AMFA Announces Artists for Upcoming 2024 "Delta Triennial" Exhibition

AMFA invites guests to explore the best of the Delta region's creative talent in an exhibition set to amplify diverse artistic perspectives; on view June 28 to August 25, 2024

The Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts (AMFA) announces the artists for its inaugural Delta Triennial exhibition, featuring 39 selected artists and seven invited artists representing Arkansas and its neighboring states: Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas. The 2024 Delta Triennial is on view from June 28 to August 25, 2024, in AMFA’s Harriet and Warren Stephens Galleries.

“This year, AMFA received over 1,200 applications––a record-breaking number for AMFA’s Delta exhibition,” shares Brian J. Lang, Chief Curator of AMFA and Windgate Foundation Curator of Contemporary Craft. “The sheer volume of applicants allowed jurors to select a truly exceptional showcase of art from the Mid-South. The 2024 Delta Triennial will be a display of unparalleled creativity and talent, making it a must-see exhibition for art enthusiasts and museumgoers alike.”

Selected artists for the exhibition are:

• Iranian artist Maryam Amirvaghefi (currently resides in Fayetteville, AR), who makes use of sports symbolism to illuminate the poignant struggle of justice and equality abroad;
• Vic Barquin (currently resides in Fayetteville, AR), whose works––through a variety of actions including ripping, wrapping, drilling, cutting, mounting, stapling, painting, and tying––become increasingly about the history of the piece and the sensation of its making;
• Jamie Bates Slone (currently resides in Norman, OK), a ceramic sculptor inspired by the female anatomy’s aptitude of encouraging viewers to confront their ideas and belief systems surrounding subjects like womanhood, mental health, motherhood, and sexuality;
• Heidi Carlsen-Rogers (currently resides in Bella Vista, AR), who expresses her keen observation of complexity and wonder in the world through her focus on environmental and social wellbeing, inclusiveness, connectedness, and healing;
• Kate Clements (currently resides in Kansas City, MO), who uses naturalistic and floral motifs to explore themes of beauty and impermanence;
• Colette Copeland (currently resides in Frisco, TX), an interdisciplinary visual artist, art educator, social activist, and cultural critic/writer, whose work examines issues surrounding gender, death and contemporary culture;
• Brian Ellison (currently resides in Houston, TX), a photographer, cinematographer, conceptual visual artist, nonprofit founder, and advocate capturing the intricate facets of the everyday Black experience and finding meaning in the mundane;
• Caroline Hatfield (currently resides in Starkville, MS), who uses sculpture, installation, and mixed media to engage with materiality and environment––inspired by the land use and extractive practices in southern Appalachia;
• Robyn Horn (born in Fort Smith, AR), whose wood sculptures contain qualities of asymmetry, geometry, volume, lack of balance, and contrast with heavily textured surfaces.
• Morgan Hill (born in West Memphis, AR), a sculptor and jewelry designer whose work navigates illness, abuse, depression, and suicide, as well as counterparts of rebirth, healing, and empowerment;
• Risa Hricovsky (currently resides in Knoxville, TN), who works through dichotomies such as order and chaos, attraction and repulsion, and similarity and difference to create visual poems about perception;
• Tim Hursley (currently resides in Little Rock, AR), a past Delta exhibition Grand Prize winner and architectural photographer drawn to the spaces and architectures of subcultures;
• Mark Jackson (currently resides in Siloam Springs, AR), a multidisciplinary artist focusing his work around places, the human figure, and curious objects––walking a delicate line between the abstract and the real;
• Linda Jurkiewicz (currently resides in Kansas City, MO), whose use of text, rhythm, and repetition all come together in her fiber work as she delves into the relatability of human life experiences;
• Molly Kaderka (currently resides in Stillwater, OK), an interdisciplinary artist working across printmaking, drawing, and painting inspired by her deep interest in natural phenomena and in human and Earth history;
• Amelia Key (currently resides in Norman, OK), an artist inspired by the preciousness of typically disposable objects, color exploration, and repetition;
• Ajamu Kojo (born in Little Rock, AR), currently based in Brooklyn, NY, whose often figurative works take a critical view of social, political and cultural issues––most recently through Afro-Surrealism;
• Paula Kovarik (currently resides in Memphis, TN), traditionally trained as a graphic designer, who now creates with fabric, resulting in inspired quilts recognized by Quilt National, Quilts=Art=Quilts, World of Threads, and others;
• Lisa Krannichfeld (currently resides in Little Rock, AR), a past Delta exhibition Grand Prize winner whose work refutes the traditional portrayal of women being passive subjects to gaze upon;
• Michael LeBlanc (currently resides in Bentonville, AR), whose mobilizable works aim to meet the audience where they are by offering an alternative to traditional person-to-person interaction and socializing;
• Kellie Lehr (currently resides in Bentonville, AR), whose use of folding techniques to explore how raw canvas holds a memory from its previous dimensional states, revealing areas and patterns that were once hidden;
• Mark Lewis (currently resides in Tulsa, OK), a past Delta exhibition Grand Prize winner who makes use of the geometry in the world around us, inviting viewers to explore perception, experience light, and sense scale;
• Andrew Lyman (born in Dallas, TX), who is inspired by other people’s creative expression, which he often references in his own paintings;
• Megan Lea Mattax (born in Little Rock, AR), now based in Richmond, VA, known for her work with mixed media, organic fiber forms, book art and encaustics
• Hallie McNeill (born in Jonesboro, AR), whose ceramic sculptures explore parodies of aspirational cultures, from self-help to the “always on” influencer to Christianity.
• Leigh Merrill (currently resides in Dallas, TX), an artist interested in photography’s ability to be evidence of existence and its ability to construct reality;
• Cora Nimtz (currently resides in New Orleans, LA), a self-proclaimed “Southern mutt,” who uses the native style of Southern folk art as a reclamation of sexuality, mental illness, and a voice in politics;
• Philana Oliphant (currently resides in Tyler, TX), who combines complex, intricate mark-making and paper-cutting with elegant three-dimensional forms to evoke a meditative, physiological response to themes of time, memory, environmental change, loss, and repetition;
• Lindsay Peyton (born in Houston, TX), who explores the concepts of home, travel, migration and movement, evoking feelings of nostalgia and longing from viewers;
• Queer and neurodivergent artist Lauren Phillips (currently resides in Kansas City, MO), who incorporates her hyperfixation on pattern, color, and decoration in highly detailed paintings exploring the complex and often intergenerational nature of trauma;
• Jocelyn Reid (currently resides in Fayetteville, AR), who reinvents everyday items, exploring the extraordinary nature of the mundane and the inanimate and often low-cost things that do work for us as humans;
• John Roberts (currently resides in Sharon, TN), who paints to remind viewers of generations, ways of life, and tranquility that no longer exist;
• David Robinson (born in Greenville, MS), whose striking sculptures incorporate a variety of materials ranging from bronze, steel and silver to concrete, mirror and paper to speak to the inherent tensions of human life;
• Rachel Trusty (born in Russellville, AR), with a Ph.D. in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, who makes use of traditional women's materials such as fibers and techniques like embroidery and sewing to explore themes of femininity, gender, and sexuality;
• Aaron Turner (currently resides in Fayetteville, AR), who uses photography as a transformative process to understand the ideas of home and resilience in Arkansas and the Mississippi Delta;
• Clark Valentine (currently resides in Little Rock, AR), who makes use of his studies of mysticism and time spent in silent contemplation to allude to his physical, mental, and spiritual experience in the specific moment each mark is drawn;
• Tim Walker (currently resides in Fayetteville, AR), who uses eggs and the tools he inherited from his father to process grief and symbolize the fragile nature of life in contrast to the archetypal symbols of strength;
• Louis Watts (born in Little Rock, AR), a multimedia artist exploring the repetition and the monotony of labor—themes that are reflected in highly intricate and almost obsessive detail and attention to minute mark-making;
• and Erica Westenberger (currently resides in New Orleans, LA), who explores the emotive decryptions of empowerment and insecurity through allegorical storytelling.

All artists were selected by jurors Amy Kligman, Executive Director of the Charlotte Street Foundation in Kansas City; Alexis McGrigg, a former Delta Voices participating artist from Mississippi; and Takako Tanabe, founding director of Ulterior Gallery in New York City.

The winner of the Grand Prize Award will be selected by these jurors and announced during a special Member & Press Preview Event on June 27. Museum guests may cast their vote on-site for the People's Choice Award through August 4.

Invited artists, chosen specifically for this exhibition include:

• Kevin Demery (Modesto, CA, 1992 - ): A Kansas City, MO-based artist whose work explores the interplay between North American history and signifiers of power, inviting viewers to move between the potent aesthetic of his work and the recurring motifs of historical violence, surveillance and childhood trauma.
• Christian Dinh (St. Petersburg, FL, 1992 - ): Based in New Orleans, LA, Dinh is a ceramic artist whose work centers on the Vietnamese culture that developed in the United States after the Vietnam War and his experiences as a second-generation Vietnamese American citizen.
• Anita Fields (née Luttrell) (Osage, Mvskoke, 1951 - ): A Native American ceramic and textile artist based in Oklahoma exploring the complexities of cultural influences and the intersections of balance and chaos found within our lives. Her work is currently on view at AMFA in Action/Abstraction Redefined: Modern Native Art, 1940s to 1970s, through May 26, 2024.
• Coulter Fussell (Columbus, GA, 1977 - ): Currently residing in Mississippi, Fussell is the youngest quilter in her family, hailing from generations of seamstresses, producing quilt-works using discarded and donated textiles as her sole materials.
• Letitia Huckaby (Augsburg, Germany, 1972 - ): An artist born in Germany, with her memories and heritage ingrained in the Delta region where she and her family grew up. Her use of remarkable texture, sharpness of detail, and nostalgia draws in viewers.
• Jerry Phillips (Marshalltown, IA, 1958 - ): An artist currently residing in Little Rock, AR, using found photographic images and texts as inspiration. He renders details from these sources in lush drawings that speak to the complexities of expression and communication.
• Andrew Scott Ross (New York, NY, 1980 - ): A Tennessee-based artist whose creative research has been dedicated to exploring the language of museums and encyclopedic art history.

“The 2024 Delta Triennial continues AMFA’s long-standing tradition of amplifying the artistic diversity of the Mid-South, showcasing these works alongside our renowned national and international collections,” remarks Dr. Victoria Ramirez, Executive Director of AMFA. "This meeting of local and global perspectives creates a dynamic dialogue within our galleries, offering Museum guests a truly enriching experience."

For more than 60 years, the Delta exhibition has heightened the visibility of artists living or working in Arkansas and its surrounding states. Taking its name from the fertile floodplains along the Mississippi River, the Delta exhibition has always aimed to amplify the artistic voices within the Mid-South, reflecting the region's intricate histories and cultural transformations. Over time, the Delta exhibition has transformed into a collaborative series, Delta Voices: Artists of the Mid-South, developed in partnership with museums across the region, and has now evolved into its current form as a triennial juried exhibition.

To continue expanding on Delta exhibition programming, AMFA will host a series of workshops taught by artists included in the 2024 Delta Triennial during Artists Weekend, beginning July 27.

The Delta Triennial opens at AMFA on June 28, 2024, and remains on view through August 25, 2024, in the Harriet and Warren Stephens Galleries.

The Delta Triennial is presented by Anne and Merritt Dyke. Additional support provided by Friday, Eldredge & Clark, LLP and the Andre Simon Memorial Trust Fund in memory of everyone who has died of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).

Exhibition images are accessible in AMFA’s press kit.

For more information on the Delta Triennial or other AMFA programming, please visit arkmfa.org.

About the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts

Founded in 1937, the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts is the largest cultural institution of its kind in the state, offering a unique blend of visual and performing arts experiences. AMFA is committed to featuring diverse media and artistic perspectives within its permanent collection of 14,000 works of art as well as through rotating temporary exhibitions. AMFA’s international collection spans eight centuries, with strengths in works on paper and contemporary craft, and includes notable holdings by artists from Arkansas, the South, and across the United States and Europe.

With a vibrant mix of ideas, cultures, people, and places, AMFA extends this commitment to diversity through its dynamic children’s theatre and performing arts program, the innovative Windgate Art School, and community-focused educational programs for all ages. Located in Little Rock’s oldest urban green space, MacArthur Park, AMFA’s landmark building and grounds are designed by Studio Gang and SCAPE, in collaboration with Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects.

Credit Line

John Roberts (Memphis, Tennessee, 1974 - ), Moses (detail), 2023, oil on wood panel, 48 x 60 x 2 in., On loan from David Lusk Gallery, Memphis.