Winners in Latrobe Art Center’s ninth annual Mister Fred Rogers Fine Arts Juried Exhibition will be revealed during a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Sept. 5.
As juror, Anne Kraybill, the Richard M. Scaife Director/CEO of The Westmoreland Museum of American Art, selected 71 pieces to be displayed in the main gallery of the center at 819 Ligonier St. The show includes two- and three-dimensional works in various mediums.
Award categories include the Ned J. Nakles Award for Excellence in Oil/Acrylic, Mister Fred Rogers Award of Distinction and Best in Show. Judging took place Sept. 3.
“It’s another wonderful show,” says Lauren Buches, the center’s executive director. “We have a more interesting variety of mediums than we had last year.”
One piece that Buches says might be particularly interesting to visitors is the “dragon scale spoon dress” created by artist Stephanie Oplinger of Hunker, which was featured in an earlier solo show at the Greensburg Garden and Civic Center.
The show, running through Sept. 30, is presented in conjunction with the Greater Latrobe School District Art Conservation Trust.
Featured artists have the opportunity to be chosen by Greater Latrobe high school, junior high and elementary school students to have their work permanently displayed in Greater Latrobe School District’s Special Arts Collection, a program designed to expose students to original art.
“It’s definitely a lot of fun when the students come in and look at the art and consider its merits,” Buches says.
The Sept. 5 reception will feature wine, coffee, tea and light appetizers from Ricolita’s Café. Guests will have the opportunity to meet the show’s nearly 50 artists.
Kraybill joined The Westmoreland in 2018 after seven years at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Ark., where she was Director of Education and Research in Learning. She held prior positions in Florida, at the Vero Beach Museum of Art and at the Center for Creative Education and the Norton Museum of Art, both in West Palm Beach.
She has a master’s degree in museum education from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.
Details: 724-537-7011 or latrobeartcenter.org
