The "Call for Entries" is out for the Thirty-sixth Annual Rock Island Fine Arts Exhibition, with a discount for entries received by January 13, 2012 ($25 for two entries). Final entry deadline is January 19, 2012 ($30). The annual juried competition, co-sponsored by the Rock Island Art Guild and Augustana College, is open to visual artists working in any media except video, and residing within a 150-mile radius of the Quad Cities. Entry forms, specifications and size limits are on the Call for Entries prospectus, which is available at http://www.augustana.edu, following prompts for Arts/Art Museum.
More than $3,700 in awards will be given, including a $1,000 First Prize, $500 Two-dimensional Award in Memory of Bernice and Stanley Harris, $500 Freestanding Entry Award in Memory of Zeivel Harris; $500 "Sally MacMillan Watercolor Award;" $500 Second Place; $300 Third Place; and several $100 Honorable Mentions. During the exhibition visitors can vote on the People's Choice and Children's Choice awards of $50 each. The exhibition will be displayed at the Augustana College Art Museum from March 6 through April 22, 2012. The opening reception will take place on Friday, March 30, 4:30 - 6:30 p.m., with awards announced at 5:40 p.m. The exhibition catalog will be made available at the reception.
The 2012 juror is Joseph Mella, who has served as director of the Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery, Nashville, Tennessee, and its collections since 1992. Prior to Vanderbilt, he served as curator of exhibitions and collections at the Rockford Art Museum, Rockford, Illinois, and in a similar capacity at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas, Beaumont. He holds an M.A. in modern art history, theory, and criticism from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Mella received a B.F.A. in printmaking from the University of Iowa, Iowa City. At Vanderbilt, he has curated and organized more than 80 exhibitions and collaborated on a public art series that has brought such highly recognized artists to Vanderbilt as Frank Stella, Tom Otterness, Stephen Antonakos, Beverly Pepper, and Richard Haas. He has been instrumental in developing a collection of contemporary graphics and artists' books with strengths found in works by living women artists.
The prospectus also is available in a brochure form. For more information, assistance or an entry form, contact the Augustana College Art Museum at 309-794-7231 during weekday business hours.
