BEST IN SHOW: Mary Farmilant (Chicago, IL), Room 1107

HONORABLE MENTION: John Koeppen (Racine, WI), Forgotten Window Objects

HONORABLE MENTION: Chris Norris (MAdison, WI), Night Light,

Paul Ha of the Contemporary.

CoPA 3rd Annual Juried Photography Exhibition

Friday, December 4, 2009 through Saturday, January 16, 2010 (Winter Gallery Night)

Opening reception: Friday, December 4, 5–9 pm

Winter Gallery Night reception: Friday, January 15, 5–9 pm

Milwaukee’s Coalition of Photographic Artists (CoPA) was founded to develop appreciation, promote growth and support the creation of photographic arts in the Greater Milwaukee Region. Its annual juried exhibition offers local and regional artists (from Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota) an opportunity to have their work evaluated by a carefully selected, renowned juror – a specialist of an impeccable reputation in the field of contemporary photography. This process of having their photographs measured against the technical, aesthetic and conceptual standards of the highest caliber can provide local and regional artists a real opportunity for learning and development. Since its inception, the show has been growing exponentially and last year, nearly 140 artists submitted their work for jurying. By rigorously maintaining the standards of photographic excellence, CoPA’s show continues to draw attention, interest and praise to the Milwaukee’s fine art scene.

This year, over 90 individual artists submitted their work for jurying. 47 images by 34 artists were chosen for the exhibition. The photographers invited to participate in the show are: PJ Boylan, Richard Bublitz, Eddee Daniel, Patricia Delker, C.M. DeSpears, David Draeger, Michael Dvorak, Mary Familant, Susan Foley, Marcia Getto, John Hart, Perry Heideman, Kurt Kamka, Kristen Keshena, John Koeppen, John Kohl-Riggs, Susan Lukas, Terrence Molter, Trevor McNaughton, Jill Newton Moore, Chris Norris, Ashley Rick Quinn, Robb Quinn, Mike Reinders, Karl Schroeder, Bernard Spinelli, Mike Starling, Benjamin Stewart, Miriam Sushman, Rikki Thompson, Ruth Yasko, Jessica Zalewski, Yong-ran Zhu, and William Zuback.

This year’s juror is Paul Ha, the Director of the Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis (the Contemporary). Under his leadership, the Contemporary has become a vibrant center for contemporary art and a prominent national venue. Prior to the Contemporary, Ha was the Deputy Director of Programs and External Affairs at Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut.  He worked also as the Executive Director (1996-2001) and Associate Director (1993-1996) of White Columns, New York’s oldest not-for-profit visual art space where he curated more than 50 solo and group exhibitions. Ha began his career in the arts over twenty years ago at the Washington Project for the Arts in Washington, DC.

Ha has lectured widely on contemporary art, artists, the emerging art scene, and the importance of not-for profits. He has served extensively on panels, and has been a visiting critic and lecturer at many institutions, universities and art schools, including the National Endowment for the Arts, the Federal Advisory Committee on International Exhibitions, Pew Fellowships in the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, and Yale University.

Exhibitions conceived under Ha’s leadership for the Contemporary include Chantal Akerman: Moving Through Time and Space; I Remember Heaven: Jim Hodges and Andy Warhol; Maya Lin: Systematic Landscapes; Laylah Ali: Painting and Drawings; Yoshitomo Nara: Nothing Ever Happens; William Pope.L, eRacism: Electronica, Yun-Fei Ji: The Empty City; and Oliviet Mosset and John Armleder.  Ha has curated and co-curated many exhibitions, including Alexander Ross: Survey, Cindy Sherman: Working Girl, Polly Apfelbaum: Crazy Love and Love Crazy, Slater Bradley: Contemporary Project Series; and Aïda Ruilova: The Singles 1999-Now. Ha exhibited artists such as Sarah Sze, Christoph Büchel, Jessica Craig-Martin, Rachel Feinstein, Anna Gaskell and Aïda Ruilova early in their careers, often presenting their first solo exhibition.

Amanda Gerken, Josie Osborne & Heather Wiedeman: In the Balance

The mixed-media works of Amanda Gerken, Josie Osborne and Heather Wiedeman are tied together by the common threads of exploration of architectural space and the poetic layerings of line, form, color and texture. In each artist’s work, printmaking, collage, drawn/painted marks and three dimensional forms are interwoven to offer viewers the opportunity to quietly explore, contemplate and find solace in multiple layers of mysterious space.

Amanda Gerken is a interior architect at Korb Tredo Architects in Milwaukee, WI and earned a BFA in Interior Architecture at Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. Her work juxtaposes strong foundations in space planning with elements of graphic design and printmaking to create poetic architectural spaces.  

       
Josie Osborne is a mixed-media visual artist who is the Director of Foundations in the Visual Art Department at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Peck School of the Arts. She earned an MFA in Graphics/Printmaking at the University of Wisconsin—Madison, and undergraduate degrees in Drawing and Painting, and Art History & Criticism at the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee. Osborne’s work is driven by the desire to make intangible experiences visible. Her current print collages and assemblages offer the viewers machine-like diagrams and architectural structures that explore the mechanics of memory and feeling.