Eligibility
Artists must be at least 18 years old and a resident of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, or West Virginia.
Jurors
Stephen Hayes
Stephen Hayes is a Durham, North Carolina-based sculptor known for his thought-provoking works that explore race, history, and identity. Drawing from his Southern roots, his sculptures often address the legacy of slavery and its ongoing impact on African American experiences.
Hayes’ thesis exhibition Cash Crop has traveled across the country for more than ten years and his piece Voices of Future Past was featured at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. His work is included in the permanent collections of the North Carolina Museum of Art and the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, where Stephen is a professor of art.
Elizabeth Brim
Elizabeth Brim is known throughout the craft world for her life-sized, steel replicas of traditionally feminine objects such as hats, dresses, pillows, and flowers; for her expressive and fluid use of the material; and for her facility at inflating steel forms with compressed air.
Her work has been exhibited at the Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina, the North Carolina Museum of Art, The Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, and the Metal Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, which named her as their 2009 Master Metalsmith.
Brim has earned several prestigious awards, including the North Carolina Arts Council Fellowship, and has been a teaching artist at Penland School of Crafts since the 1990’s.
Thomas Sayre
Thomas Sayre is an American sculptor and painter. He designs and builds public art projects and private commissions all over the world. His current work includes large paintings made with tar, smoke, gunshots, welding material, earth, and fire. Sayre is a founding principal of the multi-disciplinary design firm Clearscapes, alongside architect Steve Schuster. The team designs numerous civic, educational, and museum buildings.
Thomas sculpts, paints, and produces commissioned work. His art is housed in collections across the globe from Thailand to Tennessee. He has exhibited his work in a number of private galleries and public museums, including Cheryl Hazan Gallery in Manhattan and the Contemporary Art Museum and the North Carolina Museum of Art, both in Raleigh, North Carolina. In 1995, Sayre received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. In 2014, he was awarded an honorary doctorate of fine arts from North Carolina State University.