Upstairs in the Visual Arts Building art students intensely work while downstairs in Zoller Gallery, their finished art works compose the Undergraduate Juried Exhibition.

The exhibit, which ends today, includes 66 selected works in painting, drawing, ceramics, metal sculpture, photography and graphic design. Every year the gallery sponsors an exhibit which is appraised by an official juror. This year monetary prizes were awarded for the first time, and three winners were selected from 237 entries.

Yakim Hayuk (senior-sociology), Karen Sankewitsch (senior-painting) and James Surovec (freshman-division of undergraduate studies) received $75 each in money and gift certificates. Sankewitsch said the students entering the exhibition were unaware that prizes would be awarded.

Gallery director Cindi Morrison said the exhibition committee thought the prizes would make the exhibit more interesting and would help aid the participating students, who had to be enrolled in a fall or spring art course, in pursuing their craft. Uncle Eli's,129 E. Beaver Ave., the HUB Bookstore, and the School of Visual Arts helped sponsor the awards.

Scott Pfaffman, curator of the Fulton Ferry Sculpture Exhibitions in Brooklyn, N.Y., accepted an offer by the exhibition committee to be the juror. The committee invited Pfaffman because of his experience and interest in jurying exhibitions, Morrison said.

After spending a morning in the gallery reviewing the works, Pfaffman said he quickly and decisively selected the 66 works, then chose three winners. He said many of the works indicated a cultural awareness, Pfaffman said.

"I put in any image of a woman," Pfaffman said. "They had the greatest impact on me."

Pfaffman said he selected the prize winners for different reasons. Hayuk's "Oceanus Bogus" clay sculpture appealed to Pfaffman because he is also a sculptor.

"I was struck by the form and manipulation of the material," Pfaffman said, commenting that the work was an impressive feat.

Hayuk said he works with the clay and allows it collapse into a form which he alters by hand.

"I would compare it to undersea coral or sandstone rock formation," Hayuk said. "Something that is not common in everyday life."

A thrusting fist, composed of tar, oil and paint on tarp, is the subject of Sankewitsch's untitled work. Sankewitsch said the piece began as calm and serene but changed as she worked with it. As her intensity and energy built, she translated that to her "The final piece didn't take very long but the struggle to get to it was long," Sankewitsch said.

Pfaffman said he viewed the fist as a symbol and felt the work was strong and powerful.

Surovec's untitled work evolved from an assignment in which he was instructed to design a three-dimensional work. He used wood, yarn, pins and plastic to create his linear design.

"I wanted to create art that was primitive and technical," Surovec said.

Pfaffman called the piece "sophisticated and contemporary."

"That kind of work is done in New York galleries," Pfaffman said. He later said that he was impressed by Zoller Gallery.

"Students should be proud and supportive of the gallery," he said.