The West Virginia Division of Culture and History (WVDCH) has announced the winners in the 16th biennial West Virginia Juried Exhibition 2009. West Virginia artists and craftspeople were presented with 18 awards totaling $33,000 in a ceremony which will began at 2 p.m. at the Huntington Museum of Art on Sunday, Oct. 18. The exhibit features 89 works in the areas of painting, sculpture, printmaking, drawing, photography, mixed media and crafts by 74 artists. The exhibition will remain on display through Jan. 17, 2010.
The 89 pieces of art in the exhibit, including the award winners, were chosen by jurors Julie Taggart, professor, dean, fine arts and foundation studies at Columbus College of Art and Design, Columbus, Ohio, and Vince Torano, professor at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Mich. They also selected six non-monetary Honorary Mention awards. Taggart and Torano viewed more than 375 submissions to select the show. The awards money is made available through the West Virginia Commission on the Arts (WVCA) of the West Virginia Division of Culture and History from funds appropriated by the West Virginia Legislature. The awards constitute one of the largest endowments for any single juried exhibition in the country.
There are three Governor’s Awards of $5,000, one of which is designated as the D. Gene Jordon Memorial Award, after the former chairman of the West Virginia Commission on the Arts who died in 1989. There also are seven Awards of Excellence of $2,000, all of which are purchase awards, as are the Governor’s Awards, and at the close of the exhibition these works will become part of the West Virginia State Museum contemporary art collection. In addition, there are eight Merit Awards of $500 which do not become part of the museum’s collection. (A complete list of winners is attached.)
Many of the works on display are for sale and may be purchased through the close of the exhibition. The Huntington Museum of Art is open from 10 a.m. - 9 p.m., Tuesday; 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday; and noon to 5 p.m., Sunday.
For more information about the West Virginia Juried Exhibition 2009, contact Betty Gay, exhibits coordinator for the Division, at (304) 558-0220, ext. 128, or Margaret Mary Layne, executive director of the Huntington Museum of Art, at (304) 529-2701.
From its inception in 1979 until 2005, the West Virginia Juried Exhibition was presented at the Culture Center, State Capitol Complex, Charleston. In 2007, Randall Reid-Smith, commissioner of the WVDCH, decided to have the exhibition travel to Parkersburg, sharing the best in art with yet another community in the Mountain State. “One of my goals has been to touch every part of our state with outstanding cultural events. We are delighted to have the opportunity to expand our outreach to the community by placing the West Virginia Juried Exhibition 2009 in Huntington,” he said.
“The Huntington Museum of Art has enjoyed working with the outstanding leadership at the Division of Culture and History to bring this exciting exhibit to the Huntington area,” added Layne.
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 Culture Center in the State Capitol Complex in Charleston, which also houses the state archives and state museum. The Culture 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.
MEDIA NOTE: photos of the award-winning art can be accessed in the list below
www.wvculture.org/agency/press/2009wvjewinners.html
The original release with list of all the exhibitors can be accessed at
http://www.wvculture.org/agency/press/2009wvje.html
West Virginia Juried Exhibition 2009 Winners
Dick Allowatt
St. Albans
Dream –
In Black and White
MERIT AWARD
Mary-Jo Bennett
Hedgesville
The Art Student
HONORABLE MENTION
Evan Boggess
Fairmont
Hybrid Trophy
and
Counter Measures
AWARD OF EXCELLENCE
Patricia Chapman
Huntington
The Fix
D. GENE JORDON MEMORIAL AWARD
Cassie Clements
Morgantown
Self Portrait
of Studio
AWARD OF EXCELLENCE
Bret Doolittle
Richwood
February
HONORABLE MENTION
and
Black Mountain
Chris Dutch and Robin Hammer
Charleston
Station
and
O’Keefe’s Peapod
HONORABLE MENTION
Jan Griffin
Charleston
Emerging Spring
AWARD OF EXCELLENCE
and
Milam W.Va.
HONORABLE MENTION
Charles Jupiter Hamilton
Charleston
My Cousin’s
Wedding
AWARD OF EXCELLENCE
and
The 4th Station of the Cross
Elisabeth Hartman
Charleston
Shadows
HONORABLE MENTION
Vernon Howell
Barboursville
Under Construction
MERIT AWARD
and
Thanks, Joseph
Gail Hutchinson
Milton
Untitled
MERIT AWARD
and
West Virginia Coal Basket
Staci Leech
Poca
Carrying “Pride
and Prejudice”
MERIT AWARD
Michael Mendez
Martinsburg
Electricity [For
Don Van Vliet]
AWARD OF EXCELLENCE
Jamie Miller
Charleston
Soul Killers
MERIT AWARD
and
Ketchup A Hole
Nancy-Louise Mottesheard
Charleston
Big, Big
Heart
AWARD OF EXCELLENCE
Mark Muse
Shepherdstown
Yellow Birch, Betula Alleghaniensis, Dolly Sods Wilderness
HONORABLE MENTION
and
Basket Oak, Quercus
Michauxii, Jefferson County
MERIT AWARD
Zachary Orcutt
Parkersburg
Flying Squirrels
AWARD OF EXCELLENCE
and
Zorcutt’s Bling
Susan Poffenbarger
Dunbar
Blackwater
Red
GOVERNOR’S AWARD
Brent Thomas
Huntington
Give up the Ghost
MERIT AWARD
Linda Turner
Jane Lew
Monday by the
Sea of Ionia
MERIT AWARD
Robert Villamagna
Wheeling
Deer Crossing
GOVERNOR’S AWARD
and
Red Pig
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