2009 W.Va. Juried Exhibition winners announced

HUNTINGTON — Huntington artists Patricia Chapman and Brent Thomas were each presented with one of 18 awards from the West Virginia Division of Culture and History in the 16th biennial West Virginia Juried Exhibition 2009.

Chapman won the D. Gene Jordon Memorial Award for her piece called The Fix. Thomas earned a Merit Award for his piece titled Give up the Ghost.

The awards, which totaled $33,000, were presented at a ceremony Sunday, Oct. 18, at the Huntington Museum of Art.

The exhibit, which features 89 works in the areas of painting, sculpture, printmaking, drawing, photography, mixed media and crafts by 74 artists, will be on display at HMA through Jan. 17, 2010.

The pieces in the display and the award winners were chosen by jurors Julie Taggart, professor and dean of fine arts and foundation studies at Columbus College of Art and Design, Columbus, Ohio, and Vince Torano, professor at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Mich.

They also selected six non-monetary Honorary Mention awards.

The awards money is made available through the West Virginia Commission on the Arts (WVCA) of the West Virginia Division of Culture and History from funds appropriated by the West Virginia Legislature. The awards constitute one of the largest endowments for any single juried exhibition in the country.

Many of the works on display are for sale and may be purchased through the close of the exhibition. The Huntington Museum of Art is open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Tuesday; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday; and noon to 5 p.m., Sunday.

For more information about the West Virginia Juried Exhibition 2009, contact Betty Gay, exhibits coordinator for the Division, at 304-558-0220, ext. 128, or Margaret Mary Layne, executive director of the Huntington Museum of Art, at 304-529-2701.