Harrisburg, PA – The State Museum of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation remind artists and craftspeople to submit applications to exhibit their work in the annual Art of the State. Now in its 56th year, this acclaimed juried exhibition boasts a tradition of presenting highly creative art by Pennsylvanians, chosen by a distinguished panel of jurors.
Art of the State is a juried exhibition open to Pennsylvania residents who are at least 18 years of age. Artists will compete in five categories: painting, work on paper, sculpture, craft, and photography and digital media. Entries to Art of the State must be submitted online. Additional information and the link to enter are available at statemuseumpa.org/artofthestate. The application deadline is 11:59 PM on Friday, May 5, 2023.
Art of the State is scheduled to open to the public at The State Museum on Sunday, September 10, 2023, and will close Sunday, January 7, 2024.
More than $4,000 in cash awards will be presented. A first-place award of $500, second-place award of $300, and a third-place award of $200 will be selected 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 presented.
Selection jurors will review and assign a numeric score to all work submitted. Those artists with the highest ratings in each category will be featured in the exhibition.
This year’s selection jurors are:
Deborah Pinter, Artist and Adjunct Professor, Cleveland Institute of Art
Pinter has been exhibiting her work primarily throughout northeast Ohio since graduating from the New York University/International Center of Photography joint graduate program with an M.A. in photography. She earned her BFA in photography from the Cleveland Institute of Art. Her work is included in numerous private and public collections including The Cleveland Museum of Art, METROHealth, Progressive Art Collection, The Cleveland State University Art Collection and the Grafikwerkstatt Collection, Dresden. Venues for her work include solo exhibitions at The Cleveland Botanical Gardens and the Massillon Museum and group exhibitions at Zanesville Museum of Art and The Alte Feuerwache Loschwitz, Dresden, Germany. She is currently serving as president of the Alumni Council at The Cleveland Institute of Art, where she also teaches in the Foundations and Photography + Video departments.
Hackett is an artist and assistant professor of painting and drawing at James Madison University. He earned his MFA from the LeRoy E. Hoffberger School of Painting at Maryland Institute College of Art and his BFA in fine arts as a McNair Scholar from the University of Delaware. His paintings explore issues of race, class and social standing through approaches to self-representation and the constructed image. Hackett has exhibited nationally and internationally receiving numerous honors and awards. His work has been featured in publications including New American Paintings, Aesthetica Magazine, The Washington Post, and The Huffington Post. Hackett’s work is represented by Goya Contemporary Gallery in Baltimore and notably collected by Ethan Cohen Gallery in New York.
Jennifer Zwilling, Curator and Director of Artists Programs, The Clay Studio
Zwilling joined The Clay Studio in 2015 and administers the Resident Artist Program, Exhibitions, The Collection, and the Guest Artist in Residence Program. She earned her B.A. in history from Ursinus College and M.A. in art history from Temple University, Tyler School of Art. Previously, she was assistant curator of American decorative arts and contemporary craft at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Zwilling developed and taught History of Modern Craft at Tyler School of Art for 10 years and has taught and lectured around the world. She represents The Clay Studio as a founding board member of CraftNOW Philadelphia.
An awards juror will select recipients in each of the categories:
Jeremiah William McCarthy, Curator, Westmoreland Museum of American Art
McCarthy is co-organizing Inspired Encounters: Women Artists and the Legacies of Modern Art (2022–23), the inaugural exhibition of the new David Rockefeller Creative Arts Center in Tarrytown, New York. He served as curator at the National Academy of Design and associate curator at the American Federation of Arts. He also edited and contributed to both accompanying scholarly catalogs published by Yale University Press. He previously worked in the curatorial and education departments of The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and he was an inaugural teaching fellow at The Frick Collection, New York. He received a B.A. in art history from The Macaulay Honors College at The City University of New York and an M.A. in art history from Hunter College. He has also mentored as a supervisor in the Diversity in Arts Leadership program administered by Americans for the Arts.
ABOUT THE STATE MUSEUM OF PENNSYLVANIA
The State Museum of Pennsylvania, adjacent to the State Capitol in Harrisburg, is one of 23 historic sites and museums administered by the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission as part of the Pennsylvania Trails of History. The State Museum offers expansive collections interpreting Pennsylvania’s fascinating heritage. With exhibits examining the dawn of geologic time, the Native American experience, the colonial and revolutionary eras, a pivotal Civil War battleground, and the commonwealth's vast industrial age, The State Museum demonstrates that Pennsylvania's story is America’s story.
ABOUT THE PENNSYLVANIA HERITAGE FOUNDATION
The Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation is the nonprofit partner of the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission, the state agency charged with collecting, preserving, researching and interpreting the treasures of Pennsylvania. Through private contributions, PHF supports PHMC in protecting and providing access to 23 historic sites and museums, approximately 9 million objects, and more than 250 million archival items.
For more information about the museum, visit The State Museum online or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
MEDIA CONTACT: Howard Pollman, 717-705-8639