People always say opposites attract, but opposites may have more in common than you might think.
Slocumb Galleries is presenting the 31st Annual Positive/Negative National Juried Art Exhibition with two themes: America and women, making it an “American Woman” series.
Slocumb has been presenting this exhibition since 1985.
The exhibition started Feb. 8 and has been extended to run until March 10.
“The juror wanted a juxtaposition between two subjects, so that’s where we ended up with the ‘American’ and ‘woman’ topics,” said Slocumb Galleries Director Karlota Contreras-Koterbay. “It’s a wide take on what America represents today.”
The juror is Al Miner, a curator from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and wrote in his juror statement that, “The American gallery brings together works that speak to the evolving political, social and physical terrain of our country.
The Woman gallery illustrates that in our time, shifting definitions of and expectations for women are as compelling to artists as the female form has always been.”
Thirty artists have their art featured in the gallery out of the 218 artists that submitted their work.
“This is different presentational looks on what is a woman,” Koterbay said. “Not just American women, but women in general.”
Although Positive/Negative is a national juried exhibition, it features regional artists as well.
“It’s definitely mutually beneficial,” Koterbay said. “Other artists can extend their name to our region while artists in our region can expand their name and gain attention.”
Slocumb partnered with a few major national museums from Washington, Boston and other major cities.
“The art world is becoming more fluid, so we have more access with things like the Internet where people can see different artists in different parts of the world,” Koterbay said. “We have the ability to communicate, though, and bring that art to different areas.”
Sometimes the Positive/Negative exhibition is an open-call show, and other times it has a theme like this year.
“We’d like to maintain having one as an open and one curated because it’s beneficial to artists who are outside of the geographical area,” Koterbay said.
Koterbay said Miner is very interested in gender as an artist and juror.
“We usually always partner with other departments within the university in order to reach more students than simply focusing on art students,” Koterbay said. “However, our main focus is art students.”
Koterbay has been helping direct this exhibition since 2006.
“It’s a part of our educational mission to bring in the outside community, especially with what the region has to offer,” Kotberbay said.
