Arts Council to open annual juried art show
By Becky Barclay
Published in News on May 1, 2013 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/MICHAEL BETTS
Arts Council of Wayne County gallery director Erin Alemdar hangs artist works for the 34th annual National Juried Arts Show at the Arts Council of Wayne County.
Entries in this year's National Juried Arts Show included a large photograph of a homeless man, a cast aluminum sculpture of a deer standing on a man hunched up on the ground -- painted bright orange -- and a book of old time photos done in intaglio print.
The book won artist Johnnie Lee Scott of Richlands Best in Show. It's titled "Hooves and Wheels Make Tracks."
"It's kind of dreamy-type photos," Arts Council of Wayne County gallery director Erin Alemdar said. "They're done using a type of print making where the image is incised into a surface, the incised area holds ink and a print is made from that."
The award was sponsored by Wells Fargo Advisors.
Second place went to Gray Whitely for his photo titled "Storm," a large photo of the aftermath of a bad storm that completely destroyed a part of town in Wilson
The award was sponsored by Dr. Phillip and Mary Kerstetter.
For his segmented wood turning titled "Morning Thunder," Earl Rasmussen of Pikeville took third place. He used Peruvian Walnut and Avodire woods, piecing together one inch segments of wood into rings, gluing the rings together then turning the piece on a lathe to smooth it out.
The award was sponsored by the Goldsboro News-Argus.
"Graham Crackers Anyone?" is the title of a photograph that earned Charity Valentine a fourth-place award.
"It looks like a field full of giant marshmallows," Ms. Alemdar said.
The award was sponsored by TALoving Co.
Best in Wayne County went to Troy Herring of Mount Olive for his large photo of a homeless man titled "Kenneth."
"It's a man that Troy ran into outside a store," Ms. Alemdar said. "We're going to try to find Kenneth and bring him to the opening reception to show him he's special."
The award was sponsored by Dr. Scott and Tracy Draughon.
One other award won't be presented until opening night of the reception. The People's Choice Award is decided by those attending the opening.
This is the 34th annual National Juried Arts Show at the Arts Council of Wayne County.
"We got entries from all over the country this year, some from as far away as Cincinnati, Ohio, and Denver, Colo.," Ms. Alemdar said.
"And we got entries from all sorts of media -- ceramics, paintings, sculpture, wood turning, photography and even a necklace. I think sometimes when people think of art, they think of just a square painting on a wall. This show has the different varieties of art."
This year's juror was Treelee Macann, an art professor in Conway, S.C., and a working artist.
There were 138 entries.
"It differs from year to year," Ms. Alemdar said. "We had a little more than 100 entries last year. About six years ago we had closer to 400."
This is the first National Juried Arts Show that the Arts Council has held in its new building downtown.
There will be an opening reception Friday from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Arts Council, with live music and refreshments.
The exhibit of entries not selected for the show will be May 3 through 17 in the upstairs gallery. The exhibit of selected works will be in the main gallery downstairs May 18 through June 14.
Gallery days and hours are Monday through Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 4 to 7 p.m.