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For more than 60 years, the Delta exhibition has elevated and promoted awareness of artists born in or working in Arkansas and its surrounding states: Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas.
Founded by AMFA in 1958 as a juried exhibition, the Delta is named after the fertile floodplains surrounding the Mississippi River and seeks to amplify artistic voices in the Mid-South as they reflect complex histories and shifts in the cultural landscape. Since establishing the Delta exhibition, AMFA has consistently collected art produced by artists from the Mid-South and displayed it in context with our nationally and internationally recognized collection. In so doing, AMFA elevates awareness of the artistic diversity of the region and illustrates that American art is not monolithic but comprised of many voices.
In recent years, the Delta exhibition has evolved from its original format as an annual juried exhibition into a collaborative series, Delta Voices: Artists of the Mid-South—developed in partnership with AMFA and museums throughout the region.
Beginning in 2024, the first Delta Triennial will be held at the new AMFA, bringing new artists and voices to advance the rich legacy of art making in the Mid-South region. Additionally, the exhibition will feature one invited artist from each of the participating states, as well as artwork submitted for juror consideration.
Letitia Huckaby (Augsburg, Germany, 1972 - ), Ms. Woods, 2022, pigment print on fabric with embroidery, 71 x 41 x 1 7/8 in., Courtesy of the artist and Talley Dunn Gallery.
Details
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Entry Process
- Artwork submissions for the Delta Triennial will be accepted from January 1, 2024, to February 11, 2024.
- Artists will be notified of the Guests Jurors' selections for the exhibition by March 29, 2024.
- Artworks selected for the exhibition must be delivered in person or shipped to the Museum. In-person artwork deliveries to the Museum must take place on May 31, 2024, or June 1, 2024. Shipped artworks must arrive between June 3, 2024, and June 7, 2024, via FedEx or UPS.
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Eligibility Criteria
Entrants must have been born in or are currently living in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, or Texas. Artists must provide their city and state of birth, birth year, and city and state of current residence when submitting artwork.
Additionally, artwork submitted for consideration must have been completed in 2021 or later.
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Stipends
Juried artists will receive a stipend to offset the delivery of their artwork based on their distance from the Museum.
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Awards
The Guest Jurors will choose one “Grand Award” in the amount of $5,000. During the run of the exhibition, the public will choose one “People’s Choice Award” in the amount of $1,500.
Jurors
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Amy Kligman
Amy Kligman has been the Executive Artistic Director at Charlotte Street Foundation in Kansas City, Missouri, since 2015. At Charlotte Street, Amy has led the organization through two strategic plan processes, an award-winning major rebrand, a $10 million capital campaign, the development of new grants and major programs, the doubling of the annual budget and staff capacity, and buildout of the organization’s first permanent home in Midtown Kansas City.
Kligman’s career and experience as an exhibiting artist and grassroots curator/arts administrator spans 20 years of studio and exhibition work, independent curating and organizing, and artist-run projects. In 2011, Kligman was one of a team of five artist-curators who established Plug Projects, an artist-run project space in Kansas City’s West Bottoms that hosted a robust and nationally recognized calendar of exhibitions and artist-centered programming.
Amy’s personal artistic practice is centered on painting and installation. She is represented by Sherry Leedy Fine Art in Kansas City, Missouri. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, the Hallmark Cards Art Collection, and numerous private collections across the country.
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Alexis McGrigg
Photo by Trenton Steele Alexis McGrigg is a contemporary artist who examines themes of Blackness, space, spirituality, identity, and collective consciousness. Her artwork utilizes the mediums of painting, drawing, and interdisciplinary media to explore the multiplicity of Blackness through figurative abstraction and conceptual narratives. She integrates poetry, sound, and performance in her arts practice and research.
Her artwork is included in several private collections and has been featured in exhibitions across the U.S. and internationally in New York, NY; Chicago, IL; Miami, FL; New Orleans, LA; and Oakland, CA – most recently in her solo exhibitions In The Beloved at Almine Rech Gallery, Brussels, Belgium; The Labour of Being at Almine Rech Gallery, Paris, France; and The Ether - Journey In Between at Richard Beavers Gallery, New York; group exhibitions, SAY IT LOUD at Christie’s Auction House; Salon de Peinture at Almine Rech, New York; and LIGHT at the Czong Institute for Contemporary Art (CICA) in South Korea.
Alexis earned her Bachelor of Fine Art in Painting from Mississippi State University in 2012 and a Master of Fine Art with a concentration in Painting and Transmedia from Texas Tech University in 2017.
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Takako Tanabe
Takako Tanabe is the founding director of Ulterior Gallery located in SoHo, New York. Originally from Japan, Tanabe is committed to exhibiting and supporting an intergenerational array of artists from diverse cultures and backgrounds who explore states of essential in-betweenness beyond borders, boundaries, and categories.
Before opening her Ulterior Gallery, she worked for Fergus McCaffrey Gallery, New York, New York; the Chinati Foundation, Marfa, Texas; and Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas. Combining all the experiences from the past, Tanabe operates her gallery with the fullest degree of joy and care.
Ulterior Gallery's programs have been reviewed in the New York Times, ArtAsiaPacific, Artforum, BOMB Magazine, Brooklyn Rail, 美術手帖 [Bijutsu Techo] and many other publications internationally.
Since 2019, Ulterior has participated in local and international art fairs, including Art Collaboration Kyoto, Dallas Art Fair, Feria Material, NADA Miami, The Armory Show, and Tokyo Gendai.
Sponsors
Delta Triennial is presented by Anne and Merritt Dyke with additional support from Friday, Eldredge & Clark, LLP and the Andre Simon Memorial Trust Fund in memory of everyone who has died of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).
