TheWoodmereAnnual 80 TH JURIED EXHIBITION

Contents

Foreword by William R. Valerio 2

A Conversation with Michelle Angela Ortiz and José Ortiz-Pagán 4

Works in the Exhibition 20

Foreword

The Woodmere Annual: 80th Juried Exhibition is timely. Our jurors, Michelle Angela Ortiz and José Ortiz-Pagán, issued a call to artists about immigration, its impact on individual identity, and its consequences for our thinking about the nature of organized society around the globe. The response from artists has been tremendous, and the exhibition broadly stakes out a humanistic point of view.

Rahm Emanuel, the former mayor of Chicago and former White House chief of staff, famously described immigration as the third rail of American politics, so potentially destabilizing are its complex ramifications across the spectrum of beliefs on the topic. In part, his point was that despite the constant movement of peoples across the planet, the value systems associated with positions on immigration are so divergent as to be perpetually explosive. Unless we are Native American, it is only a few generations back that most U.S. citizens know of forebears who were immigrants, whether by choice or by force. This year’s jurors assert that we can no more avoid this third rail than we can afford to romanticize immigration or capitalize on it for political purposes. Instead, we must reckon with the ongoing acceleration of circumstances that have resulted in the 300 million immigrants in the world today. Thank you, Michelle and José, for making immigration the center of the conversation among the artists whose work will fill the galleries at Woodmere this summer.

Part of what makes the Annual exciting is that from year to year, the different interests of our jurors attract different artists. In addition to the many artists who are new to Woodmere every year, we always learn something new about artists we already know and have worked with in the past. Marta Sanchez, for example, teaches in Woodmere’s studio program, and one of her retablo paintings recently entered our permanent collection. However, I was unaware of her Detainment series and am deeply moved. Predictably, I’m fascinated by Michelle and José’s selections of Marta’s work. I’m also thrilled to see Mikel Elam represented in this presentation; his work was a standout for me in the 79th Juried Exhibition last summer.

Most of the artists you’ll encounter in the show are new to Woodmere. The particular equilibrium of artists and their works were selected by Michelle and José in the course of a year-long process of consideration and thoughtful shaping of an experience and an overarching message that builds an ever-richer understanding of contemporary dialogues in the arts of Philadelphia. As New York becomes ever more inaccessible to most artists’ budgets, Philadelphia is becoming a place of choice. Woodmere’s Annual is one of the structured elements in the cultural cycle of the year that nurtures this growth in creative vitality in our city.

Woodmere is grateful to Jeanne Ruddy and Victor Keen and to the Drumcliff Foundation, who have supported this annual exhibition for many years. As always, Woodmere’s staff, particularly Rachel Hruszkewycz and Rick Ortwein, have my endless admiration for organizing the show and working hand-in-glove with our jurors. And, on behalf of the entire Woodmere team, I thank our jurors, Michelle

Angela Ortiz and José Ortiz-Pagán, for bringing bold thinking, beauty, and passion to our 80th Juried Exhibition

WILLIAM R. VALERIO, PHD

The Patricia Van Burgh Allison Director and Chief Executive Officer