69th Annual Wabash Valley Juried Exhibition

June 29 – August 24, 2013

Haslem, Hodge and Gallery Three
Sponsored by:  First Financial Bank

Events: Reception June 29, 3-6 p.m.

From Kris Ercums:

Photo courtesy of  Ellen at Southwestern University.
Photo courtesy of Ellen
at Southwestern University.

The Paris Salon exhibitions organized by the Académie des Beaux-Arts that dominated the nineteenth-century French art world were among the earliest juried exhibitions. Whether or not an artist’s work was chosen for inclusion, “skied,” or simply rejected could secure or ruin their career. Thankfully the stakes aren’t so high these days. But, when jurors increasingly rejected experimental paintings, the mounting resentment engendered a series of alternate exhibitions and eventually shifted the entire dynamic of the French art world. These early juried exhibitions were vital for shaping and supporting contemporary art of their day.

The flourishing of the juried exhibition mode at the Swope Art Museum in the Wabash Valley Juried Exhibition similarly promotes the expansion and growth of the local art ecology. The diverse spectrum of works submitted for review evinces the health and vitality of this visually creative environment. Like jurors before me, decisions may be thinly veiled by the rhetoric of taste or some other criteria, but in large part I feel decisions are shaped by personal factors. To explain my own motivations, I returned to works that evoked both emotional and cerebral responses—criteria that made selecting this year’s prizewinners very difficult.

The brazen color palate used by Nancy Kruse in her painting Bosco Takes a Ride heightened the common place experience of visiting an amusement park with intoxicating colors reminiscent of the Fauvist painters, who had suffered harsh criticism during the height of the Salon heyday. John DenHouter’s monumental paintings were mysterious and enigmatic in the way they combined assemblages of goal posts with deserted, even ruinous settings—two fish are suspended from a basketball goal like the detritus of some receded catastrophic flood. Harris Johnson subverts the revered history of still life painting by inserting personalized humor, even daring to disrupt solidity with a much-needed jolt. The everyday experience of the ubiquitous grocery store in Courtland Blade’s The Frozen Aisle was multi-sensorial. This painting conveyed both the cold environment and incessant humming of sanitized overhead fluorescent lights with great effect. I was also struck by Benjamin Madeska’s focused exploration of a slice of salmon and a copper pot.

Sculptural works also stood out. Ray Chen’s organic clay piece Mother and Child emerged from the crate at the start of my judging day like a sea monster from a Godzilla flick and continued to haunt my thoughts all day. Daniel Tice’s large-scale memory diorama was eerily part crate and coffin and possessed an irresistible quality. I had to peek inside every time I passed it. And Rob Millard-Mendez’s whimsical Flying High Chair was like something from a dream. Cathleen Hogan was the other side of the dream dimension, evoking nightmarish repulsions with Baby Mill. And Scott Ziegler’s fateful role of dice with Seven-Out Loses commanded great skill and a plethora of visual references to explore.

Curating and awarding this year’s iteration of the Wabash Valley exhibition was endlessly delightful and a great honor. I so enjoyed working with professional staff of the Swope Art Museum and viewing its impressive collections. Engaging with all the artists through their submissions whether or not they made the final (and I can’t help but self reflexively think of the process as somewhat arbitrary) cut encapsulated an expansive experience that will not soon disappear.

Award Winners

Howard E. Wooden, Sr. Memorial Grand Prize
Bosco Takes A Ride, 2013, oil on canvas
Nancy Kruse, Carmel, IN
Phyllis Dye Turner Award of Excellence in Honor of Ann Rutledge Hartman
Offering, 2012, oil on canvas
John DenHouter, Edwardsville, IL
Alliance of the Swope Award of Distinction
Disrupted Still Life, 2012, acrylic on canvas
Harris Johnson, Columbus, OH
Alliance of the Swope Award of Honor
The Frozen Aisle, 2013, oil on canvas
Courtland Blade, Indianapolis, IN
Arts Illiana Award of Recognition
Baby Mill, 2012, clay, vintage doll components
Cathleen Hogan, Terre Haute, IN
Brent and Alexa Bilsland Award of Recognition
Anonymous Bone Noise BLU, 2012, digital photo montage
Jim Pearson, Lawrenceville, IL
Mary Ann Carroll Award of Recognition
Vertical Skyview, 2011, oil on canvas
Dan Annarino, West Lafayette, IN
Guille and Cindy Cox Award of Recognition
Seven-Out Loses, 2012, porcelain
Scott Ziegler, Fort Wayne, IN
Vernon B. Cristee Memorial Award of Recognition
Winter Creek, 2013, oil on canvas board
James Swanson, Lagrange Park, IL
Lant and Amanda Davis Award of Recognition
Salmon, 2012, oil on canvas
Benjamin Madeska, Indianapolis, IN
Emily and John Jr. Gedrick Award of Recognition
Mother and Child, 2011, stoneware, earthenware
Ray Chen, Terre Haute, IN
Max and Jackie Gibson Award of Recognition
River’s Edge, 2012, photograph on aluminum
Debbie Goodin, Terre Haute, IN
Sharron R. Jolly Award of Recognition in Memory of Elizabeth A. Smith
Barren Mounds, 2012, die formed copper, sterling silver, nickel silver, found screws
Kathleen Garrison, Metamora, IL
David and Jerry Mitchell Award of Recognition
Flying High Chair, 2011, wood, paint, lead, steel, aluminum, found objects
Rob Millard-Mendez, Evansville, IN
Nancy and Fred Nation Award of Recognition
A Neighborhood of Citizens United, 2011, acrylic on canvas
Ralph Larmann, Newburgh, IN
Eileen and Ted Prose Award of Recognition
Spring/Winter, 2012, acrylic on canvas
Dan Cooper, Indianapolis, IN
Psi Iota Xi Sorority ETA PHI Chapter Award of Recognition
Inoculate, 2013, digitally printed silk organza on paper
(Scanning Electron Micrographs provided by Sue Eder at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville)
Sarah Gillespie, Newton, IL
Rick and Candy Shagley Award of Recognition
Wabash River North, 2013, Prismacolor pencils on art board
Michael R. Tingley, Terre Haute, IN
Mrs. Barbara A. Vogel Award of Recognition
Fragile, 2012, linoleum print diptych
Kathleen Laufman, Plymouth, MI
David and Joan Zaun Award of Recognition
Mrk. I Mnemonic Containment Vessel Series 12-001, 2012, mixed media sculpture
Daniel Tice, Terre Haute, IN
Danette Angermeier Memorial Award of Merit
Window, 2013, acrylic on panel
Edwin Cheek, Bloomington, IN
Sherry Dailey and Tom Tucker Award of Merit in Memory of Shirley Dailey Bennett
Maquette, 2012, video, animation, sound
Michael Lasater, South Bend, IN
Tom and Connie Francis Award of Merit
Philosophy of Nature, 2013, India ink, charcoal on paper
Mike Bender, Terre Haute, IN
Indiana State University Permanent Art Collection Purchase Award
Somewhere in Tea-Time, 2013, photograph
Thomas L. Farris, Muncie, IN
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Purchase Awards
Balance, 2011, mixed media sculpture and photographs
Jeff Boshart, Charleston, IL
Fall Days, 2012, ceramic
Beth Hoke, Clinton, IN
People’s Choice Award Sponsored by the Alliance of the Swope
Boxed Death, 2012, charcoal on wood panel
Lindy Reeves, Terre Haute, IN

Additional Accepted Artists and Works

Deborah Ann Anderson
Colorific, 2011, inlaid wood, acrylic
Dan Annarino
Transitional Landscape, 2011, oil on canvas
Lisa Jo Baer
Peering at the Past, 2011, digital photograph
Karen Bekkering
Back to Back, 2010-2011, photograph
Mike Bender
Landmarks II Wabash, 2013, India ink, Archaic, charcoal on paper
Courtland Blade
The Grocery Store, 2012, oil on canvas
Tom David
Tre Vecchi Uonmini, 2011, linoleum print on paper
John DenHouter
Memorial Stadium, 2012, oil on canvas
Tom Duffy
Farm, 2012, photograph, pigment ink on Canson Baryta paper
Terri Duncan
A Split Decision, 2011, mixed media
Turning in a New Direction, 2011, mixed media and resin
Jim Esslinger
Homage to J.C. – In Perseus Arm, 2012, mixed media
Suzanne Finn
Manufactured Cow, 2012, collograph print on paper
Katherine Fries
Memory Projection: Andrea & Kathryn, 2012, oil on canvas
Chad Gallion
Voyage III, 2012, oil on canvas
Kathleen Garrison
Solitary Protection Earring Series, 2011, sterling silver
Folded, 2012, chalk pastel on paper
Sarah Gillespie
Amalgamate, 2013, watercolor and digitally printed silk organza on paper
(Scanning Electron Micrographs provided by Sue Eder at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville)
Peggy L. Hines
Phalaenopsis, 2011, watercolor, metallic thread
Cathleen Hogan
Chimera, 2012, clay, fur, fabric, vintage doll torso
Charlie Johnson
The Falls of HIsaac 2012, 2012, photograph
Harris Johnson
Dutch Still Life with Lobster, 2011, acrylic on canvas
Candle and Mouse, 2011, acrylic on canvas
James K. Johnson
Keeper of Machu Picchu, 2011, bronze
Kira Kalondy
Ciclo de Vida, 2012, ceramic porcelain and sterling silver
Jan Kappes
Cultivator Sweep, Two Views, 2012, colored pencil
Nancy Kruse
Decisions, Decisions, 2012, oil on canvas
Benjamin Madeska
Copper Pot, 2013, oil on canvas
Stephanie McGuinness
Persistence of Vision / The Storyteller, 2013, linoleum print on paper
Rob Millard-Mendez
Travelling Dimhouse, 2012, wood, paint, plastic, concrete, bone, steel
Justin Henry Miller
Nature Mother, 2012, oil on vintage photograph
Roger Pfingston
Sea Gift #1, 2013, digital photograph
Sea Gift #2, 2013, digital photograph
Orie Shafer
Skyline I, 2013, oil on canvas
Neil Taylor
Tree Bones, 2012, color woodcut
Michael R. Tingley
River of Time, 2013, mixed media