60 years of art at TAG annual
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WARREN -- The "G" stood for "Guild," not "Gallery" when the first TAG Annual was held. That's because the Trumbull Art Guild had no gallery.
"The artists would get together at the guild and put together their work," said William Mullane, gallery director at Trumbull Art Gallery. "They didn't have a space yet, and the shows would take place in storefronts or lobbies of (places) like Trumbull New Theatre."
The guild acquired the Gillmer House on Mahoning Avenue NW, which became known as Trumbull Art Galley and spent a short time on East Market Street before moving to its current location at 158 N. Park Ave., where the 60th TAG/RAA Annual opens Saturday.
Mullane, 70, had a piece in the TAG Annual when he was 16 years old, which would have been the fourth or fifth, and he's been affiliated with the gallery for more than 40 years.
"Not a lot has changed in terms of the way people enter and the awards given," he said. "Probably the biggest change is we affiliated with (Sharon, Pennsylvania-based) Random Acts of Artists since they don't have a space and just included them and their members. It's been a show that's just been around forever. COVID (2020) was a year that we took off. Other than that, though, I think it's been consistent."
This is the fifth year TAG and RAA have collaborated on the annual, which is open to artists ages 18 and older who are from the area or live within a 100-mile radius of Warren.
This year's juror is Maria Ferguson, director of Bruce Gallery at PennWest University in Edinboro, Pennsylvania. She has curated more than 20 exhibitions of modern and contemporary art for museums across the country.
She earned her master's degree in art history and graduate certificate in museum studies from the University of Memphis, and her bachelor's degree in art with an emphasis in photography from Penn State University
Ferguson selected 85 pieces by 64 artists for inclusion from the 156 pieces submitted by 85 artists.
"I was really impressed by the quality of the work," Ferguson said. "In a lot of the smaller regions, it's always a pleasant surprise to see just how many talented artists are submitting to these shows, and that always makes it really hard. But it was a really incredible range of different styles and different media and different ways of working and ages, especially it was a huge range of ages. So it is really exciting to see all of the visions of all the different artists."
Ferguson said she was told that this year's submissions included more photography than usual, but there was plenty of diversity from which to pick.
"It was really strong in everything -- painting, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics -- everything was really well represented," she said. "I think there were strengths in all of the categories."
Selected artists are: Lisa Acierno, Stella Kotsatos Angelo, Brenda Armstrong, Jane Armstrong, John Atkins, Phyllis J Bako, Jeff Beede, A Bennett, Kendra Blake, Russell Bragg, Jeanne Bryner, Dave Buehrle, Gabriele Calior, Sandy Calles, Linda Carusone, Lisa Curry, Cheryl Eddie Deibel, Katerina Devadan, Marie Dippolito, Lovie Djan, Diane Drapcho, Lisa Frederick, Robert Galick, Skip Hall, Ed Hallahan, Mark Haney, Deborah Hills Haney, Millie Hawkins, Carolyn Dixon Hrusovsky, Susan Jacobs, John Johnson, Charles P Kish, Sally Kowalski, Ron Krygowski, Marianna Larew, Kathy Lepro, Caroline Lorimer, Stephen Luthern, Ken Marshall, Julie Martin, Nancy McLean, Amanda Moriarty, Michelle Mulidore, Rebecca Nan, Dana Nicholson, Tom Ott, Kristi Lynn Pal, Wendi Patrick, Jeffrey S Piper, Terry Polonsky, Lynne Provance, Yasmin Rashid, Kristina Rule, Paul Santone Sr., Dorothy Schill, Stephanie L Sferra, Renee Sheakoski, Gail Trunick, Jeff Vargo, Linda Vasconi, William D Walker, Gary Wyatt, Jim Young and Tulla Zambetis.
The show will open to the public starting Saturday, but the reception is being delayed until Aug. 15 because the Warren Italian-American Festival is on Courthouse Square this weekend. Winners of the juror awards will be announced at the reception.
"I think I picked one more than I was supposed to, but it was really hard," Ferguson said. "There were awards for different categories, and I was just trying to choose the best of the best in each media. It was such a great range of media that he let me sneak one extra award in there."
If you go …
WHAT: 60th TAG/RAA Annual
WHEN: Saturday through Sept. 18 with opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Aug. 15. Hours are noon to 4 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.
WHERE: Trumbull Art Gallery, 158 N. Park Ave., Warren
HOW MUCH: Admission is free. For more information, go to www.trumbullartgallery.com and 330-395-4876.