JUNEAU — Sealaska Heritage Institute will open its eighth, biennial Juried Art Show next week and give awards in five divisions. For the first time, the show will include a display of exemplary works by some of the most acclaimed Northwest Coast artists alive today. The institute also will give awards to participants of its new Juried Art Youth Exhibit during the ceremony, held during Celebration 2016.
The Juried Art Show will include 36 pieces by 22 artists. Winners will receive prizes in the following categories:
• Carving and sculpture, which includes categories for wood, metal and other media carvings;
• sewing, which includes categories for skin and fur, beadwork and button blankets;
• weaving, which includes categories for Chilkat, Ravenstail and basketry;
• two-dimensional and relief carving, which includes categories for paintings, drawings and relief carving.
Artists who win Best of Category will compete for Best of Division, and the division winners will compete for the Best of Show prize. SHI also will award a Best Formline prize for the best formline design among all pieces submitted.
The theme for the Juried Art Show and Competition is “Art and At.óow.” The awards ceremony is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Wednesday, June 8, at the Walter Soboleff Building. The show will be on exhibit immediately after the ceremony through Sept. 30 in the Nathan Jackson Gallery.
The pieces in the new “Exemplary Works” exhibit were made by artists who were chosen to make the three monumental art pieces for the Walter Soboleff Building and two of the Northwest Coast art experts who serve on SHI’s Native Artist Committee. Featured artists include David A. Boxley, Delores Churchill, Robert Davidson, Nathan Jackson and Preston Singletary. The exemplary pieces featured reflect the best of the art form today as learned from the old masters and underscore the institute’s quest to recognize Northwest Coast art as a national treasure and will also be shown in the Nathan Jackson Gallery.
