The South Arkansas Arts Center is pleased to announce the selection of Dylan Turk as juror for this year’s Annual Juried Art Competition to be held July 7-28, 2017. Turk is currently employed by Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville as a curatorial assistant.

“I’m super interested in bridging connection points between artistic institutions across the country. We all have to support each other in the arts,” Turk said. “All art institutions need to stay in touch and share info and I hope everyone that applies for this competition sees that. That’s one reason I’m so excited to come to south Arkansas to work with the SAAC. Competition is a good idea for artists. It helps to expand their audience.”

“Art is not just a painting that hangs on the wall,” he added. “If you want to be creative, it doesn’t have to be limited to a canvas. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

Turk has curated many exhibits for Crystal Bridges including ‘Frank Lloyd Wright’s Bachman-Wilson House’, ‘Building Crystal Bridges’, ‘Shaking Hands & Kissing Babies’, Re-installation of the Early Modern Galleries and also worked as curatorial assistant on the Focus Show on Georgia O’Keeffe. He studied art history in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas and also studied abroad in Spain, Italy and Morocco.

He also spends part of his time writing and collaborating on publications for Crystal Bridges and has had two books published, “Art in Architecture: The Architecture of Crystal Bridges” and “Frank Lloyd Wright’s Bachman-Wilson House”, as well as many articles for art publications.

Turk explained, “At Crystal Bridges we celebrate the creative spirit in all media and ways of making. We hope to prove that the traditional boundaries placed on art, by media and process, diminish the spirit of the American artist. While, my primary focus is on the collecting, exhibition, and scholarship surrounding our architecture collection we view this as a gear in all that we do. Art, architecture, and nature all depend on each other in the human experience on earth. Art is all around us.” He said, “I’m one of the lucky people who get to facilitate guest’s engagement and experience surrounding the creative spirit. My background in art history plays a critical role in how I interpret and analyze architecture. I’m an Arkansas native whose mission is to celebrate the human experience through art, in all forms, for all.”

The Juried Art Competition, is SAAC’s annual competition juried by nationally and internationally recognized art professionals and is open to all artists across the nation, age 18 and up, who work in two-dimensional and three-dimensional fine arts media, including photography and computer generated work.

Click Here to go to the 2017 Annual Juried Art Competition Page