Indiana University East is accepting art entries October1-5 for the 2012 Whitewater Valley Annual Art Competition. The competition will begin at 2 p.m. on Saturday, October 13, in Whitewater Hall. Prior to the judging, there will be a juror presentation at 11:30 a.m. in Tom Raper Hall, room 124.

The top ten entries will receive a monetary award. Artists with accepted entries will be notified by Monday, October 15.

Katherine Frank, dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, said this year’s competition will be linked thematically to the “One Book, Many Voices” project at IU East.

“Doing so is quite easy considering that the competition itself features directly and indirectly various voices: the juror’s, the participants’, the audience’s. The work that is entered also challenges us to think about perspective and how by viewing this work, we deepen understanding of others, ourselves, and the world we live in. This is a competition that fosters conversation,” Frank said.

This year’s competition will be juried by Barbara Tannenbaum, Curator of Photography at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Tannenbaum recently organized a groundbreaking exhibition on print-on-demand photo books.

Before joining the Cleveland Museum of Art, Tannenbaum spent 26 years as chief curator of the Akron Art Museum, where she organized more than 50 exhibitions including the first large-scale international exhibition chronicling women’s historic achievements in photography; Ralph Eugene Meatyard: An American Visionary (major retrospective); and the first solo museum shows of Adam Fuss, Aminah Robinson, and Chakaia Booker. Tannenbaum has edited and authored numerous publications including books on Meatyard (Rizzoli), highlights of the Akron Art Museum’s collection, and Detroit Disassembled: Photographs by Andrew Moore.

Before entering the museum world, Tannenbaum was executive director of OxBow Summer Art School in Saugatuck, Michigan, and taught art history at Oberlin College, the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Wyoming. She holds a Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of Michigan and a B.A. from Reed College. Among her awards is the 2010 Distinguished Career Award from the Association of Midwest Museums.

“Since its inception in 1978, the Whitewater competition is unique in its inclusion of an open-judging process, enabling onlookers actual interaction with the judge. The past years’ jurors have included nationally and internationally known curators, painters, sculptors and critics, each with a different perspective and history,” said Ed Thornburg, gallery curator at IU East. “Dr. Tannenbaum, like the jurors who preceded her, will have the daunting task of selecting 50 to 60 art pieces for the exhibit out of the outstanding pool of entries. I encourage all to come to the campus to experience the judging.”

The WVAAC receives 300 to 400 pieces of art for the competition each year. Previous entries have included works from high schools and universities, art organizations and centers and independent artists. The competition is open to all artists, age 17 and older, who live within a 300-mile radius of Richmond, Indiana.

Entries for the competition may include drawings, paintings, mixed media, photography, printmaking, computer graphics, relief sculpture and relief. Entries must be hand-delivered to The Gallery, Whitewater Hall, on the IU East campus between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday, October 1, through Friday, October 5. Entries will not be accepted after October 5.

Each artist may submit up to three entries. Fees are $20 for one entry, $30 for two entries, and $40 for three entries.

Accepted entries will be on exhibit in The Gallery from October 31 to December 7. The artist opening reception and awards presentation will be held at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, October 31, in Whitewater Hall.

Entry forms, information on eligibility and a calendar are available at iue.edu/gallery or by calling Ed Thornburg, The Gallery curator, at IU East at (765) 973-8605.