77th Annual Wabash Valley Exhibition
November 5, 2021 – January 9, 2022
This year’s distinguished juror is Drék Davis. A native of Monroe, Georgia, Davis is a 2006 graduate of the University of Georgia Fine Arts program – with an emphasis in drawing and painting. Primarily a mixed-media artist, Davis is also a former columnist for the Athens Banner-Herald and Code Z Online: Black Visual Culture Now. Davis has presented papers at several academic conferences, including the HUIC Conference (Hawaii University International Conferences) Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences, for which he discussed manifestations of Hip-Hop culture in the visual arts. His work has been featured in the Politics Issue of Callaloo: A Journal of African Diaspora Arts and Letters, ColorLines, and over sixty exhibitions. Mr. Davis is Professor, and Head of the Department of Visual & Performing Arts at Grambling State University, in Grambling Louisiana. A word from Drék:
Greetings,
It has been my pleasure to review and jury the artwork for the 77th Annual Wabash Valley Exhibition. Submitting work for consideration can be nerve-wracking. Well, I assure you that jurying those works is equally tense, if not more so. I have applied to, and have been rejected from, more exhibitions than I can count or care to remember. However, I was regularly reminded by artist friends and professors that “You never really know what a juror is thinking.” It wasn’t until after graduate school that a friend of mine, who had the pleasure of interviewing the esteemed Benny Andrews after his jurying stint, put it into stark relief for me. Mr. Andrews said, and I’m paraphrasing here, “If you got in, don’t be too happy. And if you didn’t get in, don’t be too sad. The show that I jury tomorrow could be completely different.” There is some subjectivity in the jurying process, to be sure. Bt there are some basic considerations that one is bound by.
With the intention of selecting works that demonstrate considerable skill and thoughtfulness, I began the process. What you have exhibited before you are the works that not only resonated with me but helped to create cohesiveness. While there is no specific theme for the exhibition, it seemed to me that the vast majority of hte works submitted in one way or another spoke to the moment that we find ourselves in. Nina Simone is famously noted as saying “An artist’s duty, as far as I’m concerned, is to reflect the times.” And while it is debatable whether that charge is an actual duty, per se, the works assembled here suggest that numberous artists in the Waash Valley understand it as an opportunity to address some of life’s persistent emotional, social, and psychological issues. In the times that we find ourselves, for this moment, that’s important I think.
Pursuing this opportunity has given us seventy-five works that help to initiate a conversation that we may not otherwise have had, were it not for the artwork that acts as the catalyst for contemplation. This is at the heart of my selection process. All the artwork that graces these spaces evoked a desire, or intention, to inspire something more than just an appreciation for aesthetic sensibilities or technical ability. This iteration of the Annual Wabash Valley Exhibition offers seventy-five ways to engage with our neighbors, and perhaps better understand our relationships with them. This ehibition gives shape to our collective dreams, hopes, fears, and memories. Physical manifestations of what calls to us in the quiet moments. So, with that, I say ‘congratulations’ to those whose works were selected. And I say ‘thank you’ to all who continuously make the time to create soemthing that didn’t already exist in this world. Keep on.
Regards,
drék davis
Artist|Educator
Watch the awards ceremony:
Award Recipients
Awards of Merit:
Howard E. Wooden, Sr. Memorial Best of Show Grand Prize
Alexandra McNichols-Torroledo, Terre Haute, IN, The Amazon Rainforest Turning into a Savanna and Carbon Dioxide Emitter
Quinquagenary Grand Prize in painting given in memory of Emily Cox Gedrick
Martin Arnold, Florence, AL, SHAWANDA
Bill Carls Grand Prize Award
Michael Bruner, Mascoutah, IL, Adam
Sarah Decker Ning Award of Distinction
Bruce Erikson, Lebanon, OH, Love Comforting Loss
The Billy Cactus Studios Award of Distinction
Eunique Rice, Cahokia, IL, Man in Sunflower Durag
Brenda F. Milliren Award of Distinction in memory of Phil Milliren
Mark Warpenburg, Mooresville, IN Peony With Little Buddy
Laney Meis Award of Distinction
Jerry Smith, Crawfordsville, IN Heartland Chord
Alliance of the Swope Award of Distinction
Lisa Pelo, Clayton, IN, The Sun Rises
Sarah Decker Ning Award of Honor
Cody Winter, Riga, MI, Midwestern Grandeur
Susan & George Brittain Award of Honor
Jonathan Lee, Richmond, VA, Barryer
Nancy & Fred Nation Award of Honor
Joe Rohrman, Noblesville, IN, Stop Killing Us!
Kevin & Emily Runion Award of Honor in honor of their 50th Wedding Anniversary
James Shepard, West Terre Haute, IN, Rachel
Frank Swaim, MD Award of Honor
Wyatt LeGrand, Bloomfield, IN, From Ten and a Half
Dr. William & Betsy Hine Award of Honor
Terry Lacy, Delphi, IN, Birdseye Journal
Alliance of the Swope Award of Honor
Betty J. Scarpino, Indianapolis, IN, With Child
Sarah Decker Ning Award of Honor
Austin Roberts, Terre Haute, IN Adhesive Phantasm
Tonya & Chris Pfaff Award of Recognition
Timothy Tyree, Maumee, OH, Down In It
David & Joan Zaun Award of Recognition
Carl Gay, Richmond, IN, Siesta
Dorothy W. Jerse Award of Recognition
Eileen Woods, Columbus, OH, You’re Only Alive If Someone Remembers You
Link Art Gallery Award of Recognition in honor of Link Art Gallery in Paris
John Wolfer, Loveland, OH, Almost Savage
Eileen Prose Award of Recognition in memory of Ted Prose
Vandra Pentecost, Indianapolis, IN, Radiance
Ellie M. Caldwell, CPA Award of Recognition
Todd Stokes, Dennison, IL, Pandemic Park
Rachel Berenson Perry Award of Recognition for a work on paper
Craig Fisher, Toledo, OH, Carrion
Lind Law Firm Award of Recognition
Michael Marling, Terre Haute, IN, Heart of Gold
Award of Recognition
Rob Millard-Mendez, Evansville, IN, TRQJAN Horse
Eleanor Cox Riggs Award of Recognition
Olivia Hinkel, Indianapolis, IN, Like Hell
Julia Turner Award of Recognition in memory of Phyllis Dye Turner
Carrie Longley, Brookville, OH, Asclepia syriaca (Common Milkweed)
Richard Shagley Award of Recognition
Atossa Rahmanifar, West Lafayette, IN, Rhapsody in Red
Sharron Jolly Award of Recognition in memory of Mrs. Betty Heine
Jeanne Garrett, Arlington Heights, IL, Healing III
Sharron Jolly Award of Recognition in honor of Sheron Dailey
Michael Neary, Lebanon, IL, News Feed #1
Elsa Morris Award of Recognition
Ramior Rodriguez, South Bend, IN, Neustra Sra. De Fosforo
Cindy Cox Award of Recognition
Fran Lattanzio, Terre Haute, IN, The Witness: Exterior
Danette Angermeier Memorial Fund of the WVCF Award of Merit
Julie Skoda, West Springs, IL, Waiting
Michael D. Buzash Annual Artistic Award of Merit
Jill Miller, Lambertville, MI, PPE
Purchase Awards:
Pi Kappa Alpha – ISU Purchase Award
James Swanson, La Grange Park, IL, Train out of Town
and
Gerald Traicoff, Carmel, IN, Model 1917
Indiana State University Permanent Collection Purchase Award
Eunique Rice, Cahokia, IL, Man in a Sunflower Durag
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Purchase Award
Laurie Roussear, South Bend, IN, Just Breathe
Nancy Seidel Jones Purchase Award
Alicia Criswell, Lafayette, IN, If Only
Ellie & Richard Templeton Purchase Award
Lisa Pelo, Clayton, IN, The Sun Rises
Tonya & Brad Balch Purchase Award
Jerry Smith, Crawfordsville, IN, Heartland Chord
Ellie M. Caldwell, CPA Purchase Award
Atossa Rahmanifar, West Lafayette, IN, Rhapsody in Red