Delta Axis and AMUM Present Eleven Regional Artists in MAX: 03
For release: June 23, 2003

The Art Museum of the University of Memphis (AMUM) and Delta Axis are pleased to announce the MAX: 2003 artist selections. Eleven artists have been chosen to participate. Ten are from Memphis: Kim Beck, Tara Bullington, Sara Good, Terri Jones, Keren Kroul, Lester Julian Merriweather, Howard Paine, Andrea Prince, Val Valgardson and Tad Lauritzen Wright. Kelley Pratt Sharp of Oxford, Miss. was also chosen.

MAX is an exhibition of Memphis-area artists that is curated by an individual living outside the immediate area. This year's curator is Beth Venn, an art historian and independent curator based in New York. Artists within a 100-mile radius of Memphis were invited to submit slides of their work for consideration.

Nearly 100 artists applied for MAX: 2003, and Ms. Venn examined the submissions and narrowed the field to 21. She then came to Memphis and conducted studio visits from June 1 through June 5. After careful consideration, Ms. Venn selected the eleven artists.

"In my visits with artists I found myself drawn to work that had an element of line at its core. Simple, unadorned line or line that becomes tracery, tracery that becomes pattern. I was interested in the way line could be interpreted in so many ways throughout different media in both two and three dimensions," Ms. Venn said.

Drawings in traditional and non-traditional media, paintings, computer generated images, sculpture and site-specific installations are among the works to be presented.

Beth Venn has served as curator for a number of exhibits, including the Peter Norton Family Collection, and she was the Associate Curator of the Whitney Museum's permanent collection from 1993-1999. Ms. Venn also served as a Curatorial Fellow at the Philadelphia Museum from 1992-1993 and a Research Fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art 1991. Ms. Venn has extensive experience as a curator and she has written for various exhibition catalogues. Ms. Venn holds a Master's degree in Art History from the University of Delaware.

The exhibit opens at AMUM on Saturday, July 12 and continues through September 6. The public is invited to meet the artists and curators at the opening reception on Friday, July 11, from 5-7:30. The Art Museum of The University of Memphis is located in the Communication & Fine Arts Building. The Museum is open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., except University holidays and between temporary exhibits. Admission is free.

For information on exhibitions, please call AMUM at 901-678-2224 or visit the Web site at www.amum.org.

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