Juried Visual Art Exhibition
The 2024 call for artists is now closed. Check back in late 2024 for details about the 2025 application process. Sign up for our email list here to be the first to hear about future open calls.
2024 Award Winners
Tessa MoellerTrinity Rollins
Fabrizio Gerbino
Jean Plough Shaw
Sandy Kessler Kaminski
Mike Saoud
Cheryl Capezzuti
Don Strange
Olivia Locher
Jeff DiStefano
AJ Evans
Eli Kessler
Amy Short
Alan Byrne
Mary Aston-Richards
Evelyn Dunbar
Jennifer Kelly
Yelena Lamm
Lizz Ford
The Juried Visual Art Exhibition showcases exceptional new art by regional artists and is one of the pillars for the Festival’s high-quality visual arts offerings. The exhibition is hosted at SPACE Gallery (812 Liberty Avenue) in the Cultural District. The show opens with a preview reception on Thursday, May 30 and will be open all 10 days of the Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival, May 31-June 9, 2024, and extending through the summer, closing August 11.
The theme for the 2024 Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival Juried Visual Art Exhibition is "Furry Friends: An Artistic Celebration of Animal-Human Friendships."
This year’s theme welcomes submissions that explore the profound and complex connections between humans and animals, be they companions, pets, wildlife, or creatures of myth or imagination. This exhibition will celebrate the diverse ways in which animals enrich our lives, challenge our perspectives, and inspire our creativity as they have done throughout history.
The Juried Visual Art Exhibition welcomes thousands of visitors over the course of ten days and SPACE gallery sees hundreds of visitors weekly. Often reviewed by esteemed art critics, artworks may be featured in Festival press coverage, as well as purchased by attendees for personal and corporate collections. Select JVAE Artists have also been recruited to exhibit in solo and group shows as part of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s gallery system as well as other gallery opportunities citywide. All accepted artists will be invited to the private preview of the exhibition on May 30, 2024. Admission to the exhibition is free and open to the public.
Please review eligibility, rules, and procedures before applying.
2024 Awards
- Best in Show – $2500 (as selected by all jurors)
- Juror's Choice – $500 (3 total awards - 1 from each juror)
- People’s Choice – $500 (as voted on by the general public)
2024 Jurors:
- Kimberly Diana Jacobs, Exhibitions Manager & Assistant Curator, August Wilson African American Cultural Center
- Anastasia James, Director of Galleries & Public Art, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
- Liz Park, Richard Armstrong Curator of Contemporary Art, Carnegie Museum of Art
Kimberly Diana Jacobs is a curator and arts professional with over ten years of experience in art galleries and museums. Her academic background covers art history, museum studies, modern and contemporary art by artists of African descent. She is currently exhibition manager and assistant curator at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center. Prior to joining the AWAACC team, Kimberly served as interim director of Clark Atlanta University Art Museum and most recently as director and curator of the William R. Harvey Museum of Art at Talladega College. In addition to her leadership roles, Kimberly has contributed to panels, lectures, exhibitions, and performances at museums including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University, Saint Louis Art Museum, and Mississippi Museum of Art. In 2016 Kimberly was awarded the Catherine Hannah Behrend Fellowship by ArtTable at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and in 2013-14 she was the Romare Bearden Fellow at the Saint Louis Art Museum. Her exhibition projects include A Lesson in Black Excellence: Historically Black Colleges and Universities from Their Founding to the Future, which focused on HBCU art collections and archives, Terry Adkins: Renditions I-III at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art in 2018, and All Things Being Equal, a group exhibition for the opening of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town, South Africa in 2017. Born in Jackson, Mississippi, she is a graduate of Jackson State University with a bachelor’s in fine art and master’s in history and continued her postgraduate studies in art history and museum studies at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Anastasia James is the Director of Galleries and Public Art at the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. She was formerly Deputy Director of Art & Education at the Bechtler Museum and founding Curator at the Lucas Museum of Art. Prior to this she held curatorial roles at the Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco and the Queens Museum, New York. James has curated and managed noteworthy exhibitions featuring a diverse range of emerging, established, and international artists for institutions and galleries and her work has been profiled widely in periodicals including, The New York Times, Art Forum, Art in America, ArtNews, Hyperallergic, Vogue, The New Yorker, and The Los Angeles Times. She holds a MA in Curatorial Studies from The Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College (CCS Bard).
Liz Park is Richard Armstrong Curator of Contemporary Art at Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh where she is currently working on reinstalling the museum’s collection. She was most recently Curator of Exhibitions at the University at Buffalo Art Galleries, State University of New York, and was Associate Curator of the 2018 Carnegie International. She was Whitney-Lauder Curatorial Fellow at ICA Philadelphia in 2013–15, and Helena Rubinstein Fellow at the Whitney Independent Study Program in 2011–12. She received her BFA in visual art and MA in curatorial studies at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.
Past Jurors Include:
- Lexi Bishop, Director and Founder of here Gallery, Pittsburgh
- Tara Fay Coleman, Gallery Manager, Visual Arts, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
- Jillian Daniels, Deputy Director of Operations, Silver Eye Center for Photography, Pittsburgh
- Jessica Beck, Former Milton Fine Curator of Art at The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh PA
- Laylah Amatullah Barrayn, Documentary Photographer, New York, NY
- Betty Douglas, Artist/owner of Douglas Art Gallery, Rochester, PA
- Brendan Dugan, Gallerist, publisher, and the founder of Karma, New York, NY
- Casey Droege, Founder and Director, Casey Droege Cultural Productions, Pittsburgh, PA
- Aaron Henderson, Assistant Professor, Studio Arts Department, University of Pittsburgh
- Richard Hylton, Lecturer in Contemporary Art at SOAS, London
- Jeffrey Jarzynka, Director, Zynka Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
- Dan Leers, Curator of Photography, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
- Kilolo Luckett, Founding Executive Director and Chief Curator, Alma | Lewis, Pittsburgh, PA
- Lucy Mensah, Former Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art, Detroit Institute of Art
- Njaimeh Njie, Multimedia artist, Pittsburgh, PA
- Lee Parker, founder and Executive Director, Neu Kirche Contemporary, Pittsburgh, PA
- John Peña, Artist, Pittsburgh, PA
- Shikeith, Artist, New York, NY
- Lise Ragbir, Writer and Curator, Austin, Texas
- Rachel Saul Rearick, Executive Director, Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, PA
- Jessie Rommelt, Founder and Executive Director, Bunker Projects, Pittsburgh, PA
- Lenore D. Thomas, Associate Professor, Studio Arts Department, University of Pittsburgh
- Alisha Wormsley, Interdisciplinary Artist and Cultural Producer, Pittsburgh, PA
- Imin Yeh, Assistant Professor, Carnegie Mellon School of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
Recent JVAE award winners include:
2023 Best in Show
Evangeline Mensah-Agyekum, 'iorica (self portrait)
2023 Juror Awards
Steve Alexis - Jennifer Shin, How do you welcome yourself?
Lexi Bishop - Dyvika Peel, Weight Room
Tara Fay Coleman - Payton Brown, Hotel Flamingo
Jillian Daniels - Abbi Ruppert, You won't find me here
2023 People's Choice
William Karaffa, Punish ME
2022 Best in Show
Scott Hunter, Souvenir Shop
2022 Juror Awards
Brendan Dugan - Elizabeth Wells, The Cow From Barlow Farm and Farmer Barrett's Daughters
Kilolo Luckett - Annie Weidman, Reliquary for the Trees of Southwestern Pennsylvania Threatened by Climate Change
Njaimeh Njie - Curtis Reaves, Remnant 2
Rachel Saul Rearick - Molly Stout Davis, Untitled (Floorboard Barrels)
Anonymous Award - Manjushree Roy, Melungeon Appalachian (Rebirth of a lost race of USA)
2022 People's Choice
Selva Priya, Appalachian Girl
2020 Best in Show
Ana Armengod
2020 Juror Awards
Richard Hylton - Anastasia Davis
Dan Leers - Douglas J. Webster
Lise Ragbir - Laura Domencic
Jessie Rommelt - Dorion Barill
2020 People's Choice
Douglas J. Webster
2019 Best in Show
Ulric Joseph
2019 Juror Awards
Laylah Amatullah Barrayn - Mikael Owunna
Jeffrey Jarzynka - Jennifer Brinkle
Imin Yeh - Tyler Gaston
Shikeith - Roman Spataro
2019 People's Choice
Cynthia Cable
2018 Best in Show
Jessica Alpern Brown
2018 Juror Awards
Alisha Wormsley - Kevin Clancy
Jessica Beck - Danny Bracken
Lucy Mensah - Bradley Weyandt
People's Choice - Annie Weidman
2017 Best in Show
Sydney Mullis
2017 Juror Awards
Lee Parker - Megan Tepper
John Peña - Don Coulter
Lenore D. Thomas - Sheila Swartz
People's Choice - Joyce Perry
2016 Best in Show
Silvija Singh
2016 Juror Awards
Casey Droege - Margaret Haden
Aaron Henderson - Crystal Beiersdorfer
Betty Douglas - Melissa Lohr
People's Choice - Richard L Harydzak
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