Summer-Show-2021

Home

Displayed at

the Community Arts Center

of Cambria County

June 4 - June 25

Summer Show 2021

About the Juror

Dr. Vicki A. Clark

Vicki A. Clark, PhD, is an independent curator based in Pittsburgh. She has curated shows and written articles and books about the artists of SW PA. She has also taught contemporary art history at most area universities and worked as curator of contemporary art at the Carnegie Museum of Art, the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, and the University Gallery at Clarion University. Currently, she is working on a historical exhibition of Group A, formed in Pittsburgh as the Abstract Group in 1944, writing reviews and articles in local and national magazines, and collaborating as Visual Arts Specialist with Ballet and Beyond Borders based in Missoula, MT.

JURORS STATEMENT

As a curator, critic, and college professor, I have been looking at art for more years than I am willing to acknowledge. You would think that I would be jaded by this point, but given the chance to juror this show, that proved to be impossible. I had already experienced exquisite beauty on the drive from Pittsburgh with the freshness of the spring, that effervescence of new life, before I saw the work to be considered.

I was happily surprised to see the incredible efforts of members who submitted work to the show. If only more people could enjoy what I saw, more would understand the joy and the necessity of art in our lives. In a range of mediums, you each reinforced my belief in art and its ability to impress and challenge.

The entries went from detailed, realistic portraiture to digitally manipulated photographs, each adding a melange of styles and methods. Landscapes photographed, painted or abstracted made me think about how we view our environment while abstract works elicited deeper ideas and feelings or depended upon elements of design. From pencil drawings to larger than life installations, art acted on various levels, allowing the viewer their own vision, as always, filtered through their experiences.

An exhibition of this size is perfect because it offers many ideas and methods. It also gives us breathing room to experience each and every work. Thanks to all the artists who gave me and other viewers the opportunity to see art and our world in new ways and to challenge our conception about both art and the world.