The Wisconsin Visual Artists’ Northeast Chapter has awarded two UW Oshkosh students its merit award, a gift of $150 and a year’s membership for free, for their outstanding artwork.

Gretchen Wood was awarded the merit prize for her oil paintings, and Laura Tymm for her 2-D and 3-D artwork. Wood is graduating in the spring with a Bachelor of Arts in art education, and Tymm graduated in December with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in art.

The WVA’s merit prize has been awarded yearly since 2010 as a means to recognize noteworthy student artistry at the collegiate level. The merit prize is intended to recognize the creative firepower of students, and to encourage them to continue their work following college.

Wood came back to school for art education, although she was already a skilled artist.

“I have just kind of gone into this completely different world of painting than I normally done,” Wood said. “This is much more abstract-based and it’s very process oriented.”

The underlying concept of Wood’s piece is time. There is lots of layering done to develop the way the piece eventually turns out.

“It’s sort of like how you can access your memories, but all of your experiences become who you are,” Wood said. “And then there are things that still haven’t finished developing.”

Wood said she works with flowers and other organic shapes because they help her process the work as she is creating.