Professor John Keller and junior Jessica Smithexchange thoughts and ideas for improvement Oct. 17 on the piece Smith painted. Keller gave his honest opinion to improve his students’ abilities and skills. [Jonathan Lindsay] Art professor’s leads to national success For over 37 years, the Mid-Southern Watercolorists held an annual juried exhibition of their members’works.Dr.John Keller,chair of the art department,along with Associate Professor of Art Beverly Austin submitted their artwork multiple times and were privileged to have their pieces accepted into the exhibition a total of four times each. “I started out in the organization when it first began but only submitted work to the exhibition about 20 years ago,”Austin said. Keller, on the other hand, said the competition had been going on about as long as his career in art had, but he had never entered the competition. “I’d known about Mid-Southern Watercolorists for years, but I was so swamped with teaching and chair responsibilities that preparing works for a juried show was almost always pushed to the back burner,”Keller said. “I needed a little bit of nudging from Beverly Austin.” Both Keller and Austin’s works were displayed at the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock in the first few years that they participated in the exhibition.However, the show location was moved from the Arkansas Arts Center to the riverfront at the Cox Center.The works were on display for over a month, and the opening of the exhibition was marked by a reception where the artists, friends and members of the Mid-SouthernWatercolorists gathered for a viewing of the work and the presentation of awards. “I had won two awards over the past four shows my work was accepted in, and both awards were the Bronze award,”Keller said. Even though entering the showwas a challenge,Keller said that there were many particulars that had to be met in order to have his entries displayed. “There were several parameters [such as] the work had to be no more than two years old,”Keller said.“That meant an artist had to be producing.They could not have produced in the past and then just sat out submitting works. Entries had to be a water-based medium, and most of the time they were transparent watercolor.The pieces also had to be matted and framed with a neutral mate and a plane frame, and there were no size restrictions.” While Austin and Keller had accomplished a great deal by being accepted to the show four times, both hoped to have works accepted a fifth time in order to receive special recognition from the society. Members who had works selected for five exhibitions were given the title of a Signature Member and could sign their works with Mid-Southern Watercolorist at the end of their name. However, the professors agreed that they were able to gain much more from being involved in the organization than the prestige the recognition of their art brought. “Competing with your art hones skills, and if you don’t put your art out there in a competitive way, sometimes you miss what’s happening,” Austin said. “Setting up for several competitions a year makes one work toward that goal and gets oneself in touch with other artists to see what’s happening.” Keller said that the organization gave him the goal of producing at least two works of art per year that he would enter into the competition.He felt that everyone involved in the organization benefited from the exhibition. “The show helped me professionally, and I think my work was able to help other members of the organization,” Keller said. [Jared Abelson] [faculty] 151 passion
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