31 Arkansans make Delta Exhibition list

Thirty-one Arkansas artists are on the list of 46 chosen for the 60th annual Delta Exhibition at the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock.

The final cut was made by a three-member jury — a departure from the single juror system mostly used in the exhibition’s past — who selected a total of 52 artworks. The Delta, which is open to artists living, working or born in Arkansas and its border states, runs May 25-Aug. 26 at the Arts Center.

The dominant presence of Arkansas artists this year is consistent with past exhibitions, said Brian Lang, chief curator and curator of contemporary craft at the Arkansas Arts Center.

“The selection is a completely blind process,” Lang said. “If you look at the percentage of artists who have consistently entered the Delta, about two-thirds come from Arkansas and Arkansans make up about two-thirds of the accepted entries.”

Several previous award winners were accepted in this year’s exhibition, including Grand Award-winners David Bailin and Tim Hursley, both of Little Rock; and Delta Award-winners Neal Harrington of Russellville, Warren Criswell of Benton and Lisa Krannichfeld of Little Rock. Past honorable mention winners Jason McCann and Benjamin Krain, both of Maumelle, and Robyn Horn of Little Rock also return this year.

There are at least two married couples from the state among the artists selected — Aj Smith and Marjorie Williams-Smith of Little Rock and Neal and Tammy Harrington of Russellville.

Other Arkansans accepted in the exhibition are John Allison, Anais Dasse, Jeff Horton, Charles James, Cary Smith, Donna Pinckley and James Matthews, all of Little Rock; Kathy Thompson, Marc Mitchell, Hannah Moll and Ray Allen Parker, all of Fayetteville; Aaron Calvert, Arkadelphia; Ian Campbell, Batesville; Melissa Cowper-Smith, Morrilton; Tessa Davidson, Cabot; Daniel Franke, North Little Rock; Cynthia Kresse, Eureka Springs; John Lasater, Siloam Springs; Dusty Mitchell, Mountain View; and Spencer Purinton, El Dorado.

Also accepted were Max Adrian, Gatlinburg, Tenn.; Pokey Alrutz, Springfield, Mo.; Steven Barker, Mt. Pleasant, Texas; Loren Bartnicke, Auburn, N.Y.; Adam Crosson, New Orleans; Whitney Forsyth, Tulsa; R.L. Gibson, Gatlinburg, Tenn.; Elisha Gold, Joe Morzuch and Tracy Treadwell, all of Memphis; LaToya Hobbs, Baltimore; Dale Newkirk, Covington, La.; Marco Rosichelli, Kansas City, Mo.; Louis Watts of Burlington, N.C.; and Milly West, Oxford, Miss.

Watts, Crosson and Hobbs were born in Little Rock.

One member of the jury panel is Les Christensen, director of the Bradbury Art Museum at Arkansas State University and a winner of an honorable mention in 1986’s 29th Delta Exhibition for her sculpture Portrait with Fur Collar. As an artist, she has appeared in six Delta Exhibitions.

Also on the jury panel are Shea Hembrey, a conceptual artist based in Hickory Grove, and Brian K. Young, director of the Baum Gallery, University of Central Arkansas.

Hembrey is best known for seek, an exhibition of 100 works created by Hembrey under 100 invented names. His TED talk, “How I Became 100 Artists,” has been viewed more than 1.5 million times.

Young, who also teaches at UCA’s Department of Art, has worked as a curator at the University of Maryland University College at Adelphi and the Arkansas Arts Center.

Winners of the exhibition’s awards — Grand Award with a $2,500 prize; two Delta Awards of $750 each; and the Contemporaries Delta Award of $250 — will be announced at the Arts Center’s Members Preview and reception at 6 p.m. on May 24.

“If you look at the percentage of artists who have consistently entered the Delta, about twothirds come from Arkansas and Arkansans make up about two-thirds of the accepted entries.”

— Brian Lang, Arkansas Arts Center