After 5: MOAK Returns

It’s back.

After taking its standard year off, the biennial MOAK 4-State Regional Exhibition returns to the Springfield Art Museum this month showcasing the works of 32 southwest Missouri artists. Eighteen artists are from Springfield.

In all, 98 works by 70 artists from Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas were selected out of 337 submissions by 176 artists, says Sarah Buhr, Springfield Art Museum’s curator of exhibitions. Serving as expert juror is Julia Kirt, an active curator and executive director of the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition in Oklahoma City.

The local and state concentration – there are 50 Missouri artists – is partly due to the exhibition’s Springfield roots. It was founded by the Springfield Art Museum in 1990 as MOAK Craft, then broadened in 1992 to include all media, including painting, prints, photography, sculpture, ceramics and jewelry. The 2008 MOAK had 76 artists and 94 works on display.

Artists enter up to two pieces for the exposure, cash awards and sales opportunities, Buhr says.

“We usually have quite a few artists who will sell from the show,” she says.

Some $2,700 in cash will be awarded, and Springfield Art Museum officials have chosen five pieces to purchase as part of its permanent collection. One purchased piece is Hugh Yorty’s “Still Life (12 Rue de Bac)” oil painting on canvas. It also received a $500 cash award.

“It’s always nice when your work is in a public place,” Yorty says of again becoming part of the museum’s permanent collection. “It’s shared.”

His winning work depicts a scene in Paris, offering a view from his apartment at 12 Rue de Bac.

“A lot of my paintings have to do with places I’ve been,” says Yorty, a 67-year-old retired Missouri State University art teacher 1967–2005. “I set up a still life, and they’re based upon my memory, maps, photographs and recording of light and atmosphere.”

Yorty often creates the scene to compose relationships with figures in his home studio before picking up a paintbrush. In this case, the chosen geometric objects were children’s toys.

“Some are leftover building blocks from my children,” he says, adding that others he purchased at garage sales. “The most important thing is that (viewers) look at the painting and think whatever they want to think.”

A preview reception of the MOAK 2010 works is scheduled Nov. 19 at the museum, and Buhr expects about 20 of the artists to be on hand.

---

Event Details

MOAK 2010 4-State Regional Exhibition
Who: 32 Ozarks artists; 70 artists from four states
What: 98 works in a variety of media
Where: Springfield Art Museum, 1111 E. Brookside Drive
When: Nov. 20–Jan. 2
Hours: 9 a.m.–5 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; 9 a.m.–8 p.m. Thursday; and 1–5 p.m. Sunday
Cost: None; donations accepted

[[In-content Ad]]