MANDEM’s first juried exhibit in Cleveland, Ohio, has been doubly successful for the artist, having received both the “Outstanding Work in Sculpture” award, announced on the opening night of the exhibit on June 3rd, and the first place “Best of the Fest” award, announced at the closing of the exhibit on July 22nd. Both awards were for MANDEM’s mixed media sculptural painting “Domestication #1 – Her Brother’s Keeper,” which was previously exhibited at the FSU Museum of Fine Arts as part of the artist’s MFA thesis work in 2015.
Waterloo Arts is located in the historic Cleveland neighborhood of Collinwood, where it strives to be a creative hub for the presentation and exploration of thought-provoking art and design. In addition to the annual Waterloo Arts Fest, this district hosts the largest monthly First Fridays gallery hop event in Northeast Ohio.
The 2016 Waterloo Arts Fest Juried Exhibition was curated by Rob Lehr (Canton Art Museum / Summit Artspace Gallery). The sculpture award received by MANDEM was presented by a guest juror from the Sculpture Center of Cleveland, and the “Best of the Fest” award was chosen by the popular vote of gallery visitors throughout the duration of the exhibit.
MANDEM is currently the artist-in-residence at Negative Space Gallery in Cleveland, where they are becoming actively involved in Negative Space’s social outreach programs and engaging with the expanding Rust Belt art scenes. They also received a grant to participate in the 2016 DVAC Community Supported Art Program at the Dayton Visual Arts Center in Ohio. MANDEM is continuing to develop the “Hypermobility” painting series (which exhibited in Italy and England before debuting stateside in Ohio), and numerous other publications and exhibitions are in the works for the artist in the coming months.
Follow MANDEM’s work on Facebook, Tumblr, and the artist’s website. (Originally published at http://art.fsu.edu/fsu-art-mfa-mandem-wins-double-awards-at-juried-waterloo-arts-exhibition-in-cleveland-ohio.)