America's Parks II, Call for Entries
AMERICA'S PARKS II
AMERICA'S PARKS II is an exhibition competition open to all artists, the purpose of which is to recognize and promote excellence in original artworks depicting any North American park (national, state, provincial, county, city, or private) but with an emphasis on parks in the Southwestern U.S. & Northwestern Mexico.
Selections for AMERICA'S PARKS II will be made by a professional jury consisting of:
Pam Dean Cable, Executive Director, Susan Kathleen Black Foundation
M. Stephen Doherty, Editor, PleinAir™ Magazine
Todd Wilkinson, Managing Editor, Wildlife Art Journal
AMERICA'S PARKS II will premiere in Bolivar, Missouri from March 16 - April 28, 2014 at the Ella Carothers Dunnegan Gallery of Art; it will also be displayed at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, AZ from September 13 - October 26, 2014. One or more additional venues are likely to be added to the tour.
THE PRIMARY THEME OF AMERICA'S PARKS II WILL BE PARKS OF THE SOUTHWEST including the Southwestern U.S. & Northwestern Mexico. Art depicting parks in other locations throughout North America will be eligible for the online exhibit of PARKS II and awards. However, the traveling exhibit will be comprised primarily if not entirely of art depicting parks in the Southwestern U.S. & Northwestern Mexico, including (in alphabetical order) Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah; and States in Northwestern Mexico, particularly, Sonora.
Also new for PARKS II will be the eligibility of sculpture.
The following is a confirmed list of awards for PARKS II: America's Parks Sculpture Award, The Michael C. and Priscilla V. Baldwin Foundation Sonoran Desert Art Award, Susan Kathleen Black Foundation Floral Art Award, PleinAir™ Magazine Juror's Choice Award, and Wildlife Art Journal Juror's Choice Award. Additional awards are possible pending funding.
Original, two-dimensional art completed in 2011, '12, or '13 is eligible. Eligible media includes: oil, acrylic, watercolor, gouache, mixed media, pastel, pencil, pen and ink, tempera, batik, textiles, alkyd, scratchboard, original prints (e.g., lithograph, etching, engraving, serigraph), and sculpture in permanent, stable, traditional media: metal, stone, and wood. Ineligible media includes: any media not listed above such as computer enhanced or generated artwork, photography, reproduction prints, video. Not including frame or mat, the maximum size for entered artworks is 900 square inches. Calculate by multiplying the horizontal and vertical dimensions. Example: A 30" x 30" painting would equal 900 square inches. Sculptures must fit into a crate that is no longer than 27,000 cubic inches, the equivalent of 30" x 30" x 30", but in no case should the maximum crate dimension be longer than 48".
The early entry deadline, with reduced entry fees, is: August 31, 2013.
The standard entry deadline is: October 15, 2013.
Further information including a Prospectus (Entry Form) is available here: http://www.davidjwagnerllc.com/competitions.html
To download a Prospectus (Entry Form), click: http://davidjwagnerllc.com/America'sParksIIProspectusMasterFile.pdf
To receive a Prospectus (Entry Form) via email or for further information, email: americasparksartexhibit@yahoo.com
AMERICA'S PARKS Through the Beauty of Art is produced by David J. Wagner, L.L.C.
(414) 221-6878; americasparksartexhibit@yahoo.com
Posted by JohnAgnew at 4:00 PM No comments: Links to this post
American Wildlife Art
AMERICAN WILDLIFE ART, a true block-buster museum exhibition based on the book of the same title by wildlife art scholar, Dr. David J. Wagner, will be displayed at the Allentown Art Museum from September 29 through December 31, 2013. Wagner's book serves in effect as the catalogue for the exhibition. The exhibition begins with the work of John White (who many may know better as the Governor of the ill-fated Lost Colony of Roanoke). Through exquisite watercolor drawings, White presented Europeans with a view of both the economic potential and the natural wonders of the unsettled continent. Mark Catesby carried on from Colonial Williamsburg some150 years later by supplying members of the Royal Society in London with New-World specimens for their burgeoning natural history collections during the zenith of the Age of Exploration and Discovery
After the American Revolution, as the new nation grew, artists such as Alexander Wilson and especially John James Audubon caused the course of AMERICAN WILDLIFE ART history to turn and advance again. Audubon, who was a contemporary of James Fenimore Cooper, romanticized the genre and transformed static composition and design into Baroque masterpieces. Audubon also marketed wildlife art in new and entrepreneurial ways, and set the stage for Arthur Tait's collaboration with Currier & Ives, which brought wildlife art to the masses and re-focused the genre on classic game for sport.
Edward Kemeys' seminal sculptures captured the essence of disappearing wildlife like the American bison, bear, cougar and wolves at the same time that prominent Americans like George B. Grinnell, William Hornaday, and Theodore Roosevelt began promoting conservation and the ethics of sportsmanship. Kemeys' celebration of predator "wildness" pre-dated Jack London's The Call of the Wild by twenty years. A second generation of artists followed which included the likes of A. Phimister Proctor and Henry Merwin Shrady and more including Anna Hyatt Huntington and Paul Manship.
Contemporaries Louis Agassiz Fuertes and Carl Rungius, were extraordinary painters who professionalized the genre and brought it into the modern, Twentieth Century. Rungius introduced an aesthetic of impressionism which was shaped by the introduction of modernism in the United States through the Armory Show of 1913, while Fuertes introduced a new penetrating kind of imagery that Roger Tory Peterson subsequently described as wildlife art "gestalt."
Also included in the exhibition will be early duck stamp prints and a framed Millennium set of Duck Stamps from 1934-2000 on loan from the National Conservation Training Center in West Virginia, plus important works by one of if not the museum important diorama artist of the Twentieth Century, Francis Lee Jaques.
The exhibition concludes with more recent paintings and sculptures by influential wildlife artists including Stanley Meltzoff, progenitor of so-called "dive art"; Robert Bateman who many contemporary wildlife artists view as the most influential wildlife artist living today; and Kent Ullberg, Swedish-American sculptor with a post-modern aesthetic -- artists whose work at once departs from and embodies the legacies, traditions, and innovations that informed and preceded it.
Institutional lenders to the exhibit include: John James Audubon Center at Mill Grove; The Adirondack Museum; Brookgreen Gardens; Rockwell Museum; Academy of Natural Sciences at Drexel University in Philadelphia; Francis Lee Jaques, Bell Museum of Natural History; Schiele Museum of Natural History; The U.S. the National Conservation Training Center; The Ward Museum of Waterfowl Art; among others.
To kick off the exhibition, Wagner will present slide lectures followed by book signings in Philadelphia and Allentown:
Thursday, September 26, 2013, 6:30 p.m.
American Wildlife Art Lecture and Book Signing by Author/Curator
The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University
1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Sunday, September 29, 2013, 1:00 p.m.
Allentown Art Museum
31 North Fifth Street
AMERICAN WILDLIFE ART, which is now out of print, was published in 2008 by Marquand Books (Seattle) in hardcover, with 280 color and 30 black-and-white illustrations in 424 pages. Design and printing of AMERICAN WILDLIFE ART was funded by the founder of The Susan Kathleen Black Foundation, with research and writing funded by the Robert S. and Grayce B. Kerr Foundation, whose Chairman, Bill Kerr, was largely responsible for founding The National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson Hole, WY. The book was also funded by a grant to the Newport Wilderness Society for research from the Door County Peninsula Arts Association and the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin.
AMERICAN WILDLIFE ART was featured as a kind of educational party favor at the 75th Anniversary Gala of the National Wildlife Federation on April 13, 2011 at the Hyatt Regency Washington, at which The National Wildlife Federation honored Robert Redford as its Conservationist of the Year, along with seven other National Conservation Achievement Award recipients including First Lady Michelle Obama for the Special 75th Anniversary Conservation Award, and Senator Richard G. Lugar (R-Indiana), among others.
AMERICAN WILDLIFE ART has received both popular and critical acclaim by scholars, critics, collectors, educators, and artists including members of The Society of Animal Artists.
"I knew it [AMERICAN WILDLIFE ART] would be good but this is beyond my expectations! It is incredibly well researched and very informative. This volume will stand as the definitive work on the subject for years to come, perhaps forever … David Wagner is the number one intellectual in wildlife art certainly in America, maybe in the world."
Robert Bateman, Painter
"Wildlife art could not have a more eloquent or knowledgeable spokesperson than David Wagner, and I'm sure that all artists working with wildlife today feel the same gratitude that I do for his dedication of so much of his life and talent to our field."
Kent Ullberg, Sculptor
"David Wagner's prodigious research ability has produced what will undoubtedly prove to be the definitive work on the history of AMERICAN WILDLIFE ART. While others have written on particular facets of the subject, Wagner ties all the strands of the story together and presents it to the reader in a beautifully written illustrated synthesis."
John F. Reiger
Author of American Sportsmen and the Origins of Conservation
Professor, Ohio University—Chillicothe
"David Wagner is a distinguished curator and art historian whose scholarly and informed contributions to the field of art, particularly wildlife art, have set standards for excellence, innovation, and thoroughness."
J. Brooks Joyner
Former Priscilla Payne Hurd President & CEO
"It was my good fortune to have known and cover as a member of the media the many accomlishments of author David Wagner when he served as director of the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin. Under Wagner's astute direction, Leigh Yawkey earned acclaim worldwide for championing Wildlife Art, highlighted annually by the spectacular Birds In Art exhibit. Since Wagner is a leading scholar in the field, it comes as no surprise that his gorgeous and impressive American Wildlife Art reflects not only the majesty and wonder of the subject matter but also the passion and insight of the author. This is a work to savor and celebrate, which I plan to do for years to come."Paul Kennedy
"American Wildlife Art, by David J. Wagner, is a truly remarkable achievement. The scope of this book is unprecedented, as it covers nearly four centuries of artists, works, trends, and significance to the conservation movement. As a Signature Member of the Society of Animal Artists (and also a current member of the Executive Board), and a life-long fan of wildlife art in general... I couldn't wait to add a copy to my library. As expected, "American Wildlife Art" is packed with information and wonderful photos of art work... but I was delighted to find that it is also very reader-friendly. David Wagner has done a masterful job of putting together huge volumes of information into a lively and interesting text, which makes thoroughly enjoyable reading. "American Wildlife Art" is more than simply a great resource, or a coffee table book full of pretty pictures - this book is a MUST HAVE for every individual that loves wildlife art."
Diane D. Mason, President
Society of Animal Artists
To learn more about AMERICAN WILDLIFE ART, visit: american-wildlife-art.com.
To learn more about the exhibit, visit: http://www.allentownartmuseum.org/exhibition/american-wildlife-art
Posted by JohnAgnew at 12:10 PM No comments: Links to this post
Member profile: Al Agnew
Al is renowned for his portrayals of North American and African animals, and has a special affinity for predatory birds and mammals. He also is well known for his paintings of freshwater fish in dynamic action, a result of another related passion—fishing. "The only career that I think I could enjoy as much as I do art would be to make my living as a professional fisherman. On the other hand, I'd hate for my fishing to become like work!"
Al is an ardent conservationist whose work has raised millions of dollars for such organizations as Ducks Unlimited, the National Wild Turkey Federation, the Black Bass Foundation, and the Wolf Recovery Project. Along the way, he has earned the honor of being designated as "Featured Artist" at such prestigious national art shows as the Southeast Wildlife Expo, Pacific Rim Wildlife Art Show, NatureWorks Wildlife Art Show, the Michigan Wildlife Habitat Foundation Art Show and was the Special Guest Artist for the National Zoo Wildlife Art Show in Washington, D.C.
Al has exhibited internationally for a number of years at exhibitions such as Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum's "Birds in Art" and "Animals, The Artist View" as well as the Society of Animal Artists "Art and the Animal" annual exhibit. He was one of only a few American artists chosen by the Malilangwe Artist Trust to spend two weeks painting in the field in Zimbabwe. His work has been featured in Wildlife Art News, U.S. Art, Field & Stream, Outdoor Life, Sporting Classics, In-Fisherman and North American Fisherman magazines and he has been commissioned by Bass Pro Shops to create over 100 covers for their catalogs.
http://www.alagnew.com