On exhibit September 8, 2024 – January 5, 2025

Art of the State 2023 gallery. View of artwork.
Image of: Art of the State 2023 Gallery.

Art of the State, open to Pennsylvania artists and craftspeople, is an annual juried exhibition held at The State Museum of Pennsylvania. With an established tradition of exhibiting highly creative art chosen by a distinguished panel of jurors, Art of the State provides an opportunity for both established and emerging Pennsylvania artists to exhibit their art and receive statewide recognition.  

Presented by The State Museum of Pennsylvania in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation, the 57th Art of the State exhibition will offer cash awards for selected entries in the categories of Painting, Work on Paper, Photography & Digital Media, Sculpture and Craft.  

2024 Selection Jurors
  • Marc Jacobson, Professor Emeritus, Herron School of Art + Design, Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis
  • Eric Sung, Artist and Professor of Art/Photography, Providence College

Juror biographies are available at the Call for Entry site.

2024 Awards Juror

Jim Toia, Artist and Curator

Executive Director, Karl Stirner Art Trail

Director, Community Based Teaching, Lafayette College

Juror biographies are available at the Call for Entry site.

Categories

Craft: Functional or decorative three-dimensional craft in any synthetic or natural media.  Fiber arts are included in this category.

Painting: Two-dimensional painting media including oil, acrylic, watercolor, encaustic, fresco, ink & wash, pastel, gouache and spray paint, painted on a two-dimensional surface.   

Photography & Digital Media: Traditional and digital photographs, photographs printed on metal, and time-based media.  Photographs printed on foam core will not be accepted. A.I.-generated art will not be accepted to the 2024 exhibition. NOTE: Artists are required to provide a media player, speakers, and screen for exhibition display purposes for digital works.  Media should be programmed to play on a continuous loop. The media player should be equipped to start automatically, and to start and play when and if power is lost and returns.   
Sculpture: Three-dimensional carved, molded, applied or constructed techniques using wood, glass, plaster, metal, stone, plastics, clay, soft or hard materials, found objects or natural materials. May include high and low bas relief, installations, kinetic sculpture and assemblage. 

Work on Paper: Two-dimensional works specifically created on paper, includes drawing, collage, etching, lithograph, woodblock, screen print, serigraph, calligraphy, computer art on paper, graphic art, digital art print, digital collage, monotype, cut paper and pastel.   

Competition Rules
  1. Artists must be current residents of Pennsylvania and 18+ years of age.
  2. Work must have been created within the past (3) years (January 2021- May 2024).
  3. Size is limited to 12 feet x 12 feet, 150 lbs. in all categories. 
  4. The work must be of the Participant’s own original concept and execution. The work must be legally compliant with intellectual property law. If, for instance, the work contains copyrighted material, the work must be a fair use of the copyrighted material. If the work contains the copyrighted materials of others, the Participant must secure all permission prior to submission and furnish them upon request.   
  5. All work must be freestanding and/or ready to hang. The reverse side of two-dimensional paintings, photographs and works on paper must have a wire or D-rings for hanging.   
  6. All entry applications must be uploaded to Competition website.  
  7. All entry applications must include an insurance value of each work submitted. If the work is for sale, the artist may submit a purchase price for each work. No insurance value may exceed the sale price.   
  8. The State Museum reserves the right to reject any work from the competition or withdraw any award distinction.   
  9. No substitutions are permitted.   
  10. A panel of three selection jurors representing various media will assign numeric scores through the online entry site. The art with the highest scores will be included in the exhibition. An awards juror will review the work and make the award selections.   
  11. All artists will be notified by e-mail of the judging results. Details for delivering or shipping of those works selected for the exhibit at The State Museum will be included in the notice. The artist may be responsible for installation of art if special conditions exist. The State Museum encourages the sale of exhibited work and does not take any commission. The museum collects information from interested buyers and connects the potential buyer to the artist.  Payment must be arranged between artist and buyer.  Art will not be available for pick up until the exhibition closes.  
  12. Awards are selected by the Awards Juror after accepted art has been installed at The State Museum. Award recipients will be contacted prior to the awards ceremony and are asked to refrain from making their own announcements prior to the reception.  
  13. Refunds will not be issued after the close of the submission process.   
  14. Artists can only submit one image for each work. Artists with three-dimensional work may be asked to submit additional views. 
Awards

A First Place Award of $500, a Second Place Award of $300 and a Third Place Award of $200 will be distributed in each of five categories.  

Additional Awards 

William D. Davis Memorial Award for Drawing: $250  

The State Museum Art Docents’ Choice Award: $300 

We have a limited amount of fellowships available for artists who require financial assistance. Please contact Amy Hammond at RA-PHArtoftheState@pa.gov for more information.

Timeline of Events Art of the State 2024

Week of June 17

E-mail notifications of juror results

June 28

Deadline to confirm information

July 13 – 21

Art delivery

September 8

Exhibition opening

January 5, 2025

Exhibition closing

January 18-26, 2025

Art retrieval