The SF State Fine Arts Gallery will pay tribute to Leo Stillwell – a young gay artist living in San Francisco during the mid-1940s in an art exhibit titled the "Stillwell Student Art Show."

Artists at SF State will unveil their work in the show Nov. 14. The works showcased will include paintings, printmaking, digital media, ceramics, and moving images. There is also a $10,000 Stillwell scholarship available for the student whose artwork is selected.

Artists were required to submit their completed works to the Fine Arts Gallery by Oct. 24. Students enrolled in Museum Studies 719: Exhibition Design were responsible for choosing the art, which would be showcased in Tuesday's exhibit. Students in the class were also responsible for preparing the entire gallery, from arrangement of the space to the stenciling of lettering along the walls, to the lighting.

Mark Johnson, 53, who teaches the exhibition design class and is also the Fine Arts Gallery director, said the class will award two levels of prizes to artists at Tuesday’s opening.

“The big prize – the $10,000 dollar scholarship – will be decided by an outside faculty committee with an outside jury,” Johnson said. “We make the small decisions, but the bigger decisions are made by faculty and outside artists.”

Carrie Moehnke, 40, a student enrolled in the class, was responsible for researching Stillwell and the history of the 1940s in preparation for an exhibit. The exhibit will honor his memory and will include original Stillwell works that were donated to SF State by his mother.

Stillwell was part of a small art community in the city during the post World War II era and died at the age of 22. Although most of Stillwell’s work was dark, he drew many sketches of Navy men.

All of Stillwell’s artwork, memorabilia and letters were donated to SF State by his mother, including a house above the Castro District. According to Moehnke, she wanted her son to gain the recognition he deserved.

“It is important to commemorate Leo because we wouldn’t have the funding that we have now if it weren’t for him,” said Moehnke. “When his work came to this gallery it enabled MFA (master of fine arts) students to really become a part of the gallery, to show their work, and have a background unlike Leo did.”

Marque Cornblatt, 45, an MFA student with a concentration in conceptual information art, deals with the idea of personal identity being mediated through technological filters such as video games. Cornblatt’s piece touches on how people will eventually redefine themselves in the face of changing technology.

“In some cases what you get is a very visually accurate portrait of yourself, but it may often be very limited because of the nature of the filter,” Cornblatt said. “There are three words used to describe my work: toys, trash, and technology.”

The opening for the Stillwell Student Art Show is Tuesday, Nov. 14 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Fine Arts building, room 238.