The Danforth Museum of Art will host an opening reception on Thursday, June 17 from 5:30- 7:30 pm for their Annual Juried Members’ Show and A Community of Artists’ Show on view through August 8, 2010.  These two separate exhibitions are part of the Museum’s annual celebration of art and the creation of art, which showcases work by artists who are members of the Museum, and will be on view until Sunday, August 8, 2010.  Displayed work is for sale, helping to support exhibitions and educational programming, as well as the exhibiting artists.  The reception is free of charge.

Juried by Jen Mergel, Beal Family Senior Curator of Contemporary Art, Museum of Fine Art, Boston and Helen Molesworth, Chief Curator, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, the Annual Juried Members’ Show communicates these renowned curators’ contemporary vision of art that is willing to break with traditional conventions and push a given medium to an open end.

The curators chose 113 works from 800 pieces of art submitted by 451 artists for this tightly curated exhibition, which features work by artists in all mediums.  The following prizes and honorable mentions were also awarded:

1st Prize was awarded to Somerville resident Cynthia Maurice for Almost, a pastel and charcoal drawing. Part of Fresh Cut,  a series featuring drawings and paintings of both fruits and vegetables, the drawing focuses on the fleeting, transformative aspects of a bloom from bud to decay. 

2nd Prize was awarded to Natick resident Steve Miller for his photograph That Touch of Mink which explores the use of the figure as fantasy through the spontaneous expression of photography.  

3rd Prize was awarded to Watertown resident Stella Johnson for her photograph The Laundry, Crete, Greece, which reflects her conflicting location of self between Greece and the U.S., and between memory and the present tense. 

Honorable Mentions were awarded to Brookline resident Helga Butzer Felleisen for her Scapes I and II, both works ink on paper; Roslindale resident Jane Smaldone for her oil on linen Signs of Intelligent Life; Roxbury resident Kate True for her oil, ink, and charcoal on linen, The Sick Child; and Lancaster resident Cheryl Wareck for her digital photographs Lost and Found and Through the Woods, both from The Farm Series.

Selected by Museum staff, A Community of Artists’ Show reveals a sometimes affirming, sometimes provocative glimpse at the contemporary art scene.  This year’s exhibition includes 145 pieces, showcasing work by both emerging and established artists.  Several are well known to the Boston arts community, including such widely exhibited artists as Natick resident Carolyn Evans;  Somerville residents Jon Imber and Carolyn Muskat; Framingham resident Nan Hass Feldman;  Concord resident Ilana Manolson; Cambridge resident Esther Pullman; Boston resident Nan Tull; and Wayland resident Yu-Wen Wu.

The exhibition also includes Danforth Museum faculty and staff members Carol Blackwell, Wilber Blaire, Emily Harvey, Susan Swinand and Zach Pelham; SMFA professor Erica Daborn; and Wellesley College and MassArt professor Joel A. Janowitz.

The Danforth Museum of Art was established thirty years ago in 1975 when a group faculty from Framingham State College, as well as business and community leaders, got together and planned to organize the first fine art museum in the MetroWest region of Massachusetts.  Today, the Danforth Museum maintains a collection of over 2,500 pieces of American art from 19th and 20th Century.  The Danforth Museum is admired for its exhibitions and education programs that connect people to the Museums mission, which is dedicated to the celebration and creation of art.

For general information on the Danforth Museum of Art, the public may visit the Museum’s Website at http://www.danforthmuseum.org or call 508 620-0050. The Danforth Museum of Art is located at 123 Union Avenue, Framingham, Massachusetts. Museum hours are Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, 12 noon to 5 pm.  Friday and Saturday 10 am to 5 pm. Museum admission is $8.00 for adults, $ 6.00 for students and senior citizens, free for children under 12 and Danforth Museum of Art members.

Please note:  The Museum will be closed for the summer on August 9th, and reopens on Saturday, September 18, 2010.