Inside Art at Jonathan Ferrara Gallery March 31, 2011

15th Annual No Dead Artists National Juried Exhibition
National Call For Artists Now Open

Jonathan Ferrara Gallery announces the 15th edition of the Annual No Dead Artists National Juried Exhibition of Contemporary Art. The exhibition is co-presented by ArtDaily.org, the First Art Newspaper on the Net.

The No Dead Artists exhibition was founded in 1995 to give a voice to emerging artists. The exhibition's name is derived from the old adage that artists never achieve success until they are dead. No Dead Artists turns that notion on its head and gives emerging artists their first break in the art world.

In the 90's, the exhibition was open only to New Orleans artists and subsequently grew to include artists of Louisiana. In 2010, the exhibition expanded to become a national juried exhibition open to artists from the entire US and ArtDaily came on board to further broadcast the jury winning works to the world, thus giving these emerging artists an even great voice.

The exhibition has been a springboard for numerous artists leading to national press coverage, recognition, gallery representation and acquisitions by museums and other prominent collections. Each year gallery owner Jonathan Ferrara invites a panel of renowned arts professional and collectors to select the newest creative talents.

Past jurors have included Prospect.1 Founder and Curator Dan Cameron, Weisman Foundation Director Billie Milam Weisman, Collector and Philanthropist Beth Rudin DeWoody, MacArthur Fellow John Scott, Whitney Trustee and Ballroom Marfa Co-founder Fairfax Dorn and artist Tony Fitzpatrick.

For the 15th edition, three renowned arts professionals have been tapped for the 2011 No Dead Artists jury:

Collector and Arts Philanthropist Toby Devan Lewis
New Orleans Museum of Art Director Susan Taylor
and
21c Museum Director William Morrow.

The Jurors

Toby Devan Lewis is a philanthropist, art collector, author and curator. For more than twenty years Lewis amassed a collection of art works by emerging artists for the Progressive Corporation, the nation's third largest auto insurer. This collection, now numbers more than 6300 works and has been rated as one of the country's top collections by Art and Auction magazine. Lewis' philanthropy includes major gifts to the New Museum of New York, where she is an active member of its Board of Trustees. She also serves on the boards of the Cleveland Museum of Contemporary Art and the Cleveland Film Society. She is the founding benefactor of Prospect New Orleans, the premiere biennial of international contemporary art in the U.S. She is the 2007 recipient of the Martha Joseph Prize for Distinguished Service to the Arts. In 2004 she was the recipient of the Award of Excellence from the International Association of Professional Art Advisors in 2004, and in 1998 she was honored by the New Museum for her "significant contribution in bringing the visual arts and creative experience to the work environment." In 2009, she was honored by ArtTable in New York for her contributions to the arts. Toby Lewis' interest in the arts is constantly challenge how we look and perceive our world and underlines both her professional career and her commitment to the arts and ideas.

William Morrow manages the private collection of Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson, and has been the Director of 21c Museum, Louisville, KY since 2006. Part of the 21c Museum Hotel, the museum brings contemporary art to the public through innovative exhibitions and programs that integrate art into daily life. Morrow is one of the founding board members of the Kentucky School of Art and a founding member of the Commission on Public Art, Louisville, KY. He received his MA in Art History and English Literature from the University of St Andrews and an MA in Museum Studies from School of World Art and Museum Studies, University of East Anglia Norwich, England. 21c Museum is North America's first museum dedicated solely to collecting and exhibiting art of the 21st century. The 9,000-square-foot Museum, part of 21c Museum Hotel, was opened in 2006 and is committed to bringing works of art to the public through innovative exhibitions and programs that integrate contemporary art into daily life. The exhibitions and installations of 21c Museum weave into the fabric of the hotel and the surrounding streetscape, with works of art filtering into both public space and unexpected places.

Susan Taylor has been the Director of the New Orleans Museum of Art since September 2010 and has been a museum director for over twenty years, having led the Davis Museum and Cultural Center at Wellesley College for 12 years and the Princeton University Art Museum for eight years. At Princeton she is well known for instituting wide-ranging innovations in collections development, planning, programming and outreach. She is also deeply involved in the ongoing debate about collection ownership and cultural property issues, having successfully resolved several ownership claims for works of art in Princeton's collection. She founded new curatorial departments in the areas of Education and Academic Programming, American Art, and Modern and Contemporary Art and strengthened the museum's collections, and oversaw the development of an ambitious exhibition and education program that effectively reached campus, national and international audiences. Taylor is the former director of the Davis Museum and Cultural Center at Wellesley College. During her twelve-year tenure at Wellesley, she oversaw the construction of an award-winning museum facility designed by Spanish architect Rafael Moneo. She holds art history degrees from Vassar College and the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University. She serves on boards and committees of many professional organizations including the Getty Museum and the Frances Lehman Loeb Arts Center at Vassar College. She holds art history degrees from Vassar College and the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University.

The No Dead Artists submission period is open from March 1, 2011 thru June 15, 2011. The exhibition is open to all mediums including painting, sculpture, glass, metal work, photography, video, mixed media and installation art.

The jury winners are featured in widely attended exhibition at Jonathan Ferrara Gallery in New Orleans from September 1 through September 24, 2011. Selected jury winners are also featured in articles published on ArtDaily.org written by art critic D.Eric Bookhardt (ArtPapers and Gambit Weekly New Orleans).

New Orleans

New Orleans has become a destination for contemporary visual art and is considered one of the hotbeds of creative talent in the US. With exhibitions like Prospect Biennial, the national and international focus on New Orleans and its arts scene has increased dramatically from both a critical and collector perspective. With its rich cultural heritage and its unique indigenous creativity, the city and its arts scene are poised for continued success.

Jonathan Ferrara Gallery

Jonathan Ferrara Galley is a collective environment of creative visions; a commercial gallery with a public conscience. Artist, activist, and entrepreneur Jonathan Ferrara opened the gallery in 1998 to give emerging artists a voice. Since its inception, the gallery has focused on cutting edge works by local, national and international artists with a sense of purpose, mission, and message. In recent years, it has gained a national reputation and increasingly presents artists and exhibitions in cities across the US including the Pulse Fair in Miami and VOLTA NY Fair in New York.

For more information, please contact the gallery via email at nodeadartists@gmail.com

Applications can be downloaded from the gallery's website by clicking here.