FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Springfield, MO. (January 3, 2022) – The Springfield Art Museum is pleased to announce a call for entries for Watercolor USA 2022, highlighting the very best in contemporary American watermedia. This year’s exhibit will run from June 4 through August 28, 2022. The deadline to apply is February 22, 2022.
Organized in 1962, this year marks the 61st year of Watercolor USA. The nationally known exhibition is open to artists from all 50 states and U.S. territories, and seeks to discover what is new and what is next in the world of American watermedia. This year’s exhibit will be judged by Kevin Umaña, co-founder of The Ekru Project, a Kansas City-based artist-run gallery focused on contemporary, emerging, and historically excluded artists.
Umaña’s personal artistic practice is devoted to both painting and ceramics. He received a B.F.A. from San Francisco State University with an emphasis in Printmaking. In 2019, he served as the artist-in-residence at the Center for Book Arts, NY. He has exhibited nationally and internationally with DC Moore Gallery, NY; Joshua Liner Gallery, NY; SIM Gallery, Reykjavik; and Koppel Project Hive, London. He has collaborated with Condé Nast, Wired Magazine, the London College of Music, and is a contributor to The Coastal Post. In 2017, he created a permanent art installation at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.
Approximately $20,000 in cash prizes, artist materials, and possible Museum purchase awards are available. Top awards include the $3,000 Kenneth M. Shuck Memorial Award, the $2,000 Greg G. Thielen Memorial Award, the $1,500 Bill Armstrong Memorial Award, and the $1,000 Robert E. Goodier Memorial Award For Traditional Transparent Watercolor, among others. Additional cash awards are generously provided by the Watercolor USA Honor Society.
Artists from all 50 states and U.S. territories, ages 18 and up, who are using watermedia as a critical component of their work are eligible to apply. Artists whose work pushes the boundaries of traditional watermedia are encouraged to enter. High realism, abstraction, traditional transparent watercolor, and innovative uses of the medium are all welcomed as the exhibit continues to expand and adjust with contemporary artistic practice, including the use of nontraditional supports and mounts. The Museum routinely purchases work from the Watercolor USA exhibition to expand its robust collection of contemporary American watermedia.
For full information on entry rules, entry fees, and how to submit artwork, please visit https://www.sgfmuseum.org/246/Watercolor-USA. The Springfield Art Museum is located at 1111 East Brookside Drive. Admission is always free. Donations are gratefully accepted.
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The Springfield Art Museum is Springfield, Missouri’s oldest cultural institution, founded in 1928. A department of the City of Springfield, the Museum invites you to connect with the world, your community, and yourself through active engagement with art objects. For more information, please visit www.sgfmuseum.org or contact Joshua Best, Museum Affairs Officer at (417) 874-2859 or jbest@springfieldmo.gov.