ArtFields Returns To Lake City For Sixth Edition Featuring More Than 400 Artists And 40 Venues

The sixth annual ArtFields competition and exhibition, sponsored by the Lake City Creative Alliance (LCCA), will return to Lake City, S.C. April 20-28, 2018, where it will showcase the works of more than 400 Southeastern artists, who are competing for prizes totaling $120,000, including a grand prize of $50,000, which will be awarded on the final day of the event.

During the art celebration's nine days, the town transforms into one of the most gallery-dense spaces per capita in the nation as works are exhibited in 40 venues across the downtown area including renovated warehouses, a Smithsonian-qualified art gallery and upscale restaurants and boutiques in a mutual celebration of art and community.

For the sixth edition, the esteemed judges, comprised of acclaimed visual arts professionals, received an astounding number of submissions representing a wide range of both subject matters and media from both emerging and established artists. Contestants will compete for the Grand Prize of $50,000, Second Place Prize of $25,000, and the People's Choice Two-Dimensional and People's Choice Three-Dimensional, chosen by visitors to ArtFields through an easy 'text to vote' system, which are both set at $12,500. In addition, eight Category Prizes of $1,500 each and ten Merit Prizes of $1,000 each, the latter sponsored by The Citizens Bank, will be presented to winning artists who collectively represent each of the 12 states including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. The list of artists can be seen on the ArtFields website.

As a result of ArtFields' success over the past five years, Lake City has emerged as an art destination and this year, ArtFields and Lake City Creative Alliance (LCCA) are pleased to unveil two new permanent art venues that will join the Smithsonian-certified Jones-Carter Gallery. The new TRAX Visual Art Center, known as TRAXvac, will be one of South Carolina's largest art centers at 5,000 square-feet and feature two professional gallery spaces, with an adjoining sculpture garden planned for the near future. In addition, the long-time ArtFields storefront office will be transformed into the "AFO Gallery," and a fourth art venue is in the works for the near future to allow for ongoing and simultaneous exhibitions in the town. With the new art spaces, Lake City aims to become a year-round art destination.

2018 Highlights:

-A large-scale public sculpture created by Florence, S.C., artists Patz and Mike Fowle, which honors the Lake City native and former NASA astronaut Ronald McNair, who died in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986.

-Two large-scale murals, including a large floral composition by Tennessee artist Lance Turner, in collaboration with landscapers from Lake City's Moore Farms Botanical Garden.

-The popular MakersMarket will run through the first weekend showcasing fine art and unique hand-crafted goods from Southeastern artists and artisans.

-2017 Juried Prize Winner Brittany Watkins' mixed-media colorful outdoor art installation.

-ArtFields Jr. will host their annual statewide youth art competition where South Carolina student contestants enrolled in grades one through 12 will compete for up to $500 in their respective age brackets. Winners will be announced on April 28th on the Village Green.

-Greenville, S.C. based artist, producer and director Jeff Sumerel will create humorous, irreverent daily video reports, which will be released on social media and shown at Lake City's Village Green on a jumbotron, where the Jeff Sumerel Film Festival will run continuously during the week.

-The ColorMe ArtFields 5K Color Run & Walk will take place on April 21 at 7:30am and feature the new "Express Yourself" outfit competition on the RUNway, where winners will be determined by crowd applause and panel selection. To secure tickets, click here.

-The Portrait Contest will take place at noon on April 21, where Southeastern and ArtFields 2018 artists will compete for "Best in Show" and a $1,000 prize, creating portraits of local first responders serving as models.

-For the full lineup of events, visit the calendar page here.

Accomplished authorities in the arts comprise the ArtFields 2018 jury: Edmund Barry Gaither, Director and Curator of the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists and Special Consultant at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts; Eleanor Heartney, Art in America contributing editor, author and curator; Jessica Gaynelle Moss, a student, artist and entrepreneur who focuses on the intersection of fine art and sustainable community redevelopment; Frank Poor, an artist whose work focuses on the changing Southeastern landscape; and Marilyn Zapf, Assistant Director and curator at the Center for Craft, Creativity & Design in Asheville, N.C.

The selection panel of visual arts professionals who evaluated hundreds of submissions were: Elizabeth Essner, former curatorial fellow, Center for Craft, Creativity & Design, who lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.; Frank C. Martin, II, interim director of the Stanback Museum and Planetarium at South Carolina State University; Jonell Logan, Collector, Independent Curator, Arts Advocate, and Founder of 300 Arts Project, LLLC, Belmont, N.C.; Rachel Reese, Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Telfair Museum, Savannah, Ga.; and Alexi Torres, Artist, 2017 ArtFields Top Prize Winner, 2014 ArtFields People's Choice Awards Winner, Atlanta, Ga.

ArtFields is the recipient of the 2017 Southeast Tourism Society Award and The Charles A. Bundy Award. The competition began in 2013 with a simple goal: honor the artists of the Southeast with a week's worth of celebration and competition in the heart of a traditional Southern small town. More than $120,000 in total cash prizes are awarded to artists in all media who live in the 12 eligible Southeastern states. A panel of judges comprised of acclaimed visual arts professionals selects most prize winners, while visitors vote for two People's Choice awards. Approximately 400 pieces are displayed in locally owned venues, from renovated warehouses from the 1920's to a Smithsonian-qualified art gallery to upscale restaurants and start-up boutiques, in a mutual celebration of art and community. What was once one of South Carolina's most prosperous agricultural communities has now become a living art gallery as it demonstrates the best of the Southeast and recognizes the incredible talent here.