Little Rock artist Turner takes Grand Award at Delta Exhibition; 2 other Arkansans win

Mabry Turner of Little Rock has won the Grand Award in the 61st annual Delta Exhibition at the Arkansas Arts Center.

Turner's winning entry, American Made: Greed, Lust & Lost Love, was announced by guest juror Kevin Cole during his lecture at the Arts Center members' opening Thursday evening. Turner's art is a mixed-media work of oil, oak bark mosaic, moss, lichen, carved wood, beans, wasp nest and money on plywood.

Cole, an Atlanta-area artist, is a Pine Bluff native and a member of the pioneering art collective AfriCOBRA. He chose 50 works by 49 artists for the exhibition, which opens to the public today and runs through June 30.

Two Arkansas artists won the Delta Awards and a $750 prize each. Scinthya Edwards of Helena-West Helena was chosen for her work Birds of a Feather ... and Heather Christine Guenard of Cabot won for her work LV-426.

Edwards' work is a diptych of paper collage on canvas. Guenard's artwork is a collagraph plate and print.

Cole also selected five honorable mentions:

• Julie Darling of Memphis for her mixed-media work Obscurity Often Brings Safety.

• Dylan Eakin of Seattle for the charcoal, graphite and acrylic on paper Portrait in Precipitate II.

• Mark Lewis of Tulsa, a two-time Grand Award winner at the Delta Exhibition, was chosen for an honorable mention for a collaged scrap paint and oil on panel titled Head (SP).

• Mark Payne of Pine Bluff for an acrylic on wood Denial.

• Sandra Sell of Little Rock for the wood sculpture Wood Line.

The Contemporaries Award, which has a $250 prize, was won by Michael Warrick of Little Rock for his sculpture Youth. This award is presented by The Contemporaries, an auxiliary at the Arts Center.

"I believe this year's Delta Exhibition brings a different energy, different synergy and different sound that speaks to the signs of the times," Cole wrote in his juror statement. "There are many provocative works among this year's entrants. Within the entries, you will find works that challenge one's intellect on what art is and what art can be, other works that are also quite painterly."

Cole's art is in public and private collections across the country, including the High Museum of Art, National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Dayton Art Institute.

In a news release, Brian Lang, chief curator and curator of contemporary craft at the Arts Center, describes the exhibition as "a glimpse at some of the most important work being created in this part of the country now."

The annual Delta Exhibition is open to artists living and working in Arkansas and its border states and offers a snapshot of contemporary art in the region.

This year's exhibition will be the last major one on view before the Arkansas Arts Center starts its renovation and expansion project. Groundbreaking will be held this fall.

Metro on 05/03/2019

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