SAALM Presents its 93rd Juried Exhibition
By JASMINA WELLINGHOFF, Editor
The San Antonio Arts League and Museum has been an art force in San Antonio for some 100 years, longer than any other local visual arts institution in the city. So, it’s not surprising that its 2023 Annual Juried Artists Exhibition is the 93rd such show presented by the organization.
Artists from all over Texas submitted 552 works of art to be considered for the show. Sixty-four of those made it, and are currently on view at the charming downtown museum. The submissions were judged by Catherine Walworth, Ph.D., the Jackye and Curtis Finch Jr. Curator of Drawing at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Art in Little Rock.
She described her judging experience in this way: “Jurying the 93rd annual SAALM exhibition was like sitting on a train and watching the Texas landscape roll past my view – altogether, it was a wide swathe of artists and perspectives, a window onto a certain time and place, and a lovely broad field of human conditions.”
She also admitted that choosing artworks is fraught with inherent difficulty.
“Of course, the options were filtered through my particular eye and experience, my humor and sympathies,” she said, but she also took notice “when a hyperrealist painter did something slightly uncanny, or a multi-media artist built a refreshingly unique image, or when a work just felt inexplicably resolved.”
Generally, she uses a broad cultural lens for approaching artworks, including political and economic contexts. Interestingly, Walworth was a curatorial intern at the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio for two years, 2006-2008.
The SAALM juried exhibition has multiple awards, including the prestigious Julian Onderdonk Purchase Prize of $3,000 given by SAALM to buy the work to add to its permanent collection. The first recipient of the Onderdonk Prize was Charles Thompson in 1946. This year’s winner is San Antonio artist Jayne Lawrence for her drawing “Dreams Really Come True.” But altogether there are seventeen awards totaling $13,000.
Among these winners are the following: Art Kraatz (Beth Eidelberg Memorial Watermedia Award, $1000); Ernie Wood (Mr.& Mrs. Richard C. Taylor Award, $1000); Nancy Bandy (Betty Rihn Keller Memorial Award, $1000); Jennye Stubblefield (Frank & Cecilia Keller Memorial Award, 1000); Neal Wilson (Roland C. Keller Watercolor Award, $1000); Andy Tschoete (Stephanie Trede Oil Painting Award, $1000); Oluseyi Soyege (Richard Conn Memorial Mixed Media Award, $750); Jaymes Earl (Mixed Media Award, $500);
This year’s show is different in approach and themes from previous juried events, noted artist and SAALM’s president-elect, Lyn Belisle.
“There has been an effort by jurors in recent years to select pieces in different media to showcase the spectrum of media that artists are working in these days,” she explained. “This juried exhibition is a little different. The curator just went in with her heart. She chose pieces that are personal. Every piece tells a story; it’s not just about the craftsmanship and the materials. It’s a humanist selection. She sees the person behind the work, and there’s a whole lot of that in this exhibition. They are not sentimental portrayals; they are powerful in the way they portray the human condition.”
Belisle, who, as an artist, has been in juried shows herself, as well as served as juror, said she felt that all awards winners deserved what they got. “All the chosen works, are definitely award-winning quality,” she noted.
All exhibited pieces are for sale and the price range is wide, from $150 to $24,000.
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The 93rd Annual Juried Artists Exhibition will be on view through June 3; SAALM, 130 King William St., 78204; free admission; www.saalm.org
Thank you for including my work in this article!