The State Museum of Pennsylvania has announced the finalists for 56th annual Art of the State exhibition. Selected from Bucks County were artists Chuck Fischer, Michael Frank, Kimberlee Nentwig, Jennifer Rubin Garey and Judith Sutton.
The exhibit, to open next month, includes 86 works of art by 86 artists from 29 counties of Pennsylvania. Finalists were selected from 1,915 entries from 559 artists.
Art of the State is an annual juried exhibition that has been showcasing the work of Pennsylvania’s artists at The State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg since 1968. The body of art that has been exhibited reflects over a half-century of creative endeavor in the Keystone State. Through the years, artists have shared their ideas and engaged viewers in the categories of painting, photography/digital media, craft, sculpture, and work on paper.
Art of the State 2023 will open to the public at noon Sunday, Sept. 10, in conjunction with Harrisburg’s Gallery Walk. Admission to the museum will be free that day. The exhibit will close on Sunday, Jan. 7.
Award winners will be posted on Facebook and Twitter. An exhibition catalog pdf and programming announcements can be accessed on the Art of the State 2023 landing page.
Selection jurors reviewed and scored all of the submitted works. Those with the highest ratings in each category are featured in the exhibition. The awards juror then determines the first prize, second prize, and third prize winners in each of the categories.
This year’s selection jurors are Deborah Pinter, artist and adjunct professor, Cleveland Institute of Art, Kyle Hackett, assistant professor of painting and drawing, James Madison University School of Art, Design and Art History, and Jennifer Zwilling, curator and director of artists programs, The Clay Studio
This year’s awards juror is Jeremiah William McCarthy, chief curator, Westmoreland Museum of American Art.
Cash awards of $5,550 will be distributed to artists. A first prize of $500, second prize of $300, and a third prize of $200 will be awarded in each of the five categories. The William D. Davis Memorial Award for Drawing in the amount of $250 and the Art Docents’ Choice Award of $300 will also be awarded.
Art of the State is presented by The State Museum of Pennsylvania in association with the Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation, the nonprofit partner of the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission.
The State Museum of Pennsylvania, adjacent to the State Capitol in Harrisburg, is one of 23 historic sites and museums administered by Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission as part of the Pennsylvania Trails of History.
The State Museum offers expansive collections interpreting Pennsylvania’s heritage.
For information about Art of the State 2023 and The State Museum, visit www.statemuseumpa.org.
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