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After a winter hiatus, the Art Museum of the University of Memphis will reopen on Friday, January 25, with the 25th Annual Juried Student Exhibition, featuring works in all media from U of M art students. The show will run through February 16.

An opening reception for the exhibit will be held Friday, January 25, from 5 to 7:30 p.m. in the lobby of the art museum. The event is free and open to the public.

Judging the exhibition will be Chakaia Booker, a New York-based sculptor best known for her use of recycled rubber tires. She earned her B.A. degree in sociology from Rutgers University and her M.F.A. degree from the City College of New York. Continuing her childhood interest in sewing, Booker created complex wearable sculptures, including a vest made of dried orange rinds, in the 1980s. In the early 1990s she focused on sculptures created from found objects, such as broken wooden furniture, animal bones, and pieces of rusted metal.

More recently Booker has gained acclaim for sculptures made primarily from discarded rubber tires, which she cuts, twists, and shaves into lively organic shapes. Many viewers interpret the varied surfaces and tones of the tires as a reference to African-American identity.

Booker will give a free public lecture at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art on Wednesday, January 16, at 7 p.m.