^{Summer Skin / Nickolas Carl Hurlbut}

Every year, the Gallery at the Park presents a Scholarship Show to celebrate emerging artists! The show features unique art from local and regional students who are receiving Allied Arts Association scholarships.

The primary exhibition spotlights a graduate student enrolled in a Master of Fine Arts program at a university in Washington, Oregon, or Idaho. This year, jurors Mary Dryburgh and Tracy Walker selected Washington State University student Nickolas Carl Hurlbut as the scholarship recipient and featured artist.

Nickolas Carl Hurlbut is an artist and photographer whose work explores human sexuality and connection. As a queer creative, Hurlbut seeks to deconstruct traditional ideas of gender.

“I rewrite the predominant cultural narrative depicting men as rugged, aggressive and destructive, by depicting the opposite — growth, calm, pacificity, and softness,” Hurlbut says. “Redefining masculinity in my practice has helped me heal parts of myself that I was once taught to change or reject.”

Hulburt prints his images as cyanotypes to give them a soft, painterly quality that reflects the gentleness of the subject matter.

The Scholarship Show also features work from Krystal Weston, a student in the Visual Arts program at Columbia Basin College, and work from Casie Nguyen, a Tri-Cities high school senior planning to pursue a higher education in visual arts. 

Dates: May 5 – 29, 2026

Reception: Sunday, May 17, from 1 – 3pm

Gallery at the Park: 89 Lee Boulevard, Richland

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