JANUARY 19TH - FEBRUARY 26TH
This exhibition is all in the name: Divine Comedy. Inspired by the writings of Dante, artists were roused by concepts relating to purgatory, heaven, and hell, whether found by faith, contemporary symbolism, or complete personal interpretation. The exhibit thus boasts contemplative realism concerning fears of death as well as colorful, humorous depictions of an afterlife or dream-like world. The imagination is what manifests in this show.
JUROR’S STATEMENT:
Like Dante, interpretations for the current exhibition, Divine Comedy capture a variety of emotions and attitudes. Amanda Gorman, first youth poet laureate and presidential poet stated in a recent interview, “. . . there are no new ideas, just new ways of making them felt.” She was referring to the power of poetry. For me, when visual work is successful, it is poetic, powerfully nuanced and memorable, just as a favorite poem is. Dante wrote about universal age-old ideas, but he presented them in memorable ways for his time frame. Today his interpretation of the Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso provide ample fodder for our current moment in time – the hell, purgatory and heaven of a pandemic and self-isolation.
The work submitted for this show spans the gambit of Dante’s world view from the mundane to the sublime and includes a wide variety of media – painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, mixed media and jewelry. Criteria for the selection of works were based on inventive, poignant and memorable solutions that further an understanding of Dante and a personal symbolic response to his philosophy as well as how the work impacts our current moment. How does the idea portrayed in a work make you feel? How does the artist’s point of view further our understanding or appreciation for Dante or the feelings each of us [has experienced] throughout this pandemic? How effectively has the artist taken an age-old idea and imbued it with a fresh, and personally poignant interpretation? Some works accomplished aspects of these criteria well but fell short in others. However, many of the artists really made a significant [effort to] wrestle with the concept for the show and came upon unusual and poetic ways to experience Dante’s world view and our current moment in time.
It has been an honor and pleasure to have the opportunity to select the work and award winners for Divine Comedy. Congratulations to everyone. Thank You!
— Jo Stealey
AWARD WINNERS:
1st Place—Jane Mudd
2nd Place—Joanne Berneche
3rd Place—Richard Hoeppner
Honorable Mentions:
Travis Bond
Katelyn Smith
Mary Redders
