The 9th Annual PINNACLE National Juried Art Competition and Exhibition featured at the Foster-Tanner Gallery. The competitions features work from artists all over the country.
Amari Godwin | The Famuan
The ninth annual PINNACLE National Juried Art Competition took place Thursday, Jan. 17 at 5:30 p.m. on Florida A&M University’s campus in the Foster-Tanner Fine Arts Gallery, where it also held its opening reception for the exhibition.
Aja Roache, Foster-Tanner Gallery director and art professor, gave insight on what people could expect to see when visiting the PINNACLE competition and exhibition.
“This is an all-media show which means that we include all mediums, so it’s a wide variety,” Roache said. “You’re going to find photography, you’re going to find paintings, sculptures, there’s going to be abstract work, representational work, there’s a little bit of everything for everyone.”
The ninth annual PINNACLE National Juried Art Competition and Exhibition features all-media and a variety of original artwork that is chosen by a distinguished juror. This year’s distinguished juror is William Cordova.
Cordova is an abstract artist who was born in Peru and moved to Miami, Florida at an early age. He then went to the School of Art Institute of Chicago where he received his Bachelor in Fine Arts. He received his masters degree from Yale University.
Although Cordova was unable to attend the ceremony, his art work and recent solo exhibitions can be found in places such as The Museum of Contemporary Art in Miami, Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, La Casa de las Americas in Havana, Cuba, and many more.
The national competition allowed many artists to travel from places such as Mississippi and Orlando to showcase their art work and compete.
Amongst all the artists that submitted art work for this year’s competition and exhibition, FAMU Fine Arts program was represented by junior fine arts major, Kala Brown.
Brown found her inspiration from old glamour photos.
“For these two particular pieces I was really inspired by old glamour photos. I wanted to do what I call a ‘legacy photo’ just something you could be like ‘oh this is the matriarch of our family?’” Brown said. “These are my classmates, girls I see every day so I just wanted to see them in a different light rather than just their regular everyday thing, just kind of give them some glamour.”
Brown’s artwork is called “Callia and De’Auzhoni” and is on display in the Foster-Tanner gallery.
The art competition and exhibition selects a total of four winners including, “Best in Show,” first, second, and third place. The winners of these titles receive a cash prize, and will be featured in the PINNACLE exhibition and catalog.
Stephanie Smith, a graduating fine arts major, gave some advice for up and coming artists like herself.
“Take your time and really find your voice in your artwork,” Smith said. “There’s going to be so many different points of views, so many different places you could look for inspiration, use those outlets to your advantage so that you could find your voice.”
The upcoming exhibitions that will take place at FAMU’s Foster-Tanner Fine Arts Gallery are “Earl Washington Unlimited Expressions of Life” that will be on display from Feb. 28 to March 29, and the “Graduating Senior Art Exhibition” that includes three fine arts seniors, including Stephanie Smith. This exhibition will be on display in the gallery from April 8 to May 3.
The Ninth Annual PINNACLE Exhibition will be on view from January 14 to February 15.
Fine Arts student Kala Brown stands next to her submitted artwork at the Foster-Tanner Arts Gallery for the 9th Annual PINNACLE National Juried Art competition and Exhibition on Thursday Jan. 17th.
Amari Godwin | The Famuan