Thorne Gallery Invites Artists to Enter Juried Exhibit
KEENE, N.H. 10/5/04 - Artists living within 30 miles of Keene and Friends of the Thorne are invited to enter the 2005 Biennial Regional Jurors’ Choice Competition at the Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery. This year’s competition celebrates 10 years of presenting juried exhibitions at the Thorne gallery on Wyman Way on the Keene State College campus.
The exhibition, open to artists working in all media, will be displayed Saturday, Jan. 22 to Sunday, March 6. The jurors will be Sean Dye, who teaches in the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Vermont in Burlington, and Andrew Spahr, chief curator at the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, N.H.
The Regional Jurors’ Choice Exhibition showcases the many talented artists who live in this area with more and more artists entering each show, says Maureen Ahern, director of the Thorne Gallery. Two years ago the Thorne had the largest artist participation so far in its regional competition with 174 artists submitting 310 artworks.
To commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Thorne’s juried competition, both galleries will be available for display of artwork and artists may submit up to three works. In recent competitions, artists were limited to two entries. In addition to selecting works to be shown in the Regional Jurors’ Choice Exhibition, the jurors will select artists for special recognition, various awards, honors, and cash prizes. Gallery visitors will select a People’s Choice Commendation.
Artists may submit work in any medium completed within the past two years. Works done under the supervision of an instructor are not eligible. All art must be ready to hang or display. No glass or clip frames will be accepted.
Entries for the competition must be hand-delivered to the Thorne Gallery between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Dec. 10 and 11. Artists will be asked to complete a registration form and label information at the time of delivery. Upon completion of the jury process, artists will be notified by phone or e-mail of the jurors’ decisions. Artists are encouraged to make entries available for purchase, although not-for-sale works will be accepted.
An opening reception, hosted by the Friends of the Thorne, will take place Friday, Jan. 21, from 5 to 7:30 p.m. The Jurors’ Choice honorees will be announced at a 6 p.m. awards ceremony.
Dye, an award-winning multimedia artist, received a master of fine arts from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y. He has taught at the University of Vermont since 1991 and conducts workshops on pastel, oil painting, and mixed-media throughout North America. He has juried many exhibitions including the Pastel Society of Eastern Canada’s annual juried exhibition in 2002. His traditional landscapes have been exhibited widely and are in numerous private and corporate collections and have appeared in numerous art magazines and books. President and founder of the Vermont Pastel Society, Dye is a member of the Pastel Society of America, the Degas Pastel Society, and the Sierra Pastel Society. He is the author of Painting with Water Soluble Oils (2001) and Mixed-Media Sourcebook, published this spring.
Spahr, who has been at the Currier since 1994, is responsible for all aspects of the fine arts collection, permanent and temporary exhibitions, Frank Lloyd Wright designed Zimmerman House, and art reference library. Prior to that time, he was curator of exhibitions at the American Federation of Arts in New York City, curator at the Art Museum Association of America in San Francisco, and a research associate at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. An author of nine art publications, Spahr holds master’s and bachelor’s degree in art history and a diploma in museum studies from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N. J. He was a juror for the Thorne’s 1996 Biennial Regional Juried Exhibition and juried several exhibits in New Hampshire including the first Outdoor Juried Sculpture Exhibit, Mill Brook Gallery & Sculpture Garden in Concord in 2001.
The reception and exhibition will be free and open to the public. For further information about the Regional Juror’s Choice Exhibition and to download a Call for Entries form visit the Thorne web site at www.keene.edu/tsag/exhibits.cfm or call 603-358-2720.
