HARRISBURG- The State Museum of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation remind artists and craftspeople to submit applications to exhibit their work in the annual Art of the State. Now in its 57th year, this acclaimed juried exhibition boasts a tradition of presenting highly creative art by Pennsylvanians, chosen by a distinguished panel of jurors.
Art of the State is open to Pennsylvania residents who are at least 18 years of age. Artists will compete in five categories: painting, work on paper, sculpture, craft, and photography/digital media. Entries to Art of the State must be submitted online. Additional information and the link to enter are available at https://statemuseumpa.org/artofthestate. The application deadline is 11:59 p.m. on Friday, May 3, 2024.
Art of the State is scheduled to open to the public at The State Museum on Sunday, September 8, 2024, and close on Sunday, January 5, 2025.
More than $5,000 in cash awards will be presented. A first-place award of $500, second-place award of $300, and a third-place award of $200 will be selected in each of the five categories. The William D. Davis Memorial Award for Drawing in the amount of $250 and the Art Docents’ Choice Award of $300 will also be presented.
Selection jurors will review and assign a numeric score to all work submitted. Those artists with the highest ratings in each category will be featured in the exhibition.
This year’s selection jurors are:
Marc Jacobson, Professor Emeritus, Herron School of Art + Design, Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis
A Wisconsin native, Jacobson studied painting and drawing at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UW-M). After graduating with a BFA, he took classes in Reims, France, then returned to UW-M for graduate study. In 1990 he moved to Indianapolis for a position at Herron School of Art + Design, where his teaching received several awards.
Jacobson’s paintings have been exhibited in numerous exhibitions over the past 40 years, including in solo shows at StorageSpace Gallery, Indianapolis; Allen Sheppard Gallery, New York; Columbia College, Columbia, Missouri; and Jan Cicero Gallery, Chicago. Group exhibitions include the Museum of Fine Arts of Florida State University; Zolla-Lieberman Gallery, Chicago; and DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana. His work is in many collections, including the Indiana State Museum, Indianapolis; Cummins, Columbus, Indiana; and Fidelity Investments.
Jennifer-Navva Milliken, Executive Director and Chief Curator, Museum for Art in Wood
At the helm of the Museum for Art in Wood, Milliken works to enfold contemporary issues into the museum’s wood-focused approach, balancing traditional craft practices with contemporary artistic concepts. She studied for her B.A. in art history at Western Washington University and her M.A. in art history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. Throughout her international career, she has curated dozens of exhibitions for museums, galleries, and unconventional spaces. Before joining the Museum for Art in Wood in 2018, she worked as an independent curator and consultant, as well as an embedded staff curator at several cultural institutions and museums in the U.S. and abroad.
Eric Sung, Artist and Professor of Art/Photography, Providence College
Eric Sung is an artist-scholar and cultural worker. His creative vision has materialized multiple interdisciplinary ideas into action with a diverse group of stakeholders. Sung’s experiential scholarship and companion works have appeared internationally in peer-reviewed and juried conferences and venues, including the Society for Photographic Education, International Visual Literacy Association, and Imagining America. His artworks have been showcased in internationally renowned exhibition venues and public spaces. His art and community empowerment projects were supported by the National Endowment for the Arts; the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities; Providence Department of Art, Culture, and Tourism; and Rhode Island State Council on the Arts.
Sung is a full professor at Providence College and was appointed as the founding director of a cutting-edge program in business and innovation in 2018. Currently, he is a member of the WARP Collective Artists Group and serves on the board of directors of the Society for Photographic Education.
An awards juror will select recipients in each of the categories:
Craft: Functional or decorative three-dimensional craft in any synthetic or natural media. Fiber arts are included in this category.
Painting: Two-dimensional painting media including oil, acrylic, watercolor, encaustic, fresco, ink & wash, pastel, gouache and spray paint, painted on a two-dimensional surface.
Photography & Digital Media: Traditional and digital photographs, photographs printed on metal, and time-based media. Photographs printed on foam core will not be accepted. A.I.-generated art will not be accepted to the 2024 exhibition. NOTE: Artists are required to provide a media player, speakers, and screen for exhibition display purposes for digital works. Media should be programmed to play on a continuous loop. The media player should be equipped to start automatically, and to start and play when and if power is lost and returns.
Sculpture: Three-dimensional carved, molded, applied or constructed techniques using wood, glass, plaster, metal, stone, plastics, clay, soft or hard materials, found objects or natural materials. May include high and low bas relief, installations, kinetic sculpture and assemblage.
Work on Paper: Two-dimensional works specifically created on paper, includes drawing, collage, etching, lithograph, woodblock, screen print, serigraph, calligraphy, computer art on paper, graphic art, digital art print, digital collage, monotype, cut paper and pastel.
A First Place Award of $500, a Second Place Award of $300 and a Third Place Award of $200 will be distributed in each of five categories.
Additional Awards :
William D. Davis Memorial Award for Drawing: $250
The State Museum Art Docents’ Choice Award: $300
