Skip Menu
Email Us!

‘Bluegrass Biennial’ on display through Aug. 29

Biennial-E1.jpgShowcasing the wealth of visual art in Kentucky, "The Bluegrass Biennial: A Kentucky Juried Exhibition" will be on exhibit June 4 through Aug. 29 at Morehead State University’s Golding-Yang gallery in the Claypool-Young Art Building.

A closing reception and juror’s talk will be held Wednesday, Aug. 29, from 5 to 7 p.m. 

The Exhibition juror is Daniel Pfalzgraf, currently the curator for the Carnegie Center for Art and History in New Albany, Indiana.

Pfalzgraf received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Murray State University in sculpture and drawing and is finishing a Master of Business Administration degree at Indiana University Southeast.

Inspired by both the quality and quantity of visual art created in the state, the exhibition seeks to display the range of artistic production from across the Commonwealth. The strength of the exhibition truly rests in its diversity, from the types of artists included which run from self-taught to graduates of Master of Fine Art programs, to the range of artwork media and style on display.

Biennial-E2-(1).jpgThe exhibition has four artwork awards selected by the juror for aesthetic excellence, and include the following:

  • Best in Show Award: Arturo Sandoval (Lexington), Pattern Fusion No. 15: Motherboard 6 (cobalt blue), 2016, Art quilt, 80.5 x 81.5”
  • Merit Award: KCJ Szwedzinski (Louisville), Learning the Debka Step, 2018, Ink on Stonehedge paper, 38 x 50”
  • Merit Award: Kiptoo Tarus (Lexington), A Curious Case of Two Queers, 2015, Cedar wood, 16 x 10 x 10”
  • Merit Award: Dick Dougherty (Berea), Arrested #B-12W0117, 2017, Watercolor and pen, 20 x 16”
  • Honorable Mention: Philis Alvic (Lexington), Looking Into The Garden, 2016, Weaving, 78 x 32 x 2”
  • Honorable Mention: Cooper Gibson (Eubank), Trying, 2018, Non-traditional weaving, 9’ x 3’ x 6”

The 23 accepted artists include:

 Philis Alvic, Lexington; David Bartlett, Morehead; Katlyn Brumfield, Richmond; Dick Dougherty, Berea; Todd Fife, Bowling Green; Cooper Gibson, Eubank; Bet Ison, Morehead; James Knoll, Morehead; Deborah Levine, Louisville; Christine Levitt, Lexington; Brent Oglesbee, Bowling Green;

Ann Olson, Olive Hill; Marti Plager, Louisville; Arturo Sandoval, Lexington; Wyatt Severs, Murray; Randy Simmons, Paducah; Shane Smith, Lexington; Victor Sweatt, Louisville; Ilona Szekely, Lexington; KCJ Szwedzinski, Louisville; Kiptoo Tarus, Lexington; Tonya Vance, Lexington; and Cathy Vigor, Lexington.

The event is sponsored by the MSU’s Golding-Yang Art Gallery and the Department of Art and Design.

Scheduled for the summer of 2020, the next Bluegrass Biennial will again invite a juror from Kentucky to curate an exhibition representing the contemporary spirit of art in the Commonwealth.

The art gallery, an educational resource of the art and design department and the University, features contemporary art for the Morehead State University community and its service region. The gallery, open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. or by appointment, is free and open to the public. Parking is available on Main Street and across campus after 5 p.m.

More information about the Department of Art and Design can be found at www.moreheadstate.edu/art.

Additional information is available by calling Jennifer Reis, gallery director, at 606-783-5446 or visiting www.moreheadstate.edu/bluegrassbiennial.

Information about MSU's Department of Art and Design can be found at www.moreheadstate.edu/art.