The May Show Opening Reception: Friday, May 7, 2010 at 5:00 p.m. Exhibit remains through June 6, 2010 Gualala Arts Center

Friday, May 7, 2010 will mark the opening at Gualala Arts Center of the first May Show, a juried art exhibit that subsequently will take place annually.

The purpose of this exhibit is to showcase outstanding visual art and artists without regard to the type of media. The exhibit is being organized with the advice of a number of artists locally and from the Bay Area and with input from several museum directors and curators.

When the exhibit's format was being developed, the first question that needed to be answered was, "what is art and what kinds of visual art should be allowed into the show." Is art just painting? Sculpture? Photography? What about woodworking? Multimedia? This is not an easy question to answer.

The solution (and not all the advisors agreed) was that artists would be allowed and encouraged to enter anything they deem visual art. The pieces selected for the show will depend only on the quality of the work and the juror's concepts of art. There will be no fixed media categories and no restrictions on entries, other than size of the pieces and the inability to include film, installation and performance art.

The distinguished juror for the first May Show will be Lucinda Barnes, Chief Curator of the Berkeley Art Museum. Ms. Barnes, past Director of the Boise Art Museum, has had extensive experience as a curator at various other museums throughout the country. She has organized a large number of exhibitions and served as a juror for many shows. Her scholarly interests include Latin American, Renaissance and contemporary art.

In addition to judging the show, Ms. Barnes will give a talk entitled Material Witness: Artists Respond to a Changing World as part of the Gualala Arts Lecture Series the night before the opening.

Artists will be allowed to enter their work only by digital images. The deadline for the entries will be February 1, 2010, and artists will notified of the juror's decisions in March, 2010. There will be monetary prizes for the best three works selected for the show: first prize $1,000, second prize $750, third prize $500.

The opening reception for the public and participating artists will be on Friday, May 7, 2010 and run through June 6, 2010.

Further details and registration forms may be obtained by visiting the Gualala Arts Center or online at www.GualalaArts.org.

The Gualala Arts Center, located at 46501 Gualala Road in Gualala, CA,
is open weekdays 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and weekends from noon to 4:00 p.m.
Please call (707) 884-1138 for more information, or email info@gualalaarts.org.

Serving the coastal communities of northern Sonoma & southern Mendocino Counties.