The Delta Triennial to Open at AMFA on June 28, 2024

Amy Kligman, Alexis McGrigg, and Takako Tanabe Named Guest Jurors
Delta Triennial Submissions Accepted January 1 – February 11, 2024

The Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts (AMFA) today announces the guest jurors selected for the first Delta Triennial and releases submission details for artist entries beginning January 1, 2024. The Delta Triennial will open at AMFA on June 28, 2024, and remain on view through August 25, 2024, in the Harriet and Warren Stephens Galleries.

Guest jurors for the 2024 Delta Triennial are Amy Kligman, Executive Director, Charlotte Street Foundation in Kansas City; Alexis McGrigg, a former Delta Voices participating artist from Mississippi; and Takako Tanabe, founding director of Ulterior Gallery in New York City.

“The jurors were selected for their broad knowledge of and accomplishments in contemporary art, as well as their longtime commitment toward increasing awareness of the diverse art and artists of the Mid-South region,” states Brian Lang, Chief Curator and Windgate Foundation Curator of Contemporary Craft at AMFA.

From January 1 to February 11, 2024, AMFA will accept entries online via Call for Entry (CaFÉ) from artists born in or currently working in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas. Additionally, the exhibition will feature one invited artist from each of the participating states. Submitting artists will be notified of the jurors' selections for the exhibition by March 29, 2024.

The jurors will also select one “Grand Prize” award winner to receive $5,000. During the run of the exhibition, the public will vote for a “People’s Choice” award in the amount of $1,500. Juried artists will receive a stipend to offset the delivery of their artwork based on their distance from AMFA.

“I’m excited about the opportunity to learn more about the artists in Mid-South region and to peek into what is meaningful to them and their practices,” expresses Kligman. “It’s especially important to me to hear from artists emerging from and working in areas of the country with rich cultural histories that are perhaps less platformed (and less influenced) by the institutional art centers of the coasts.”

The Delta Triennial builds on a legacy established over 60 years ago with the museum’s first Delta exhibition in 1958. The exhibition was named after the fertile floodplains surrounding the Mississippi River and seeks to amplify artistic voices in the Mid-South as they reflect complex histories and shifts in the cultural landscape. Over the years, the Delta exhibition has evolved from its original form and will now debut in 2024 at the newly reimagined AMFA as a triennial exhibition.

“The voice that the Delta Triennial explores is essential in this dramatically complicated, contemporary American art culture and it will play an important role in its interpretation,” shares Tanabe. “After leaving Japan, I spent 11 years in Texas. Though Ulterior Gallery is in New York, the Delta Triennial represents a region that is my second home. I'm excited to rediscover the aesthetics and visual culture nurtured by this scene with this opportunity.”

AMFA has consistently collected art produced by artists from the Mid-South and displayed it in context with works from the AMFA Foundation’s nationally and internationally recognized collection. In so doing, AMFA elevates contemporary artists and the artistic complexity of the region, illustrating that American art is not monolithic, but comprised of many diverse voices.

For more information on the entry requirements and application instructions for the Delta Triennial, visit the AMFA website.

Image by Tim Hursley