2-D and 3-D Fine Art Media
Artists 18 and Older in the US
Over $2000 in Prize Money
Juror Alejo Benedetti
from the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas
Award Reception: July 23 • 6-7:30 pm
Exhibit: June 29 – July 24
1st Place • $350
2nd Place • $250
3rd Place • $150
Honorable Mention • $50
Peoples’ Choice • $100
Purchase Award • $600
One piece from the competition will be purchased for SAAC’s permanent art collection. The Annual Purchase Award is made possible through an endowment from the family of Wilma Riley in memory of her commitment to the arts, her community, and SAAC.
Juror Alejo Benedetti, assistant curator at Crystal Bridges, selected a total of 52 pieces created by 41 artists from around the country to be included in the exhibit. Artists with accepted entries are:
Jessica Bingham • Peoria, Illinois
Lance Boge • NYC, New York
Heather Brammeier • Peoria, Illinois
Martha Briana • Makanda, Illinois
Aaron Calvert • Arkadelphia, Arkansas
Daniel Cassity • Hot Springs, Arkansas
Gary Cawood • Little Rock, Arkansas
Ronnie Cramer • Denver, Colorado
Jeff Danos • Eureka Springs, Arkansas
Myles Dunigan • Lawrence, Kansas
Richard Ensor • Wesley Chapel, Florida
Victoria Trespando Escobio • Tampa, Florida
Jamie Espino • Fort Smith, Arkansas
DebiLynn Fendley • Arkadelphia, Arkansas
Joelle Ford • Lawrence, Kansas
Houston Fryer • San Antonio, Texas
Jaime Gaiti • Portland, Maine
Jenie Gao • Madison, Wisconsin
Manuel Gonzales • Lubbock, Texas
Sofia Gonzalez • Little Rock, Arkansas
Tim Hahn • Augusta, Missouri
Mary Hardy • Ocean Springs, Mississippi
Sharon Harper • Springfield, Missouri
Julie Isom • Conway, Arkansas
Scott Lykens • Monticello, Arkansas
Miguel Machado • Austin, Texas
Tim McCourt • Mississippi State, Mississippi
Moises Menendez • Magnolia, Arkansas
Jeremy Newton • Waco, Texas
Ray Ogar • Little Rock, Arkansas
Cetin “Chet” Oguz • Cleveland, Mississippi
Jana C. Perez • Denton, Texas
Gail Postal • New York, New York
Spencer Purinton • El Dorado, Arkansas
Alexander Puz • Maspeth, New York
Suzanne Sidebottom • New Albany, Indiana
Erin Smego • Chicago, Illinois
Michael Stanley • Cleveland, Mississippi
R. Gregory Summers • Overland Park, Kansas
Angilee Wilkerson • Denton, Texas
Marjorie Williams-Smith • Little Rock, Arkansas
Terry Wright • Little Rock, Arkansas
Alejo Benedetti is a curatorial assistant at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas. Benedetti’s research has focused on Contemporary art in the United States over the past 50 years with a particular emphasis on art of the West Coast since the 1980s. He has examined the artwork of Mike Kelley and Jim Shaw and how their works blur the barriers between the traditional art world and the world of comics.
At Crystal Bridges, he has assisted Curator Chad Alligood with the development of the 1940s to Now portion of the collection while also assisting with the traveling version of State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now. This exhibition, which first opened at Crystal Bridges in 2014, included over 102 artists, featured 227 works, and covered 19,000 square feet of exhibition space. The exhibition is currently traveling to other venues around the country in two different versions touring simultaneously.
Benedetti is a Texas native who earned his bachelor of arts in Art History and a bachelor of fine arts in Studio Art from the University of Missouri, Columbia, and his master’s degree in Art History from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. While completing his degree at TCU, he worked as a curatorial intern at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, assisting with the exhibition Framing Desire: Photography and Video. While in Fort Worth, he also served as an art critic for Glasstire: Journal of Visual Art in Texas. As a critic, he reviewed contemporary exhibitions occurring at museums and galleries across the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.
Accepted Works Delivered • June 21
Opening • June 29
Reception • July 23 • 6-7:30 pm
Last Day of Exhibit • July 24
Artists Pick-up Work • August 1
Shipped Art Returned • August 2
870-862-5474 or e-mail juriedart@saac-arts.org