Join us for the opening receptions of the 2009 Southern Tier Biennial
Two galleries | Two receptions | Twenty-eight artists | The region's best contemporary art

Saturday, May 9 the progressive openings begin at 3 pm at the Olean Public Library Gallery with punch and sweet treats. At 5 pm the opening festivities move to Jamestown Community College's new gallery located in the College Center on North Union Street where we'll continue the celebration of powerful contemporary art with wine and cheese and the unique guitar stylings of Bill Capozzi. The 2009 Southern Tier Biennial will be on display in both gallery locations through June 20, 2009. Exhibition catalogs are available at each location. 

Congratulations to the winners of the 2009 Southern Tier Biennial

Best of Show: Victoria Bradbury, Alfred, NY, Crossings, digital video, $1000 cash award

Best of Paintings category: Dan Reidy, Elmira, NY, Sideways Wendy, oil on canvas, $500 cash award  

Best of Drawings & Prints category: Susan Kendrot, Windsor, NY, Angry Boys, ink wash, $500 cash award  

Best of 3-dimensional Works category: Normandy Alden, Alfred, NY, Untitled, ceramic, $500 cash award

Best of Mixed and New Media category: Stephanie McMahon, Alfred Station, NY, Stack, acrylic and gouache on cut paper, $500 cash award

The 2009 Southern Tier Biennial is on exhibition at two gallery locations in Olean, NY until June 20, 2009. Gallery locations and hours are:

For the past five years, the Southern Tier Biennial (STB) has offered an exceptional opportunity to enter a juried contemporary art competition and exhibition to artist of the eight counties of New York State’s Southern Tier. The 2005 and 2007 shows were tremendous successes, with hundreds of artists entering, creating shows that showcased the vitality and diversity of contemporary art in the region. In planning the 2009 exhibition, the STB committee furthered the mission of the show by extending the professional development workshops into multiple locations and by maintaining a groundbreaking package for the artist named Best of Show. The Southern Tier Biennial also welcomes Jamestown Community College as a collaborating partner, and as a second exhibition site on the Olean, NY campus. This year’s jurors will be Holly E. Hughes, Associate Curator at the Albright Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, NY and Leonard Urso, the Mowris Mulligan Endowed Chair and Distinguished Professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY. This project is a collaboration among the Cattaraugus County Arts Council, Olean Public Library, the Cattaraugus Region Community Foundation, and now, Jamestown Community College.

Calendar

·    October 25, 2008: Professional Development Workshop in Salamanca, NY and November 1, 2008 in Elmira, NY presented by professional photographer Woody Packard, instructor at RIT and Alfred University

·    December 2008: Prospectus distributed and available online

·    February 14, 2009: Deadline to apply (postmark)

·    March 16, 2009: Notification mailed. Acceptance letters will include information on the exhibition opening and at which exhibition site—Olean Public Library Gallery or Jamestown Community College--work will be shown.

·    April 27, 2009: Deadline for receipt of accepted work which is shipped 

·    April 27-28, 2009: Deadline for receipt of accepted work which is hand delivered

·    May 9, 2009: Opening reception and awards ceremony at Olean Public Library Gallery 3:00pm; Reception and celebration 5:00pm at Jamestown Community College

·    June 20, 2009: Final day of exhibition

·    June 29-July 2, 2009: Deadline to pick up work

·   July 10, 2009: Return shipping completed

Awards and Stipends

For the 2009 Southern Tier Biennial, we are pleased to be able to present each artist accepted into the show with a $100 stipend to help allay costs associated with travel, shipping, and production. In addition, five cash awards totaling $3,000 will be presented: $500 for Best of Category in each of four categories and $1,000 to the Best of Show winner.

The Best of Show winner will also be presented with a solo show in spring of 2010 at the Olean Public Library Gallery with a four color catalog, a $1,000 Honorarium, up to $1,000 for professional development (workshops, training, etc.), and up to $1,000 for show expenses (framing, displays, etc.). Among the project’s benefits to accepted artists is reproduction of their work in a full-color catalog. (CCAC retains the right to photograph and reproduce works for purposes of documentation, publicity, and catalog publication.) All artists who enter the competition will receive one copy of the catalog.  Accepted artists will receive five copies. Catalogs will be offered free of charge to visitors at both exhibition sites.

A Word from the Jurors

 As a Western New York native, I am continually surprised and delighted by the wealth of talent and creativity that I find whenever I am asked to serve as a juror for a local exhibition or project. From the selection of works presented in this rendition of the Southern Tier Biennial, it is clear that the arts are very much alive in this region and play an indispensable role in our everyday lives.

 When I jury an exhibition, I am looking for work that I connect with immediately. For me, the most successful art is that which invites the viewer in, yet often poses more questions than answers. I am attracted to images that blur boundaries between the familiar and the unconventional. Such instances keep us looking, and engage us. As a juror, my job is to select the best work from what has been submitted, or in this case, to collaborate with a colleague to make selections that result in a cohesive and dynamic exhibition. When looking at the works in this exhibition, each individual work should not be viewed in isolation. I think you will find that comparisons between the selected artists will reveal a fun, quirky narrative of contemporary life. You may even find yourself repulsed by the mundane and enticed by the grotesque. 

I would like to thank my co-juror Leonard Urso for his synergy and sense of humor, as well as extend a heartfelt thank you to the members of the Cattaraugus County Arts Council for inviting me to be a juror. Their work and collaboration with regional partners to organize this exhibition deserves several rounds of accolades and applause. It is during times like these, when economic strife further challenges those who work in the arts, that projects such as this become a stream of sunlight amidst the cover of fog.