The 57th Annual Delta Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture showcases a variety of Arkansas artists

June 23, 2015 7:29 pm

WORDS / KODY FORD

It’s that time again. The Arkansas Arts Center presents the 57th Annual Delta Exhibition, on view July 10 through September 20, 2015 in the Jeannette Edris Rockefeller and Townsend Wolfe Galleries in Little Rock. This prestigious show is highly competitive and draws from Arkansas’ vast pool of talented artists.

“This highly anticipated exhibition brings an excitement to the Arkansas Arts Center each year and allows us to celebrate the works of fellow Arkansans as well as our neighboring artists from the Delta,” said Arkansas Arts Center executive director Todd Herman. “Guests will have an opportunity to see how the works in the exhibition incite a true sense of pride and regional identity.”

The Delta Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture was founded in 1956 to feature contemporary work by artists from Arkansas and bordering states. Today, the 57th Annual Delta Exhibition has grown to encompass works in all media and is a showcase for the dynamic vision of the artists of the Mississippi Delta region.

George Dombek will serve as juror for the 57th Annual Delta Exhibition. George Dombek is an internationally-acclaimed watercolorist and previous annual Delta Exhibition exhibitor and award winner. His watercolors have appeared at the Arkansas Arts Center, Birmingham Museum of Art, Butler Institute of American Art, Carnegie Museum of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Art, and the Scottsdale Center for the Arts, and have garnered more than 80 awards including recognition by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation and the Pollock-Krasner Foundation. Dombek selected the artworks to be exhibited and will assign the $2,500 Grand Award and two $750 Delta Awards. Additionally, a $250 Contemporaries Delta Award will be selected by the Contemporaries, an auxiliary membership group of the Arkansas Arts Center.

For some artists, being a part of the Delta Exhibition is a lifelong dream. Such is the case for Lisa Krannichfeld, of Little Rock, who visited the show as a child.

“It’s been sort of a bucket list item for me to check off so I’m ecstatic,” she said. “I grew up going to the arts center and it definitely helped expose me to awesome works of art as a young ambitious artist from little Rock. It was always a goal of mine as a young teenager to one day have work on those walls and I’m super stoked to have achieved that.”

Neal K. Harrington, recent Idle Class cover artist, has been accepted into the show for the last three years.

“I feel very honored and I am proud to be accepted,” he said. “This is the biggest competitive (juried) show in Arkansas. The AAC does a great job of hosting it and it is just a fun event…That being said, I am an artist but specifically a printmaker and it is hard to compete with paintings, and sculpture. Lots of times people assume a ‘print’ is just a copy of some other work…That is called “offset printing.” I make hand-pulled original prints. I carve or etch the block/plate. I ink it. I print it through the hand cranked press. I am honored to represent this media for the third year! Thank you.”

The exhibition is sponsored by Mrs. Lisenne Rockefeller, Bourbon & Boots, The Brown Foundation Inc., of Houston, Dianne and Bobby Tucker, Janet and Sam Alley and the Capitol Hotel. The Grand Award is supported by The John William Linn Endowment Fund. The exhibition is supported by the Andre Simon Memorial Trust in memory of everyone who has died of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).

Local artists featured in the 57th Annual Delta Exhibition include:

David Bell of Little Rock, Ark.
Gary Carwood of Little Rock, Ark.
Taimur Cleary of Little Rock, Ark.
Benjaminn Deaton of Little Rock, Ark.
Ted Grimmett of Little Rock, Ark.
Mia Hall of Little Rock, Ark.
Robyn Horn of Little Rock, Ark.
Jeff Horton of Little Rock, Ark.
Cary Jenkins of Mabelvale, Ark.
Lisa Krannichfeld of Little Rock, Ark.
Eric Mantle of Roland, Ark.
Dennis McCann of Maumelle, Ark.
Jason McCann of Maumelle, Ark.
Cindy Momchilov of Little Rock, Ark.
Robert Reep of Little Rock, Ark.
Dee Schulten of Sherwood, Ark.
AJ Smith of Little Rock, Ark.
Katherine Strause of Little Rock, Ark.
Debbie Strobel of North Little Rock, Ark.
Byron Taylor of Little Rock, Ark.
Robin Tucker of Little Rock, Ark.
Derek Wood of Sherwood, Ark.
Louis Watts of Bentonville, Ark.
Terry Wright of Little Rock, Ark.
Aaron Calvert of Arkadelphia, Ark.
DebiLynn Fendley of Arkadelphia, Ark.
Amber Kaycox of Arkadelphia, Ark.
Shelia Cantrell of Batesville, Ark
Matthew Borengasser of Bentonville, Ark.
William McClanahan of England
Cynthia Kresse of Eureka Springs, Ark.
Danny Baskin of Fayetteville, Ark.
Catherine Brimberry of Fayetteville, Ark.
Dayton Castleman of Bentonville, Ark.
Sabine Schmidt of Fayetteville, Ark.
Steven Schneider of Fayetteville, Ark.
Louis Watts of Bentonville, Ark.
Bill Branch of Helena, Ark.
Beverly Buys of Hot Springs, Ark.
Michael Preble of Hot Springs, Ark.
John Salvest of Jonesboro, Ark.
Melissa Cowper-Smith of Morrilton, Ark.
Carole Smith of Mountian View, Ark.
Neal Harrington of Russellville, Ark.
David Mudrinich of Russellville, Ark.
Laura Terry of West Fork, Ark.

Arkansas Arts Center programs are supported in part by: the City of Little Rock; the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau; the City of North Little Rock; and the Arkansas Arts Council, an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage and the National Endowment for the Arts. The center is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday – Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free. The AAC is located at 9th and Commerce in Little Rock. For more information, visit arkansasartscenter.org or call (501) 372-4000.

(Image: “Feather Signal” by Neal K. Harrington)