The 2018 Small Works on Paper, an annual touring visual arts exhibition coordinated by the Arkansas Arts Council, a division of the Department of Arkansas Heritage, will open Tuesday, August 14, in the Merkle and Price Galleries. The exhibition will be on display through August 29. El Dorado artist Maria Botti Villegas and Little Rock artist Emily Moll Wood are included in this traveling exhibition. Villegas’ work, Cronica #1, is acrylic on paper. Wood’s watercolor/watercolor pencil piece is titled Chemo Day 11, Red Devil. A reception will be held on Saturday, August 18 from 6 to 7:30pm.
Small Works on Paper is a juried visual art exhibition that showcases artwork no larger than 18 x 24 inches by Arkansas artists who are members of the Arkansas Artist Registry, an online gallery showcasing the artwork of Arkansas artists. Thirty-nine pieces are featured in a year-long show that will travel to 10 galleries in the state.
“Now in its 31st year, the Small Works on Paper exhibition offers an extraordinary opportunity for artists to have their work seen by patrons all over the state,” said Stacy Hurst, director of the Department of Arkansas Heritage. “Each year, the exhibition features the work of both established and up-and-coming artists and offers an eclectic mix of mediums and a variety of content.”
This year’s entries were juried by James Phillips, an associate professor in the Department of Arts at Howard University in Washington, D.C. He selected six artists to receive purchase awards. Purchase award winners receive the cash amount equivalent to the value of their selected works. Funded by entry fees, the purchase award pieces become part of the exhibition’s permanent collection.
The artists selected to receive purchase awards are Terry Lynn Dushan, Fayetteville; Robert Simmons, Little Rock; Rex R. DeLoney, Little Rock; Mitchell Skinner, Grady; Melissa Foster, Conway; and Elissa Gordon, Mountain Home.