Local artists are taking Kingston by storm as the Kingston School of Art (KSOA) sees the last of its participants enter their Juried Art Exhibition and Sale.
KSOA is hosting their sixth annual Juried Art Exhibition and Sale with submissions open until Sept. 10. The entry is open to residents of the City of Kingston, Wolfe Island and the Frontenac Islands and the counties of Frontenac, Lennox & Addington, Leeds & Greenville and Hastings. Participants can enter up to three art pieces. Entries must be original two-dimensional works so they can be hung throughout the exhibit space.
Juried art is a competition for artists to submit their work to a panel of jurors and see if their
art is qualified to be shown in the final exhibition.
With over $1,500 in prizes, the Juried Exhibition sponsors help support the artists who enter the competition.
Maddi Andrews, ArtSci ’19, MA ’21 and Executive Director of the Kingston School of Art described the importance of local art to the Kingston community in an interview with The Journal.
She said they’re a local charity that seeks to serve the arts in Kingston and provide opportunities for employment and education.
“The juried exhibition fulfills this mandate in a number of ways. It allows emerging and
professional artists the opportunity to exhibit with us and become involved in the school here.”
The event is their largest fundraiser with proceeds serving KSOA’s mission to contribute to the local art scene. The participants come from a variety of backgrounds and ages. Andrews acknowledged the artists from Queen’s who in past years have won awards and honourable mentions.
Andrews said KSOA has a great relationship with the fine arts program at Queen’s. They have students who help with outreach or volunteer with them.
Overlap between the fine arts program and KSOA has been seen in the jurors for the event.
Brian Hoad, the Technician Supervisor for the Fine Art program at Queen’s, is one
juror for the exhibit.
Another juror, Otis Tamasauskas is a printmaker from Germany who works in Lithuanian designs to show the textile craft of metal and wood. He’s had experience teaching at Queen’s from the ’80s to present time.
The Jurors are chosen from a committee composed of five to eight people who are in charge of coordinating the exhibition as a whole. As a committee, they asses the local art scene to see which professional artists will be the most appropriate and local.
“It’s important to us that the professional artists are local and represent a diverse range of media, styles and practices, so what is included in the show reflects the diversity of the art scene. We’re not just getting paintings or prints. We want a really rich variety included in the show” Andrews said.
The jurors themselves must come from a diverse range of practices to ensure there is a wide range of art.
Andrews spoke to the sense of accomplishment these artists have and the community it builds when they have a range of artists in one space.
“It’s really beautiful in particular watching emerging artists, whose works have been selected to be put on display and watch them come into the space and feel a sense of pride that they are involved in a show as one of the 65 works included,” she said.
The sense of opportunity fosters growth, especially since KSOA wasn’t able to do this at the height of the pandemic. Now post-pandemic they’re able to reach new audiences with in-person events and showings.
The Exhibition opens on Oct. 7 at 12 p.m. with awards and remarks given at 1 p.m. The event will showcase art until Oct. 29.
Tags
Art Exhibition, Juried Art, Kingston School of Art, Visual art
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