By
Published: June 3, 2013
The 27th Annual All Florida Juried Exhibition opened on Friday at the Alliance for the Arts. This year’s show contains a particularly strong group of works in a diverse array of genres and media. It is all the more interesting because the exhibition is Southwest Florida’s first chance to gain insight into the curatorial taste and sensibility of new Baker Museum curator and director Frank Verpoorten, who juried and judged the show.
Verpoorten has more than 15 years of experience at cultural institutions and museums in Brussels and New York, and has served in curatorial roles at the Museum of Modern Art, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, the Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art, the Dahesh Museum of Art and, most recently, as Cultural Attache’ for the Representation of the Government of Flannders (Belgium) in the United States.”As a curator, I have a lot of experience with emerging artists,” Verpoorten said Friday night. “There is something exciting about scouting for new works.”
While Verpoorten is clearly a man who knows what he likes, choosing the 52 works for the show from the nearly 300 submissions was not without its challenges. “Exhibitions are normally broken down by genre or medium,” Verpoorten explained. “What’s unique here is that there is such a wide array, from fiber and photography to painting and sculpture. It’s not easy to compare across disciplines.”
Nevertheless, Verpoorten resisted the natural temptation to choose the best works in each genre and medium, vying instead to select the 50 most compelling and evocative works. In that process, he focused on works that demonstrated intellectual creativity, composition and adept execution. From that perspective, the 27th Annual All Florida Juried Exhibition is a resounding success.
Best of Show honors went to Laura Waller for her oil on canvas titled Owls Head, who was one of two artists who had three works juried into the exhibition. Bonnie Langenfeld was awarded second place for her intricate and alluring fabric and thread Everglades Avenue. Third place went In Singing, Not to Sing – The Overbird, an acrylic by Alliance art instructor Megan Kissinger, who was the other artist to have three paintings juried into the show.
Judith Anderson and Deborah Martin received Juror’s Choice awards.
The 27th Annual All Florida Juried Exhibition will remain on view at the Alliance through August 2, 2013.
The Alliance for the Arts proudly supports artists and arts organizations in our area as the state designated Local Arts Agency for Lee County. The Alliance for the Arts galleries and gift shop are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9 a.m. to 1:00 on Saturdays.
The Alliance is located at 10091 McGregor Boulevard, just south of Colonial Boulevard. To become a member, please visit http://www.artinlee.org or telephone 239-939-2787.
