TOLEDO – The Toledo Museum of Art has announced the field for the 95th Toledo Area Artists and its a
small, select field.
While last’s year’s show featured 76 artists and the previous two years featured work by 65 artists, this
year’s exhibition will feature 28.
Those chosen include: painter Dennis Wojtkiewicz, Bowling Green; multi-media artist Sandra Jane Heard,
Perrysburg; and multi-media artist Michael Arrigo, a Bowling Green State University faculty from Toledo.
The artists, all of whom live within a 150-mile radius of Toledo, were chosen from among 462 entrants
who submitted digital portfolios of their work for consideration.
Exhibition curator Halona Norton-Westbrook, a Mellon Fellow at the museum, and Amy Gilman, associate
director and curator of contemporary and modern art, picked the artists after reviewing 4,175 images, 44
videos and two audio entries.
The 95th TAA Exhibition will be shown Nov. 21  through Jan. 3  in the Canaday Gallery, continues the
museum’s tradition of celebrating and recognizing the best work by artists in this region. It is one of
the few remaining shows of its kind organized by an art museum nationally.
Several changes were made this year to keep the regional exhibition fresh and relevant nearly a century
after it began.
In addition to choosing artists based on portfolios rather than single works of art, prize money was
boosted to $10,000, including $5,000 for Best of Show.
Also a nationally known adjudicator was named to choose the awards. This year’s judge will be Los Angeles
Times art critic Christopher Knight. A three-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism (1991,
2001 and 2007), Knight received the 1997 Frank Jewett Mather Award for distinction in art criticism from
the College Art Association, becoming the first journalist to win the award in more than 25 years.
Describing the new look of the show, Norton-Westbrook said the public will see striking differences in
work created by artists at different career stages and in different mediums, including sculptures,
paintings, drawings, video works, installations and ceramics.
Other Ohio artists selected are: Andrew Borowiec, Akron; Charles Mintz, Cleveland; Corrie Slawson,
Cleveland Heights; Laura Alexander, Molly Burke, Leah Frankel, Nathan Gorgen and Andrea Myers, all of
Columbus; Jefferson Nelson, Liberty Center; Julie Friedman, Medina; and  David Eichenberg, Timothy
Gaewsky, Ben Grazzini, Natalie Lanese, Zak Lyons and Michael Sheets, all of Toledo.
Michigan artists selected are: K.A. Letts and Katherine St. Clair, both of Ann Arbor; Jason Carter, 
Berkley; Kenneth Thompson, Blissfield; Heather Macali and Margi Weir, of Detroit; Joshua Newth,
Farmington Hills; and Chris LaPorte, Grand Rapids.
Also in the show is Chet Geiselman, Muncie, Indiana.