The 22nd biennial West Virginia Juried Exhibition opened at the Culture Center, State Capitol Complex in Charleston on Sunday, Nov. 14.
Receiving one of the Awards of Excellence was West Liberty University Professor of Art Brian Fencl. Fencl was presented with an Award of Excellence, which is a purchase award at the 2 p.m. awards ceremony, held the same day.
An oil on canvas, his winning work is entitled “Silly Rabbit (Lucky Charm).”
“I’m excited to be a part of the exhibition and grateful to the State of West Virginia for the support it shows the arts. The Cultural Center in Charleston is a great place for the exhibition and the staff in the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History do a great job,” Fencl said.
Fencl also had a second painting juried into the show.
Also earning a place in the juried exhibition is WLU alumna Jes Reger and former faculty members Bob Villamagna and Herb Weaver. Former librarian Cheryl Harshman also is part of the show.
Eighty West Virginia artists were selected for the exhibit, which features 110 pieces, including painting, drawing, mixed media, craft, photography, digital art, sculpture and print. Twenty-five counties are represented in the show.
The exhibit will remain at the Culture Center until Feb. 19, 2022.
“The West Virginia Juried Exhibition continues its tradition of presenting the best of our state’s well-known and emerging artists,” said West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History Curator Randall Reid-Smith. “This exhibition is supported by one of the nation’s largest endowments for juried exhibitions, allowing the department to collect contemporary art for the State Museum collection.”
At the opening reception, the department announced the exhibition award winners. Governor’s Award winners received $5,000 for their work. Awards of Excellence winners receive $2,000 for their work. These are purchase awards, and the art becomes part of the West Virginia State Museum’s permanent contemporary art collection.
Merit Awards of $500 each also were presented.
For more information, contact Charles Morris, director of museums for the department, at 304-558-0220 or Charles.W.Morris@wv.gov.
Fencl is just one faculty member in the College of Liberal Arts’ Department of Visual Art. For more information, please contact Fencl at bfencl@westliberty.edu. You may also visit his website here: www.fenclstudio.com.
