NSU's Hunter receives awards in Watercolor U.S.A. exhibit

Lance Hunter, associate art professor for Northeastern State University, received a Southwest Missouri Museum Associates Purchase for the Museum Collections Award for his watercolor, Omissive, which he submitted to Watercolor U.S.A. 2010.

Hunter also received the Robert E. Smith Memorial $350 Cash Award for his work.

"The purchase award means that the museum is buyingOmissive to include the painting in the museum's permanent collection," Hunter said. "This is one of the most prestigious and permanent honors that an art museum can bestow on an artist."

"The painting Omissivecomments onthe restrictions of time, personal facades and unspoken omissions in our culture," he added. "The painting is arguably edgier than common perceptions or trends for the watercolor medium."

The 49th Watercolor U.S.A. exhibits aqueous media painting. It is a national competitive exhibition running June 12 Aug. 8 at the Springfield (Mo.) Art Museum. A reception hosted by the Southwest Missouri Museum Associates is June 11 from 5:30-7 p.m. The public is invited.

The annual exhibition attracts entries from across the U.S. This year the competition received 722 entries by 401 artists from 43 states and the District of Columbia.

Hunter's work has received much recognition this May. His painting Alias received an award in the Northwest Watercolor Society's National Exhibition in Seattle and will be displayed at the Seattle Convention Center for two months. Projected attendence in the venue during that period will exceed a million.

Hunter's oil painting Torn is in the Oil Painters of America National Exhibition at the Legacy Gallery in Scottsdale. Torn was included in an article on the exhibition in the May issue of American Art Collector and the painting sold to a buyer in New England.Anotheroil painting, Atropos, was included in TEMPO, a selective national exhibition at the Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati, Ohio.

"The national exhibitions are juried by professional artists or museum and gallery curators and are often very competitive," Hunter said. "It is an honor tohave workaccepted intoa nationalshow. In most casesI am the only artistrepresenting the state of Oklahoma in the exhibitions."

The judge for Watercolor U.S.A. 2010 was Richard Martin Ash III, Professor Emeritus of Art and director of the Wichita Falls Museum of Art at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas.

Ash selected the exhibition from slides and digital files submitted by the artists. He selected 116 works by 113 artists for the exhibition. Artists are represented from 35 states plus the District of Columbia. Awards are selected from the actual works.

The works in this exhibition all display admirable regard for craftsmanship. The viewer is seduced by the spectrum of color soft and mellow to harsh and noisy, Ash said.

Watercolor U.S.A. began in 1962 to present to the public a watercolor show which was representative of the U.S. There were 155 artists accepted in the first show.

The Springfield Art Museum is at 1111 E. Brookside Drive, Springfield, Mo., 65807. Museum hours are 9 a.m. 5 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; 9 a.m. 8 p.m. Thursday and 1-5 p.m. Sunday. The museum is closed on Mondays and holidays. Admission is free.