Monday, January 24, 2011

Portland Art Museum picks the finalists for the Contemporary Northwest Art Awards

Whiting Tennis's Bitter Lake Compound in the 2008 CNAA exhibition
By Barry Johnson

The Portland Art Museum has announced its finalists for its Contemporary Northwest Arts Awards, given to artists creating work in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana.
  • Holly Andres
  • Chris Antemann
  • John Buck
  • Jaq Chartier
  • Glenn L. Clevenger
  • James Coupe
  • Tannaz Farsi
  • Anna Fidler
  • Justin Gibbons
  • Charles Gill
  • John Grade
  • Robert Hanson
  • Sean Healy
  • Jerry Iverson
  • Arnold Kemp
  • Scott Kolbo
  • Cynthia Lahti
  • Isaac Layman
  • Lead Pencil Studio – Annie Han and Daniel Mihalyo
  • Susie Lee
  • Megan Murphy
  • Jenene Nagy
  • Ryan Pierce
  • Michelle Ross
  • Heidi Schwegler
  • Susan Seubert
  • Eric Stotik
  • Sherrie Wolf
From the press release:
"Regional arts professionals, including curators, scholars, dealers, writers, artists, and critics were invited to nominate visual artists based on the quality of their work, innovation, skill, continuity of vision, commitment to their practice, and level of development in their career. The Museum received 296 nominations and invited the nominated artists to submit application materials. Of the nominated artists, 241 submitted materials for consideration.

Bonnie Laing-Malcolmson, the Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Curator of Northwest Art, reviewed the nominees’ materials and selected the finalists. She will continue reviewing the artists’ work through studio visits during the next several weeks. She will eventually select five to seven artists to be recognized with the Contemporary Northwest Art Awards. These artists will be featured in the Contemporary Northwest Art Awards exhibition opening June 11."
I have some personal favorites on the list, but I have no idea what the conventional wisdom is on the relative reputations of these artists, let alone any insight into Laing-Malcolmson's judgments about these things. So, no predictions here. Then again, I'm not sure that's point.

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