Statewide Annual Exhibition @ the Rio Grande Depot (SLC: OCt 21 - Nov 23)

For immediate release October 17, 2011 Contact:      Wendi Hassan, Communications Specialist, 801.860.6396 Utah Division of Arts & Museums Claudia Nakano, Communications Director, 801.859.8443 Utah Department of Community and Culture Statewide Annual Exhibition at the Rio Grande Depot Friday, October 21 – Wednesday, November 23 SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Division of Arts & Museums’ Statewide Annual Exhibit, Utah ’11: Painting & Sculpture, at the Rio Gallery in Salt Lake City will feature 64 original paintings and sculptures selected from 339 submitted by Utah artists this fall.  Six juror awards will be announced at the public reception Friday, October 21 between 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. during the Salt Lake Gallery Stroll. The exhibit will continue until November 23 during state office hours which are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. The Rio Gallery is located at 300 South Rio Grande Street (455 West) in Salt Lake City.  “We are impressed with the quality and diversity of works submitted for this year’s Statewide Annual,” says Margaret Hunt, Director of the Division of Arts & Museums. "Two hundred and seven Utah artists shared 339 pieces with us and it was a great testament to our state’s creative vitality. We want to thank all of the artists who submitted their work.” A tradition since 1899, the theme for the Statewide Annual Competition and Exhibition rotates between painting and sculpture; crafts and photography; and mixed media and works on paper. Crafts and photography will be featured in 2012. Works are chosen for display by two out of state artists or arts professionals who travel to the Rio Gallery to jury the exhibit in person. Utah ’11: Painting & Sculpture was juried by Ivar Zeile, owner and director of Plus Gallery in Denver, and Julia Latane, who draws and sculpts in Los Angeles. The jurors selected 64 works from the 339 pieces by 45 of the 207 artists who submitted work, and they remarked how difficult that process is.  The exhibition was curated from the works submitted, and so, juror Ivar Zeile said, a different set of entries ”might have led to a dramatically different exhibition.”  Julia Latane agreed when she said “What a great opportunity to look at a huge body of really good, well-executed work.” A video of Zeile and Latane discussing the process is posted on the Division’s YouTube Channel, UtahArtsandMuseums. For more information visit artsandmuseums.utah.gov or contact Wendi Hassan at whassan@utah.gov, 801.860.6396.