Every two years, Rochester’s oldest and longest-running juried exhibition showcases the talents of emerging and established artists from a 27-county region. Past award winners, many of whom have gone on to establish national reputations, have included Wendell Castle, Albert Paley, Honoré Sharrer, Hans Christensen, Bill Stewart, and Kathy Calderwood.

Rochester-Finger Lakes artists are eligible for nine cash awards, among them the $1,500 Memorial Art Gallery Award, selected by the juror; the Alice Koret Award, presented by museum docents; and the Harris Popular Vote Award, selected by visitors during the first two weeks of the exhibition. The first eight will be announced at the members’ opening party; the popular vote award will be announced on July 3, 2019.

Awards

About the Juror

Marilyn Zapf is the Assistant Director and Curator at the Center for Craft, a national arts nonprofit headquartered in Asheville, North Carolina. She has curated a number of exhibitions including the nationally traveling Michael Sherrill Retrospective (Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC, 2018); Made in WNC (Center for Craft, Asheville, NC, 2015), and Gee’s Bend: From Quilts to Prints (Center for Craft, Asheville, NC, 2014). Zapf is a trustee of the American Crafts Council, a program advisor for the MA in Critical and Historical Craft Studies program at Warren Wilson College, and has published articles and reviews in international publications, including Art Jewelry Forum and Crafts Magazine (UK). She holds an MA in the History of Design from the Royal College of Art and Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England, and a BA (English Literature) and BFA (Jewelry and Metalworking) from The University of Georgia. Her areas of research include craft, postmodernism, and de/industrialization.


This exhibition is sponsored by the Rubens Family Foundation and the Gallery Council of the Memorial Art Gallery, with additional support from the John D. Greene Endowment for Contemporary Exhibitions, and the Robert L. and Mary L. Sproull Fund.