Artists | Exhibit in Miami at Aqua Art

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Round #5 IS off and tanning like a bandit!  Only 8 days to go before the enrollment closes so make sure you get out from under those harmful rays long enough to drink a cool one and submit a work. (And best of all - the entry fee is only $2 to join the first stage of the jurying process.) AQUA ART MIAMI will be here faster than you can say Showcase! With that good thought in mind, this week we feature some alumni news from past Showcase recipients. ArtSlant couldn't be more excited for these fantastic artists. Margaret Withers, Behind Kant, everything was happening at once, 2012 Watercolor, Ink and Enamel on Paper 2010 Showcase Winner Margaret Withers has had one busy 2012! She was a fellow of the prestigious Vermont Studio Residency. Congratulations Margaret. Hailing from Texas, Withers' current body of work was inspired by her childhood in the rural American South of the 1970s and "conveys the interplay between the remembered pysical landscape of that time and the emotional landscape past and present." Based now in Brooklyn, the artist refers to the narratives found in her work as "anti-stories" that allow the viewer to bring their own insight into the fold. Other recent distinctions for the artist include: an "Award of Distinction" given by Art Kudos International; "Best in Show" awarded by the Southwest Arkansas Art Center; "Best Watercolor" awarded at the Brooklyn Waterfront Artist Coalition's Color exhibition. Withers' paintings can be seen currently in Recess at Francesca Arcilesi Fine Art (FAFA), in Brooklyn, and the aforementioned Color at BWAC, curator Brooke Kamin Rapaport, also in Brooklyn. She will also have work next month at the Brussels Accessible Art Fair in Belgium. Jeff Becker, CapaCity Project, 2012, mixed media 2012 4th Round Showcase Winner Jeff Becker creates both sculptural objects and photographic works. His photographic works lean on directness for their source of power and effectiveness. Often they are beautiful, spare but saturated color compositions that evoke more than time and space. His long exposures of night shots capture such things as shooting stars or benign light raked for what seems like an eternity on natural monuments and landscapes. As the artist states: "Time is the constant variable in my work. Ranging from the shutter drag of theSwirl Series, to the hours long process of making images by moonlight, and the months-long process of making the pieces that comprise my most unusual work, Evolving Art - Slurry Series, slow is good. And years of collecting went into the making of the CapaCity Project monumental." His readymade sculpture, CapaCity Project, can currently be seen at the Islip Art Museum.        The esteemed jurors for Round 5 are: SARAH BELDEN is the founder of Sarah Belden Fine Art Advisory. In addition to curating many independent projects over the years, she worked at Christie's auction house in the Post-War and Contemporary department and at numerous primary and secondary art market galleries in New York, including Barbara Mathes, Zabriskie, Alona Kagan and Mike Weiss Gallery, where she was director. Sarah Belden also worked as private collections manager for the Emily and Jerry Spiegel Collection in New York and has consulted on numerous projects in the U.S. and Europe, including the non-profit venture DIVA, the first digital and video art fair in the United States, and more commercial ventures such as Art Athina, the International Contemporary Art Fair in Athens. In 2006 Sarah Belden launched Curators Without Borders in Berlin, an innovative gallery and curatorial platform dedicated to exhibiting contemporary art. Here, she represented a diverse roster of international, emerging and mid-career artists, curated the annual exhibitions program and worked collaboratively with several art institutions, garnering international press and participating in exhibitions and art fairs around the world.  HELIANTHE BOURDEAUX-MAURIN is the exhibitions manager at the renowned Pinacothèque de Paris. Bourdeaux-Maurin was previously director at Brooklyn gallery Parker's Box and Peter Freeman, Inc. An art historian and independent curator, she graduated from the Ecole du Louvre and La Sorbonne University in Paris with three Master of Fine Arts degrees and specialties in 16th and 17th centuries, contemporary art, art magazines from the 60's and the 70's, museology, and communication. Bourdeaux-Maurin has curated shows in Paris, Toronto, New York City, New Jersey, and Connecticut such as "Happy Art for a Sad World", Spike Gallery (2004); "Micro-Universe", The Lab Gallery (2005); "Characters Scene I and II", the Shore Institute of the Contemporary Arts and Silvermine Guild Arts Center (2005), "The Troubled Waters of Permeability", Parker's Box (2007); "Suspect Reason", Artlexis (2009). Bourdeaux-Maurin also is a regular contributor to Whitewall Magazine. CJ FOLLINI is an art collector, entrepreneur, and co-chairperson of the Board of Directors of the renowned HERE Arts Center in SoHo. Additionally, he is the CEO of COMPANY, started in 2010 as an online secondary art market and community for collectors, by collectors. Most recently, Follini produced and hosted Art/Trek NYC, a television program that branched out to the five boroughs of New York City in a quest to showcase new and emerging artists. Traveling in the show’s signature mobile art gallery – a converted recreational vehicle, nicknamed the ArtV – Follini joins a different borough-specific guest host in each episode to meet a rising artist who’s on the verge of breaking into New York City’s competitive art scene. Each artist puts together an impromptu art show in the ArtV and invites residents from their neighborhood to view the work and share their opinions on camera about the art. One of the five artists gets selected to have their first solo gallery show, which will be featured in a future episode. Art/Trek is currently starting a campaign for its second season.

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There are 3 ways to win for each participating artist: SHOWCASE WINNER - In each of our 6 rounds, the ArtSlant Curation Team selects about 1/4 of the best artists entered in that round to be awarded Showcase Winner status. Being a Showcase Winner means you can move into the jury selection process for Juried Select Winner status. Showcase winners are given maximum exposure on ArtSlant through our Homepage display, our Artshow display and in our e-Publications. JURIED SELECT WINNER - Our Review Panel of international galleries, curators and artists will go through the Profiles of each Showcase Winning artist. From this review, they will select the top 10 Juried Select artists in each round. These 10 artists will automatically go into our year-end voting for the ArtSlant Prize exhibition and cash awards. NEW - One Juried Select artist in each round will be granted a $250 cash award. ARTSLANT PRIZE - Three artists will be selected as our final ArtSlant Prize winners from the pool of 60 Juried Select artists that have been assembled during the year. Our ArtSlant Prize winning artists will receive: 1. Exhibition: In a top art city or art fair 2. Cash Prizes: Over $20,000 in cash and cash equivalents 3. Exhibition Stipend: Cover shipping & other exhibition costs 4. Purchase Awards: The chance to be part of the ArtSlant Emerging Collection Need More Info? (click)