Bowling Green, Ky. - The opening reception and awards ceremony for the U. S. BANK CELEBRATION OF THE ARTS 2006 OPEN ART EXHIBITION is scheduled for 5-7 p.m. Saturday, March 4, at the Kentucky Library and Museum on the Western Kentucky University campus.

The event is free and open to public, as well as artists, their friends, family and sponsors.

This is the third year the Kentucky Library and Museum has hosted this regional art competition, which is for both amateur and professional artists. Entrants must be Kentucky residents 18 years of age or older, and they must live within a 65-mile radius of Bowling Green. WKU students who meet the age requirement qualify as Kentucky residents.

This art extravaganza offers unique opportunities for area artists to exhibit their work and to compete for generous monetary awards. Top awards are the Dorothy Grider Purchase Award and a $250 award for Best of Show. In addition, prize money will be presented in all seven categories--painting, watercolor, works on paper, fiber arts, ceramics, sculpture and photography--and in both the Professional and Amateur divisions.

Monetary awards for first, second and third place in the Professional division are $200, $175 and $125, respectively; in the Amateur division, $100, $50 and $25, respectively. Award winners will be decided by this year’s juror, Susan Shockley, Curator of the Parthenon in Nashville.

Significant highlights are:

1. All entries – not just prize winners – will be exhibited at the Kentucky Library Museum from March 5 – April 9, 2006.

2. Artists may offer their work for sale. As the host museum, the Kentucky Library and Museum will collect a 20 percent commission on all sales directly attributed to this show. Half of the commissions will benefit WKU’s Visual Arts Department scholarship fund.

The U.S. BANK CELEBRATION OF THE ARTS is a wonderful regional art competition, which gets bigger and better each year. In 2004, 125 artists submitted 225 works. Last year, those numbers increased to 203 artists and 375 works. When entries were tallied last Friday, a total of 218 artists have entered 395 works for this year’s show, which is a significant increase over last year.

In addition to U.S. Bank’s title sponsorship, additional funding was provided by two WKU Foundation funds: the Dorothy Grider Art Exhibit Fund and the Beulah Winchel Kentucky Museum Endowment.

For more information about the opening reception/awards ceremony for the U. S. BANK CELEBRATION OF THE ARTS 2006 OPEN ART EXHIBITION, contact Earlene Chelf (270) 745-5263 or earlene.chelf@wku.edu or check the Website: www.wku.edu/Library/museum/artshow

CONTACT: Earlene Chelf (270) 745-5263 earlene.chelf@wku.edu

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