Julia Jalowiec Wins 2019 Texas Emerging Artist Award

Mercedes-Benz Financial Services USA LLC, a leading automotive financial services provider, and the Southern Methodist University (SMU) Meadows School of the Arts are pleased to name Julia Jalowiec as the 2019 Mercedes-Benz Financial Services Texas Emerging Artist Award recipient. Jalowiec was recognized during an opening reception for SMU’s B.F.A. Qualifying Exhibition on May 3 in the Pollock Gallery in the Hughes-Trigg Student Center. 

As recipient of the coveted Texas Emerging Artist Award, Jalowiec will participate in a two-month residency in Berlin, Germany, provided by Mercedes-Benz Financial Services. The residency includes travel, lodging, studio space at the international cultural center Künstlerhaus Bethanien, transportation and a $5,000 stipend. Additionally, as part of a personalized networking program, Jalowiec will receive introductions to important members of the renowned Berlin art community as well as free admission to Berlin museums.

“From the moment we met Julia, it was evident that she embodies the award’s core values of passion, integrity, respect and discipline,” said Eileen Maxson, senior lecturer of photography with SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts and a jury member for the 2019 Emerging Artist Award. “In her work, Julia brings levity to weighty subject matter, like mortality, with conceptual wit and a playful approach to mediums and materials. We were moved by Julia’s twofold commitment to art as an outlet for personal transformation and as an opportunity to impact and educate her community.” 

Jalowiec was selected from among five finalists who presented their works to a jury composed of SMU Meadows School of the Arts faculty and Mercedes-Benz Financial Services representatives. The recognition is awarded annually to a student or recent graduate, from SMU or Texas Christian University (TCU), with each school alternating years. In 2020, an artist from TCU will be selected for the residency opportunity.

"Mercedes-Benz Financial Services is committed to fostering connections between our company and our community in new ways every day, and these efforts include providing life changing experiences for our employees, customers and community partners," said Janet Marzett, Mercedes-Benz Financial Services Vice President of Operations Americas. "We have always placed immense value on the influence art has in the workplace, and our partnership with SMU and TCU exposes our employees to new and different perspectives, and inspires creative thought within our business environment, while also providing opportunities for these artists to explore and enhance their crafts. We're thrilled to continue this innovative partnership to support emerging artists."

Jalowiec earned her B.F.A. from SMU in 2018. She depicts human figures using cast iron, ceramics, printmaking and painting mediums. Her works have been displayed in several exhibits across the country. 

"The figures I form with my hands see, feel and embody my pain," Jalowiec said about her artwork. "My figurative works become friends as I create people that I have imagined and would like to get to know. Balancing the grotesque with occasional humor, I attempt to capture the dichotomy that life can bring as I experience joy with the realization of my own mortality."

Launched in 2016, the Texas Emerging Artist Award is an extension of the Experiencing Perspectives program, an innovative art collaboration between Mercedes-Benz Financial Services, SMU and TCU. Since 2008, more than 100 works of art by SMU and TCU students and alumni are selected annually to be displayed throughout the company’s Fort Worth Business Center.

Jalowiec’s work will be among the pieces on display as part of the 2019-2020 Experiencing Perspectives display. Her work was also included in the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 Experiencing Perspectives exhibits. You may also view samples of her work by clicking here.

Mercedes-Benz Financial Services has been supporting local artists and culture for decades. Its first art program partnership, with Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield, Michigan, was launched in 2002, followed by affiliations with SMU and TCU in North Texas in 2008.

About the SMU Meadows School of the Arts

The Meadows School of the Arts celebrates its 50^th anniversary in 2019. Formally established at SMU in 1969 and named in honor of benefactor Algur H. Meadows, it is one of the foremost arts education institutions in the U.S. The Meadows School offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in 11 disciplines encompassing the visual, performing and communication arts. It is a leader in developing innovative outreach and community engagement programs, challenging its students to make a difference locally and globally by developing connections between art, entrepreneurship and change. The school is also a convener for the arts in North Texas, serving as a catalyst for new collaborations and providing critical industry research. For more information, visit here.

About Mercedes-Benz Financial Services USA LLC

Mercedes-Benz Financial Services USA LLC, headquartered in Farmington Hills, Michigan, with a business center in Fort Worth, Texas, provides brand-specific financial products and services for Mercedes-Benz automotive dealers and their retail customers. In the U.S. trucking industry, it conducts business as Daimler Truck Financial and provides flexible financial products and services for Daimler Trucks North America commercial vehicles branded Freightliner, Western Star and Thomas Built as well as Mitsubishi Fuso Truck of America, Inc. It is a company of the Daimler Financial Services Group, headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany, which is one of the leading financial services organizations worldwide and was ranked in the top 10 on the list of the World’s Best Multinational Workplaces by the Great Place To Work Institute in 2016 and 2018. Mercedes-Benz Financial Services USA LLC was also named one of the 100 Best Workplaces for Millennials in 2015 and 2016, and one of the 100 Best Workplaces for Women in 2016 by Great Place to Work and Fortune.com. For more information, please visit mbfs.com/corp or facebook.com/mymbfs.