Viewfinder: OCAF Southworks Art Exhibition

The in downtown Watkinsville is hosting , the 16th Annual National Juried Art Exhibition. The exhibit features over 90 works of art from 69 artists.  

Works featured in the gallery come from across the nation and are chosen and judged by a juror with an extensive background dealing with art of all media types, OCAF Visual Arts Director Charles Warnock explained.

This years juror, Phaedra Siebert, is the current Curator of Drawings for the Arkansas Art Center, has interned at the Gutenberg and has curated shows for the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angles, as well as for the High Museum of Art in Atlanta.

Applications are sent out to past participants and calls for nationwide entries are posted on several large art show websites.  Those who wish to have their work submitted for judging send a digital image of their piece, the media used, the price, and the dimensions and only those four pieces of information are sent to the juror who then selects the pieces that he or she feels would be right for the gallery.  The juror then has the choice of judging the art from the information already given or to come and see the pieces, which has been the case for the past several years,  once the gallery has been set up by Warnock.   

Each year, Southworks also features another artist's collection whose work is presented in conjunction with the gallery and is not judged.  Including another gallery allows much more exposure for all artists involved and lends even more creative flavor to the exhibit.  This year, Jim Collins, a renowned sculptor, has been selected as the Director's Choice artist.  Collins, a former professor of Art at the University of Tennessee and a resident of Chattanooga, is a sculptor whose work is generally characterized by use of silhouette figures constructed of stainless steel, aluminum, and other metals who presently concentrates mostly on private and public commissions.

"Historically, Southworks has been one of OCAF's most anticipated and admired exhibitions," Warnock said.  "Being a nation juried show emphasizes its importance to the art community not only of our area but also the southeast.  It's a highly respected and honored event and we're excited about the prospects it offers to our members and to the general public."

Admission is free and the exhibition is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday through May 7.