Displays of ingenuity

In judging 882 artworks submitted to be in the 57th Annual Delta Exhibition, George Dombek was mainly looking for one thing: originality

The Grand Award at this year’s Delta Exhibition at the Arkansas Arts Center was presented to Mark Lewis’ Under the Oak (Woodward Park), a graphite and paper collage that is 74 by 59 inches in size. Lewis, of Tulsa, won a Delta Award in 2013.
The Grand Award at this year’s Delta Exhibition at the Arkansas Arts Center was presented to Mark Lewis’ Under the Oak (Woodward Park), a graphite and paper collage that is 74 by 59 inches in size. Lewis, of Tulsa, won a Delta Award in 2013.

The watercolorist George Dombek sat at a computer in his Northwest Arkansas studio, searching for something that would catch his eye, something that might spark a connection. Over several days in June, he clicked, clicked and clicked again on more than 1,000 images of 882 artworks that flashed across the screen.

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Courtesy of the Arkansas Arts Center

Arkadelphia artist Aaron M. Calvert’s 38- inch-tall sculpture, Giving Figure, is made from stoneware clay, underglaze, ceramic and gold enamel. It received an honorable mention at ‘‘The 57th Annual Delta Exhibition’’ at the Arkansas Arts Center.

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Courtesy of Arkansas Arts Center

Lisa Krannichfeld’s Shirt (in gold), dressed series, won one of the Delta Awards at this year’s Delta Exhibition. The Little Rock artist’s work is created from acrylic, ink, watercolor, paper collage and resin.

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Courtesy of the Arkansas Arts Center

Neal Harrington of Russellville won his second Delta Award for his woodcut Feather Signal. It hangs at the Arkansas Arts Center’s Delta Exhibition.

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Courtesy of the Arkansas Arts Center

Uncivil War is the title of Little Rock artist Aj Smith’s lithograph-chine colle monoprint diptych.

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Courtesy of the Arkansas Arts Center

Little Rock artist Robyn Horn’s carved maple burl sculpture, Sideways, earned an honorable mention in this year’s Delta Exhibition.

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Courtesy of the Arkansas Arts Center

Memphis-born artist James Houston Cofield created Mac Quarles,Tallahatchie River Bottoms, MS as an inkjet print, photograph on paper.

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Courtesy of the Arkansas Arts Center

Kendall Stallings’ acrylic on canvas work is titled The Visitor. Stallings, a Little Rock native, lives in Dallas. His painting hangs at the Arkansas Arts Center as part of ‘‘The 57th Annual Delta Exhibition.’’

The Goshen resident, one of Arkansas' most acclaimed and collected artists, wasn't focusing on skill or technique as he examined images of work by 380 artists from Arkansas and surrounding states submitted for ''The 57th Annual Delta Exhibition'' at the Arkansas Arts Center, which opened Friday.

Art

‘‘The 57th Annual Delta Exhibition’’

Through Sept. 20, Arkansas Arts Center, MacArthur Park, Ninth and Commerce streets, Little Rock

Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday

Admission: free

Information: arkansasartscenter.…, (501) 372-4000

The exhibition's sole juror summed up his quest in one word:

"Originality."

After a brief pause, he elaborated:

"Any artist who works a long period becomes skillful," he says. "I was looking for something that wasn't obviously or directly derivative. Originality is a hard thing to come by; in some ways, all works are derivative."

Brian Lang, chief curator at the Arts Center, says the juror engages in "a blind process."

"Apart from knowing the medium and the dimensions of the work, the juror gets no other information." Artists could submit up to three works each and three images of each work, Lang says.

After he made his final choices, Dombek came to the Little Rock museum to see the works he selected in person.

"It didn't take me hardly any time to make the decision about the Grand Award,"

Dombek says of the exhibition's top prize, which has a $2,500 cash award.

Mark Lewis of Tulsa won the Grand Award with his graphite and paper collage Under the Oak (Woodward Park).

"It has a certain richness and complexity; it looked like it was well thought out," Dombek says.

Lang agreed, describing Lewis' work as "very original. He layers graphite in shades and builds up the work."

Lewis also was chosen the winner of the museum's Contemporaries/Delta award. He won a Delta Award, one of the exhibition's two runners-up prizes, in 2013 for Peoria Avenue #7, also a graphite and paper collage.

Winners of this year's Delta Awards were Neal Harrington of Russellville for his woodcut Feather Signal and Lisa Krannichfeld of Little Rock for Shirt (in gold) dressed series, a watercolor, acrylic, ink, paper collage and resin portrait. Krannichfeld and Harrington each won a $750 prize.

Harrington, who also received an honorable mention for the work from the museum's Contemporaries, an Arts Center auxiliary membership group, was a Delta Award winner in 2013 for the woodcut Snake Shaker's Shack.

"He has a great graphic quality," Lang says of Harrington's work. "He is a great storyteller."

Krannichfeld, Lang says, has "a lot of depth in her work."

Lang also was impressed by the work of Little Rock artist Aj Smith, whose lithograph and chine colle monoprint diptych Uncivil War was chosen for the exhibition.

"It's very powerful and very timely," Lang says of the work, which presents a scene of a lynching and shows black soldiers from the Civil War.

Lang also was "quite taken" by Arkadelphia artist Aaron M. Calvert's sculpture of stoneware clay, underglaze, ceramic and gold enamel. Giving Figure, he says, is "very compelling."

The Delta Exhibition, Dombek says, has a "great reputation, a long history of being quite competitive."

"I think all the artists should be considered winners. To be one of 68 artists out of [380] who entered makes them part of a pretty select group. They should all be encouraged by that."

The exhibition's 72 works are by 68 artists, 48 of whom are from Arkansas. It is open to artists living in Arkansas and the states that border it, or to those who were born here.

"I wasn't surprised we had so many," Lang says. "About two-thirds of all entries were from Arkansas and about two-thirds of those in the exhibition are from the state."

Dombek sees it as a good sign, that "it means there's a lot of good artists in Arkansas."

It would be tempting to think that the exhibition, with the word Delta in its name, would reflect a certain Southern regionalism.

"I didn't feel a Southern point of view in the show," Dombek says. "The work that was really good transcends a region. Today, with all the mass media, I think artists are thinking outside the region."

Most multiartist exhibitions are built around a unifying theme. The Delta Exhibition, however, is not a thematic show. Artists create what they create. As a result, the exhibition can feel a little chaotic, perhaps disjointed to a degree. The show's reputation is one of shock and awe, thrill and disappointment -- a range of emotions as varied as the audience that views it.

That quality makes the exhibition interesting for viewers, but a real challenge to install, Lang says.

"We want to be sure the works don't compete with each other," he says. "Having a harmonious installation when you don't know in advance what you're installing is particularly challenging."

Harmony will be easier to achieve this year, Lang says, because the museum is devoting more space to the exhibition.

"There will be more room between the works," he says.

"It's a surprise every year," Lang says of the Delta's entries. "I think a single juror probably enhances this; it's subjective, depending on the juror's preferences. It usually plays out in the end. George, with his background in architecture, [means] there is a lot of very linear work, a fair number of landscapes, both representational and abstract, and a number of watercolors."

Lang believes there will be more art produced by computer in future exhibitions.

"It shouldn't be too many years before 3-D printer-generated sculpture will come. We have a number of computer assisted artworks this year and that should continue."

Dombek says he's pleased with his choices.

"People will be rewarded, if they spend time looking through this show."

Style on 07/12/2015

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