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2022 Octagonal: The All Media Show
March 4, 2022 - April 9, 2022
Located in the Community Gallery
Octagonal: The All-Media Show is the annual, juried all-media exhibition at the Octagon Center for the Arts in Ames, Iowa. Originally titled the Clay and Paper Show, the exhibit opened in 1968 to provide an opportunity to the central Iowa arts community. Over the past 53 years, the exhibit morphed over the decades to become the Clay, Fiber, Paper, Glass, Metal, Wood Exhibit that has featured hundreds of artists from dozens of states. The newest version of the exhibit, Octagonal: The All-Media Show, launched in 2018 taking a note from the past while moving forward to continue to provide an exciting opportunity for artists across Iowa, the Midwest, and the nation. This exhibit features a regionally-recognized juror each year, attracts artists from across the United States, and provides significant cash awards.
Join the Octagon staff, exhibit artists, and exhibit juror for the 54th annual Octagonal: The All-Media Show’s opening night reception on Friday, March 4th at 6:00 p.m.! Juror Akwi Nji will announce Octagonal 2022 award winners and share juror comments. Then, join four Octagonal artists in a panel discussion on “Identity and Connection: Art as a Reflection of our Environments.” Featured artists are Natalie Deam, Jennifer Gauerke, Kimberlee Rocca, and Anda Tanaka, who will discuss how connections to their environments – social, ecological, occupational – shape their identities and their artwork.
Octagonal 2022 will be open for viewing in the Community Gallery, starting March 4th at 6:00 p.m. and until April 9, 2022. The Octagon requires proper mask wearing and physical distancing while in all parts of the building.
This event is in partnership with the Ames Community Arts Council. A big thank you to the 2022 sponsors: 10Fold Architecture + Engineering, Cook’s Emporium, Dog-Eared Books, Gilger Designs, Nook & Nest, Sherwin Williams, Z.W. Mercantile, Brown Family Endowment Fund, Huff Endowment Fund, Iowa Arts Council, City of Ames Commission on the Arts.
Awards
Winifred V. Brown Best of Show award: $1000
Media award for each category: $250
Priscilla Sage Fiber Award
Sponsored by: Z. W. Mercantile
“Siphonophore” by Betty Busby
Janet Harris Squires Clay Award
Sponsored by: Cooks’ Emporium
“Socially Distanced” by Hank Hall
Martha Benson Metal Media Award
Sponsored by: Gilger Designs
“Exhale” by Katie DuVal Mihelich
Veronika Ruedenberg Mixed Media Award
Sponsored by: Nook & Nest Ames
“Forces of Change” by Maggie Douglas
Paper Media Award
Sponsored by: Dog-Eared Books
“Stink Eye” by Mattea Whetstone
Glass Media Award
Sponsored by: 10Fold Architecture + Engineering
“Highland Meadow” by Jerene Kruse
Wood Media Award
Sponsored by: 10Fold Architecture + Engineering
“Carousel” by Amelia Currier
Painting Media Award
Sponsored by: The Sherwin-Williams Company
“Beautiful Nymph” by Jess Quinn
Emerging Artist Award
Sponsored by: The Octagon Center for the Arts and Brown Family Endowment Fund
“Untitled (For Nona)” by Anda Tanaka
Winifred V. Brown Best of Show Award
Sponsored by: Brown Family Endowment Fund
“We’re all under the same sky” by Linda Lewis
2022 Juror: Akwi Nji
Akwi is an award-winning artist creating in words, performance, and visual art. She specializes in creative personal narrative storytelling across artistic mediums. Her work and words have appeared on stage from California’s Wine Country to New York’s Fashion Week.
She is owner of Threshold Gallery, an artist-run gallery and micro venue with a mission to support women artists and artists of color in the Midwest; creator of The Remoir Project, a nationwide audio and visual storytelling arts initiative, and a champion of the artist and the arts through her role as producer of multi-media arts events in the Midwest.
Akwi has served as an arts ambassador in multiple roles including as founding executive director of The Hook, an Iowa Arts Council board member, producer of nearly 100 events in recent years, involving more than 300 writers and performers; and advisor of Arts Midwest initiatives.
Her art serves as manifestations of her exploration of race, gender, Black history as American history, and a parallelism of current social issues with their historical and cultural counterparts, tensions between the ‘outsider’ and ‘insider’, and concepts of spiritual and geographic home. As a writer, voice artist, performer, and producer her collaborative partners include Emmy-award winning composers and nationally-renowned dancers and choreographers. She has been an Iowa Arts Council Fellow and, for her efforts in the business community, she was named one of Corridor Business Journal’s Forty Under 40.
Akwi was born in Iowa City, Iowa, and raised in Cameroon, Africa. Her experiences as a Cameroonian and Cameroonian American inform her work as artist and advocate. She lives in the Midwest with her two daughters, the family dog, and her daughters’ cats.
PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND
Akwi’s professional background is in nonprofit leadership, public education, journalism, and strategic communications. Prior to launching her businesses, she was most recently Director of Communications at the fourth largest employer in her county and serving more than 20,000 stakeholders. Her professional expertise uniquely spans the corporate and creative world, positioning her as a sought-after voice on strategic creative communications in the Midwest region.
We would like to thank everyone who submitted work to be juried for Octagonal 2022: The All Media Show. The following artworks have been accepted by juror, Awki Ngi. Congratulations!
2022 Accepted Artworks
|
Last Name |
First Name |
Title |
|
Adam |
Penny |
Sunny Day Window |
|
Alberda |
Joanne |
Woven Toss |
|
Bauerle |
Marcia |
Saint Analogous |
|
Brown |
Sara Slee |
Souls Ascending Green Gate |
|
Busby |
Betty |
Siphonophore |
|
Courter |
Cherie |
Buck Run #2 |
|
Currier |
Amelia |
Carousel |
|
Dayton |
A K |
Larch Creek |
|
Deam |
Natalie |
Bloom (Invasive) |
|
Douglas |
Maggie |
Forces of Change |
|
Douglas |
Maggie |
Where does the time go? |
|
DuVal Mihelich |
Katie |
Exhale |
|
Eastburn |
Judith |
Golden Hills #2 |
|
Ellis |
Amee |
Laundry Day |
|
Elshout |
Karen |
Wild Hair |
|
Flynn |
Meghan |
Tiger (Lily) Queen |
|
Gauerke |
Jennifer |
Sister Earth |
|
Guffy |
Jill |
Mini quilt Aerial Blocks |
|
Hall |
Hank |
Socially Distanced |
|
Harris |
Amy |
Ebb and Flow 2 |
|
Hensley |
Katharine |
Seawall |
|
Herren |
Kenneth |
Shofukan |
|
Joffe-Bouska |
Marcia |
Rio De Memoria (River of Memory) |
|
Kruse |
Jerene |
Highland Meadow |
|
Laursen |
Annie |
Landscape Nesting Bowls |
|
Lehmkuhl |
Gayle |
Gus, Mike and me: we are from the land |
|
Lewis |
Linda |
We’re all under the same sky |
|
Lopez |
Ana |
London Wall |
|
Pasutti |
Lynsi |
Coil Vessel Part 1: Wave |
|
Piippo |
Mariah |
Untitled Textural Painting (Size: 16Hx20Wx2D) |
|
Quinn |
Jess |
Beautiful Nymph |
|
Rocca |
Kimberlee |
Fish Out of Water |
|
Schnitzer |
Amy |
The Quest |
|
Shook |
Richard |
The Magician |
|
Sorrell |
Josh |
Erupt |
|
Stewart |
Lori |
Maintaining Equilibrium |
|
Tanaka |
Anda |
Untitled (For Nona) |
|
Tanaka |
Anda |
Walking With Amira |
|
Whetstone |
Mattea |
Stink Eye |
|
Whetstone |
Mattea |
Tomorrow |
|
Wilkinson |
Alicia |
Healing Landscapes Series: From Mexico City to the Midwest, USA |
|
Yavorskaya |
Irina |
Dancing Penguins ’19 |
|
Zeitler |
Deborah |
Three Bowls in a Bowl |
