The Whitewater Valley Annual Art Competition

The IU East webpage for The Whitewater Valley Annual Art Competition describes the event as follows:

“The Whitewater Valley Annual Art Competition goes back 30 years. After more than a quarter of a century, entries number between 200 to 250 and come from as many as 40 universities, art organizations, art centers, and independent artists throughout the 300-mile radius around Richmond, Indiana. Juroring began with John Canaday, “hanging judge” of The New York Times for 20 years. The competition took a unique twist from other competitions in that Canaday openly critiqued in front of the entrants, making it an interactive learning experience.

Today individuals from major art publications and high profile curators who juror the Whitewater Valley Annual Art Competition continue putting education out front through public critiquing.

Through the Whitewater Valley Annual Art Competition, artists have encountered opportunities to enhance their careers through networking; leading to exhibitions, commissions and sale of their works of art.”

The Whitewater Valley Annual Art Competition wouldn’t exist today without IU East faculty member Tom Thomas. Tom created the competition and felt that it would be a great learning opportunity for students to get constructive feedback on their art work. He encouraged jury members to critique artwork on the spot so that artists could obtain valuable feedback through discussion.  In 1996, Tom put together a dossier, highlighting a lot of his work at the IU East campus, and he explains why he created this competition and its value to the wider Richmond community. You can even view some of Thomas’ own description here:^[1]

The IU East Campus is proud of its’ many art initiatives and collaborations with artists, both local and far. For additional information on the arts at IU East, check out the IU East and Community Art Initiatives Exhibit created by Summer 2018 Bicentennial Intern Brittany Yoder. To view past programs from the Whitewater Valley Art Competition that the archives has digitized, go to IU’s Archives of Institutional Memory.