Telling Tales: Enter Your Story in the 29th Annual Juried Woodworking Exhibition

29th Annual Juried Woodworking ExhibitionSubmitted Image

MALVERN, PA — Do you have a story to tell? If so, Wharton Esherick Museum wants to hear it! They are currently holding an open call for entries for the 29th Annual Juried Woodworking Exhibition, with the theme of “Telling Tales.”

This is your chance to share your creative voice and vision with audiences at the museum. Whether your story’s roots are personal, familial, cultural, or historical, the hope is that you will submit your entry and join us at the exhibition. The deadline for submissions is January 6, 2023, so don’t wait too long!

Life is full of stories. We tell them to make sense of the past, to find new perspectives, and to explore how we want things to be. Through the stories of others, we understand ourselves, and everyone has an impactful story to tell. The Wharton Esherick Museum is inviting you to share an artwork that centers a story that matters to you and incorporates wood in some way. This is an opportunity to use your creativity to communicate something important. So what’s your story? What do you want to say?

Open to both emerging and established makers across all artistic disciplines, the 29th Annual Juried Woodworking Exhibition is an opportunity to showcase works that highlight the beauty and versatility of wood. From carving and turning to marquetry and intarsia, there is no limit to the mediums that can be used so long as wood is part of the finished piece. Entries should be available for the duration of the exhibition, and jurists will evaluate submissions based on inventive approaches to the prompt, craftsmanship and technical proficiency, aesthetics, and other considerations as determined by the jury.

The three jurors include BA Harrington, Artist and Asso­ciate Profes­sor of Wood­work­ing, and Direc­tor of the Wood Center at Indiana Univer­sity of Penn­syl­va­nia (IUP), and Adam Manley, Associate Professor of Furniture Design & Woodworking, San Diego State University, and Furniture Society Board President, along with Emily Zilber, WEM’s Director of Curatorial Affairs and Strategic Partnerships. They will select the finalists for the exhibition from the images submitted using a blind jury process. It is strongly recommended that you submit high-quality images to ensure the jury sees your piece at its best.

To enter, entrants should submit a completed entry form online with no more than 3 images for each entered piece. It is recommended two overall images and one detail. Photographs should be JPEG or TIFF files sized at a minimum of 4 x 6 inches at 300 dpi (1200 pixels on the longest side). The jury will select finalists via your submitted images, so the Wharton Esherick Museum suggests sharing images that are as high-quality and well-composed as possible.

There is a $30 entry fee ($20 for Museum members; a special $30 membership to the museum is available for artists). The fee is non-refundable and covers the entry of up to three pieces. Additional entry fees apply for more than three pieces.

The 29th Annual Juried Woodworking Exhibition is also accepting entries from current high school and middle school students. The Horace Hartshaw award will be given to one outstanding young woodworker, in honor of Hartshaw who worked alongside Wharton Esherick in the 1950s and 1960s. To be considered for the Hartshaw award, students must indicate on their entry form that they are currently enrolled in high school or middle school. The student fee is $15.

For additional details, visit whartonesherickmuseum.org.

For the latest news on everything happening in Chester County and the surrounding area, be sure to follow MyChesCo on Google News.