Fine Art PR Publicity Announcements News and Information
Fine Art PR Publicity Announcements News and Information

Erie Art Museum Announces Annual Spring Show

The Erie Art Museum premieres its 87th Annual Spring Show on Saturday, April 24 with a Museum members’ opening preview and reception for the artists from 7-9:30 p.m. in the Museum’s Main Gallery, 411 State Street.

This year’s entries included 531 works from 256 artists. Spring Show juror Roger Shimomura accepted 79 works from 71 artists to be exhibited in the Erie Art Museum’s 87th Annual Spring Show opening from April 24 through July 3, 2010.

“There are many different philosophies for jurying an exhibition like this one,” said Shimomura. “Some jurors choose only what they respond to which leads to an exhibition that reflects the taste of the juror. Others may respond to certain types of imagery; representational, abstract, modernist, narrative, etc. Probably because of my background as an educator I prefer a more democratic approach by accepting the best of a cross-representation of styles and technical approaches.”

All artists residing within 250-miles of Erie were invited to enter works not previously exhibited in the Erie area. A total of $10,000 in cash prizes and guaranteed purchases will be offered to the artists of chosen works. The cash awards will be divided among the juror’s selections of the best work in the show.

Juror’s awards were given to David Bennett, Acer Ulma Contorta; Daniel Burke, Church Mice; Lee Forrest, Capital; Cara Jung, Bawdy Hunkers: Blue; Robert Raack, Awakening; Carole Werder, The Three Graces Today (Franny, Pearl and Dore).

Honorable mentions were given to Daniel Burke, Kitchen Mice; Devon Dill, Suicide Fantasy no. 1, Thanksgiving Dinner; Ben Gibson, Interface; Richard Sadlier, L’Avions 30.

The Erie Art Museum’s 87th Annual Spring Show is sponsored in part by Edinboro University through juror accommodations.

About the Juror
Roger Shimomura served as Juror of Selection and Awards. Shimomura’s paintings, prints, and theatre pieces address sociopolitical issues of Asian America and have often been inspired by diaries kept by his late immigrant grandmother for 56 years of her life.

He has had over 125 solo exhibitions of paintings and prints, as well as presenting his experimental theater pieces at such venues as the Franklin Furnace, New York City, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, and The Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.

He is the recipient of more than 30 grants, of which four are National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships in Painting and Performance Art. A past winner of the Kansas Governor’s Arts Award, in 2008, he was designated the first Kansas Master Artist and the same year was honored by the Asian American Arts Alliance, N.Y.C. as “Exceptional People in Fashion, Food & the Arts.”

Shimomura’s work is in the permanent collections of over 80 museums nationwide.

His personal papers and letters are being collected by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. He is represented by The Flomenhaft Gallery, New York City; Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle; and Jan Weiner Gallery, Kansas City.

About the Erie Art Museum
The Erie Art Museum anchors downtown Erie’s cultural and economic revitalization, occupying a group of restored mid-19th century commercial buildings, including an outstanding 1839 Greek Revival bank. It maintains an ambitious program of 15 to 18 changing exhibitions annually, embracing a wide range of subjects, both historical and contemporary and including folk art, contemporary craft, multi-disciplinary installations, community-based work, and public art as well as traditional media.

The Erie Art Museum also holds a collection of over 6,000 objects, which includes significant works in American ceramics, Tibetan paintings, Indian bronzes, contemporary baskets, and a variety of other categories.

The Museum offers a wide range of education programs and artists’ services including interdisciplinary and interactive school tours and a wide variety of classes for the community. Performing arts are showcased in the 24-year-old Contemporary Music Series, which presents national and international performers of serious music with an emphasis on composer/performers, and a popular annual two-day Blues & Jazz Festival.

For additional information on the Erie Art Museum, visit online at www.erieartmuseum.org or call (814) 459-5477.