This year, Mystic Museum of Art’s annual juried exhibition theme is “Memory.”
January 12 – March 10, 2018
Please click here for a full prospectus.
***To view accepted works please click here****
Unaccepted works may be picked up Friday January 12th and Saturday January 13th.  Early pickup cannot be accommodated.
 
Jurors’ Statement
The Word “Memory” suggests the idea of recollections or impressions. It also is the way our minds—or devices—remember and store information. And for the musical theater nerds out there (Lori), it’s Betty Buckley performing the signature number in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats, or in plural form, Barbra Streisand’s opening lyric to the theme from The Way We Were. What, we thought, might we discover when visual artists take that word and show us their work within that context?
We were delighted to find all sorts of “memory” in a wide swath of media with strong images ranging from the specific to the universal. We know memory to be subjective, and many of these pieces appeared to be very personal.
We selected Her Apothecary as our choice for the Rudy Grunwald Award for Best in Show because we both were immediately struck by how it spoke to the theme in a compelling and intricate way. A three-dimensional piece connoting a body closet of notions and necessaries, we appreciated it for its composition and its saucy cleverness. In second place, the watercolor Beach Walk, we chose for its sheer beauty. Who among us has not taken a contemplative seaside stroll? Each of us also had a visceral reaction to Tree of Life, in encaustic mixed media, for third place. Suggesting ancestral memory, we found it creative and thought-provoking.
Our four honorable mentions further spoke to the excellence of the submissions, as well as the diversity of media in the show. Reflecting, a work of stunning simplicity and lost edges in graphite; the abstract imagery of Blue Angel evoking glimpses of memory in a strong color palette; the lithograph Oil Change, with an exquisitely rendered man going about an ordinary task; and Summer Night in Silverlake, presenting a colorful shimmery reflection of a festive evening. We give the Edith Cowles Watercolor Award to Reflections and Shadows of Grandma’s Colander because we found it to be a charming and well-executed take on the show’s theme.
Through our programming of the art gallery at La Grua Center we have gotten some idea of the caliber of our region’s considerable artistic talent, but an exhibition of this size showed us how truly vast it is. While we could not, sadly, select every work that was submitted, we did our best to be thoughtful about ensuring that there was a balanced sampling of genres. We are deeply grateful to all the artists who put themselves out there every time they submit a piece, and we trust that all who view this show will find the same spirit of generosity awakening their own memory.
Lori Robishaw 
Executive Director
La Grua Center
Kelli Rocherelle
Program Director
La Grua Center
 
AWARD WINNERS
Rudy Grunwald Award for Best in Show
Nancy MacBride, Her Apothecary, Mixed Media
2nd Prize
Charles McCaughtry, Beach Walk, Watercolor
3rd Prize
Hilary Opperman, Tree of Life, Encaustic Mixed Media
Honorable Mention
Rafael Lino, Oil Change, Lithograph
Ron Farina, Blue Angel, Mixed Media
Mark Patnode, Reflecting, Graphite on Paper
Liisa Lang, Summer Nights in Silver Lake, Colored Pencil
Edith Cowles Watercolor Award
Olivia Ann Rolston, Reflections and Shadows off Grandma’s Colander, Watercolor
 

Hilary Opperman, Tree of Life, Encaustic Mixed Media