The 2018 Young Painters Competition announced the winners of the annual competition, awarding $10,000 to the first place winner, Jeane Cohen. Winners of the competition, sponsored by Miami's Hiestand Galleries, College of Creative Arts, were announced at a ceremony that took place on February 2, 2018.

Each year the William and Dorothy Yeck Award, is awarded to featured artists aged 25–35 who demontrate excellence. Through the 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 to develop a critical understanding of painting in the 21st century. The competition dates back to 1999, with the winner's painting becoming part of Miami University’s permanent collection.

This year’s competition focused on non-representational painting and was juried by Michelle Grabner, an artist, writer and curator from Wisconsin.

Competition Winners

Winner, 2018 $10,000 William and Dorothy Yeck Purchase Award

Jeane Cohen, Chicago, Illinois

Through her work as a Muralist at the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, an Art Therapist at BuildaBridge, and community engagements at programs like the AIRspace Residency at the University of Pennsylvania, Jeane Cohen has cultivated a socially inclined practice that also manifests in her current body of works of perceptual landscape paintings. Recent exhibitions include Netflix and Chill, D & S Gallery Chicago, Open Coterie, Boston, and Mostra D'Arte, International Center for the Arts, Monte Castello De Vibio, Italy. Cohen received her B.A. from Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts and is currently an M.F.A. candidate in Painting and Drawing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Winner, $2500 2nd Place Award

Tom Wixo, Knoxville, Tennessee

Is currently an M.F.A. candidate at the University of Tennessee - Knoxville and received his B.F.A. in Studio Art from St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, Minnesota. In 2014, he attended the Yale Norfolk Summer School of Music and Art. Wixo is the recipient of an Ellen Battell Stoeckel Fellowship from Yale University, a full fellowship to the Vermont Studio Center, a Joseph Delany Fellowship, and an artist residency at The Soap Factory. His work has been included recently in solo and group exhibitions at The Soap Factory, Minneapolis, Mild Climate, Nashville, The Plains Art Museum, Fargo, and Fluorescent Gallery, Knoxville.

Winner, $2000 3rd Place Award

Gabrielle Roach, Hamilton, Ohio