WEST LIBERTY, W.Va., Nov. 30, 2015 — Assistant Professor of Art Robert Villamagna recently captured a top prize in the 19th West Virginia Juried Exhibition, now on display at Tamarack in Beckley.
Villamagna, also the director of WLU’s Nutting Gallery, and two other artists won the $5,000 Governor’s Award prizes. The other winners were Alison Helm of Morgantown and Hanna Kozlowski-Slone of Huntington. This is Villamagna’s fourth time to earn a Governor’s Award during his career.
“I’m very proud of this award. The work goes in the state collection, so I’m very honored by this achievement. It means a lot to me,” Villamagna said. “It’s my adopted state so that makes it even more special.” Villamagna was born in California and lived much of his life in Toronto and Steubenville, Ohio.
Villamagna earned the Governor’s Award for “Captains of Industry,” an assemblage of repurposed lithographed metal, found images, acrylic paint and nails on wood.
Their prize-winning entries were purchased for the West Virginia State Museum’s permanent collection in Charleston.
Villamagna had another assemblage, “Taking Coal for a Walk,” accepted for the juried show, which he made from repurposed lithographed metal, found objects and nails.
WLU Boyle Library Director Cheryl Ryan Harshman of Wheeling has two clay monoprints, “Moons & Junes & Ferris Wheels” and “Bad Moon on the Rise,” also accepted into the annual exhibition, which opened on Nov. 8.
The exhibit will remain on display through Sunday, Feb. 21. The public may view the works daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. in November and December and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. in January and February.
The biennial exhibit features 119 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, photographs, mixed media and crafts created by 95 West Virginia artists, officials said. Many of the works on display are for sale.
This show is sponsored by the West Virginia Division of Culture and History and the West Virginia Commission on the Arts.
From its inception in 1979 until 2005, the West Virginia Juried Exhibition was presented at the state Culture Center in Charleston. Since 2007, the biennial show has been mounted in other locations around the state. For more information, please visit the Division of Culture and History News site.