The Ogden Museum of Southern Art has opened the call for entries for the Museum’s annual juried exhibition, Louisiana Contemporary, now in its tenth year. The exhibition is once again presented by The Helis Foundation, who is also sponsoring the annual Helis Foundation Art Prize, a $5,000 award, chosen by the juror and given to an artist in the exhibition in support of their studio and artistic practice. Cash prizes will also be awarded to first, second and third place winners.

Louisiana Contemporary is open to all artists 18 years and older residing in the state of Louisiana. All work must be original and completed within the last two years (2019-2021).

Important dates:

• Online entries will close at 11:59 p.m. Central Time Zone on Friday, May 28, 2021.

• Mailed entries must be postmarked by Friday, May 14, 2021.

• Notification of accepted entries will be sent through email to all applicants the week of July 5, 2021.

• The run of the exhibition is August 7 to October 10, 2021.

Guest juror Hallie Ringle, curator of contemporary art at the Birmingham Museum of Art, will curate a selection of the works submitted in 2021, and subsequently choose three award winners to receive further recognition.

At the Birmingham Museum of Art, Ringle curated Celestia Morgan: REDLINE, Wall to Wall: Merritt Johnson (co-curated) and Barbie: Dreaming of a Female Future. She was formerly Assistant Curator at The Studio Museum in Harlem where she curated Maren Hassinger: Monuments, Firelei Baez: Joy Out of Fire, Fictions (co-curated), Rico Gatson: Icons 2007–2017, Video Studio: Meeting Points, Palatable: Food and Contemporary Art, and Salon Style. She was a fall 2018 Andy Warhol Curatorial Fellow. She has a B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an M.A. from the University of Texas at Austin.

The Ogden Museum first launched Louisiana Contemporary in 2012 to engage artists living in Louisiana and to highlight the dynamism of art practice throughout the state. Since the inaugural exhibition ten years ago, Ogden Museum has shown 729 works by 450 artists, making Louisiana Contemporary an important moment in the national arts calendar to recognize and experience the spectrum and vitality of artistic voices emanating from New Orleans and in art communities across the state.

“Since its inception, Louisiana Contemporary has served as an innovative vehicle for discovering and experiencing the depth and diversity of work being produced by Louisiana artists,” says William Pittman Andrews, executive director of the Ogden Museum. “This is an important snapshot which reveals how artists respond to the most pressing social and political issues of our time. This exhibition traditionally inspires conceptual and formal dialogue, and fosters admiration and respect for the art of the American South.”

To learn more about Louisiana Contemporary, visit here.