Paul Buckett, art education, White House, Tennessee.
- Isabella Burkhardt, art education, Gardner, Illinois.
- Leo Edwardson, communication design, Mount Prospect, Illinois.
- Erin Kelley, general studio, South Bend, Indiana.
- Olivia Posey, glass/metalworking, Mountain Home, Arkansas.
- Josephine Williams, blacksmithing/metalworking, Lima, Ohio.
Longtime award
The purpose of the trust is to promote excellence in visual arts. The award was established by the Rickert family in honor of the late Joseph Rickert, an attorney and former state senator from Waterloo, to encourage young artists. Because of the Rickert family’s “vision, love of art, and confidence in the future,” the School of Art and Design is able to annually present cash awards to Rickert-Ziebold scholars.