The West Virginia Division of Culture and History (WVDCH) is pleased to announce a call for entries for the Emerging Artists of West Virginia Exhibition. A juried exhibition, Emerging Artists will be the opening art exhibit in the newly renovated State Museum at the Cultural Center, State Capitol Complex, Charleston. The exhibition is open to all West Virginia emerging artists whose submissions can be hung from a wall.
Eligible entries include works created in the last two years in the areas of painting, printmaking, drawing, photography, mixed media and crafts/wall hangings. Entrants must be over the age of 21 and must be residents of, and maintain a permanent domicile in West Virginia.
Artists may submit two entries for the exhibition with a limit of two slides/digital images per entry. Entry forms, and properly identified slides/images must be mailed to WVDCH, Emerging Artists of West Virginia Exhibition, The Cultural Center, 1900 Kanawha Blvd., E., Charleston, W.Va. 25305-0300 with a postmark no later than March 26, or entries can be hand-delivered to the Cultural Center at the State Capitol Complex absolutely no later than 5 p.m. on the same date.
Entrants also must have completed a WVDCH Artists’ Register form and submitted six slides or a CD with digital images representative of current work for the file at the Division. Those artists entering work for the show must submit a one-page resume as well. The slides submitted for the Artists’ Register are not used in jurying entries into the exhibition and will not be returned to the artists. The completed Artists’ Register form and six images of current work also is due March 26.
The Division will present $1,000 for the Best in Show, which is a purchase award that will become part of the West Virginia State Museum’s Collection. A first prize of a signed and numbered Blenko vase also will be awarded. Second and third place winners will receive special recognition.
Entries in the form of slides or digital images on CD will be accepted beginning Thursday, Feb. 19, and must be postmarked for delivery to the Division no later than 5 p.m. on Wednesday, March 26. Prizes will be awarded at the opening reception.
Allison Leigh Smith, a painter from Scottsdale, Ariz., will serve as juror for the show. She has a bachelor of fine arts degree from Columbus College of Art and Design and her work is considered contemporary realism.
Only after the juror has selected the show will artists be required to ship/deliver their art. Entry forms for the Artists’ Register and the Emerging Artists of West Virginia Exhibition can be downloaded from our Web site at www.wvculture.org/museum/exhibits.html.
For more information about the exhibition, contact Betty Gay, exhibits coordinator for the Division, at (304) 558-0220, ext. 128.
The West Virginia Division of Culture and History, an agency of the West Virginia Department of Education and the Arts, brings together the state’s past, present and future through programs and services in the areas of archives and history, the arts, historic preservation and museums. Its administrative offices are located at the Cultural Center in the State Capitol Complex in Charleston, which also houses the state archives and state museum. The Cultural Center is West Virginia’s official showcase for the arts. The agency also operates a network of museums and historic sites across the state. For more information about the Division’s programs, visit www.wvculture.org. The Division of Culture and History is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.
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