CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History will unveil the 2022 West Virginia Emerging Artists Juried Exhibition in the Commissioner’s Gallery of the West Virginia State Museum at the Culture Center, State Capitol Complex in Charleston on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2022, at 2 p.m. The award winners also will be announced during the opening. The exhibition is free and open to the public.

This year’s exhibition features 58 creative pieces representing the talents of 44 West Virginia artists from 19 counties. A complete list of exhibitors is below.

The juror for this year’s Emerging Artists Exhibition was Lauren Frances Adams. Adams teaches full-time at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Md. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she trained in mural painting, and from Carnegie Mellon University with a Master of Fine Arts degree in 2007. Her work has been exhibited widely in artist-run spaces, historic houses, university galleries, museums and public spaces. Adams has been a visiting artist and critic at Valand Academy in Sweden, Funen Academy in Denmark, and at universities, colleges and museums throughout the United States. Adams has exhibited at the North Carolina Museum of Art, the Warhol Museum, Nymans House National Trust in England, Royal NoneSuch Gallery, The Mattress Factory, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, Smack Mellon, and CUE Art Foundation. She attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and has held residencies at the Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans, La.; Cité internationale des Arts in Paris, France; Sacatar Foundation in Bahia, Brazil; and Back Lane West in Cornwall.

The Department will present three awards for the exhibition. The Best of Show/First Place Award will receive $1,000; second place will receive $500; and third place will collect $250.

Eligible artists had to be 18 years of age and older and maintain a permanent domicile in West Virginia. Each artist could submit two pieces for the exhibit jurying in painting, print/drawing, mixed media, craft/wall hangings, photography, digital art and/or sculpture. All pieces must have been created between 2020 and 2022.

The exhibit will be on display until April 15, 2022. The Culture Center is open Tuesday – Saturday 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

For more information about the exhibit, contact Laiken Blankenship, exhibits coordinator for the department, at (304) 558-0220 or Laiken.J.Blankenship@wv.gov.

Emerging Artists Exhibitors (Alphabetical Order)

Rafael Barker

Kanawha County

Welcome to “The Jungle”

Photography

Perry Bennett           

Kanawha County    

Apparition      

Photography

Shari Lynn Bennett 

Monongalia County

Trace  

Photography

and

Yellow Orbit   

Photography

Bonnie Boyce

Cabell County

Baby Dress Circa 1952          

Painting

Larry Keith Brumfield       

Cabell County

Sunflowers Bloom at Night in Ukraine Under the Moonlight And The Sparkling Stars Above     

Digital Art/Mixed Media

Karen Chamblin      

Pleasants County    

Pansy Frenzy 

Painting

Mary Chaney           

Cabell County

Road to Stratford        

Painting

Sadie Chidester       

Marion County        

Reminiscence 

Painting

and

C-Section       

Painting

John Comerci

Raleigh County       

Highlands Sky

Photography

Gabbi Cooper          

Wetzel County         

Nancy’s Kitchen        

Mixed Media

Kilsong Cox 

Randolph County   

Feeling like Monet     

Photography

Pat Cross      

Putnam County       

Emerald Path 

Painting

and

Bearded Beauty          

Painting

Emily Paige Curry  

Mercer County        

Rabbit 

Print/Drawing

Sherry B. Dolan

Boone County

Happy at Last

Painting

Donald T. Earley     

Monroe County       

Crayon           

Print/Drawing

and

March 32       

Painting

McKenna Entsminger         

Raleigh County       

Harnessed Tiger Moth           

Painting

and    

Salt Marsh Moth       

Painting

Sarah Rose Furrow 

Putnam County       

Ferociously Beautiful 

Print/drawing

Leiane Gibson          

Mercer County        

Lightning Bugs and Bolts      

Photography

Elizabeth Haley       

Kanawha County    

Sit Awhile      

Mixed Media

and    

WV Country Road     

Mixed Media

Caleb Hatcher          

Fayette County        

Into the Red   

Mixed Media

Frederick D. Hays   

Kanawha County

Intersections and Angels       

Painting

and    

Ride My School Bus  

Painting

Vernon F. Howell   

Cabell County

Out and In     

Mixed Media

and

Shedding Some Light 

Mixed Media

Anne Johnson          

Nicholas County

Comet Neowise on Summersville Lake          

Photography

David S. Johnston    

Randolph County   

Sunset on the Heath Barrens 

Photography

Sharon K. Jones       

Kanawha County    

Patiently Waiting      

Painting

Kevin King  

Lincoln County       

Dawn’s Early Light   

Photography

Ric MacDowell        

Kanawha County    

Do Not Stand

Photography

Don McDowell        

Cabell County

Skyline           

Painting

Jill Moles Mullins    

Clay County 

Mountain Technology           

Photography

William Murray      

Kanawha County    

Lake Escape    

Painting

Griffin Nordstrom  

Monongalia County

Hanging Quilt 02 & 03         

Crafts

and    

Single Use Quilt        

Crafts

Peggy Owens           

Pocahontas County 

Kandinsky’s Appalachian Symphony

Mixed Media

Jesus Perez   

Monroe County       

Morning Alderson     

Photography

Jo Perez         

Monroe County       

Pandemonium

Crafts

Daniele Piasecki      

Berkeley County     

Baby Blue Planet of Childhood #2 Edition of 15       

Photography and Digital Art

Shaina Prince           

Kanawha County    

You Have Memories in Places I’ve Never Been        

Painting

and

Letting Go of Grief     

Painting

Ed Rehbein  

Raleigh County       

Convergence  

Photography

Jack M. Rife  

Kanawha County    

Infanerator: Mod. Cry Baby Cry       

Sculpture

and    

Chiminea: Mod. Angry Abe  

Sculpture

Sandy Riggs 

Boone County

Fond Memories          

Painting

Mary Roy     

Harrison County     

New River Gorge National Park       

Crafts

Linda Stonestreet    

Putnam County       

Color Storm   

Painting

and

Windy Colors 

Painting

Adam Talbert          

Nicholas County     

Road in Richwood      

Digital Art

Hannah Watters      

Kanawha County    

Shelf Line #2  

Mixed Media

and    

Shelf Line #3  

Mixed Media

Cecil Ybanez

Nicholas County     

Blue Man       

Sculpture

and

Maharaj’s Slipper      

Sculpture