By Karen O'Hara, university communications and marketing

Hiestand Galleries and the College of Creative Arts congratulate Kahlil Robert Irving of St. Louis, Missouri, the winner of the 2019 $10,000 William and Dorothy Yeck Purchase Award, for his work, Compacted Grit & Glamour; Tubes, Planes, and Foil (2018). The work is now a part of the Miami University Yeck 21st Century Collection.

Irving received his MFA from Washington University, St. Louis and is represented by Callicoon Fine Arts, New York, New York.

Benjamin Larose, Chicago, Illinois, won the Second Place Award of $2500. Larose received his MFA degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is an Assistant Professor of Fashion Design, at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Joseph Paushel (Miami MFA '16), Lexington, Kentucky won the $2000 Third Place Award. Paushel is an Assistant Professor at Berea College, Berea. Kentucky.

Through a generous gift from William (Class of 1936) and Dorothy Yeck, of Dayton, Ohio, Miami University has a unique opportunity to provide students and the community at large with opportunities to develop a deeper understanding of contemporary art through an annual national competition.

Young sculptors (U.S. residents ages 25–35 as of competition entry) are invited to participate in the biennial juried competition for the $10,000 William and Dorothy Yeck Award. Entrants have achieved a significant degree of success as an emerging artist of noteworthy talent. The winner becomes part of the Miami University Young Sculptors of the Twenty-First Century Collection.

The 2019 competition was juried by Don Desmett, founding Director of the Richmond Center for Visual Arts, Western Michigan University and independent curator for numerous exhibitions on the international and national scale.