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The Fine Arts Competition at the State Fair is one of the most competitive juried exhibitions in Minnesota. This year, artists submitted a total of 2,835 pieces; only 336 were accepted.
Minneapolis artist Mike Welton says: Don’t take it personally. Welton submitted his painting, “QUEER,” part of a series of LGBTQ-themed signage that Welton has photographed around the country. It didn’t make the cut. In his career, Welton estimates he’s shown in about a dozen Fine Art Competitions, and been rejected from about seven or eight.
“It's one person's opinion,” Welton says. “Not everyone likes my art.”
Welton has unique insight, too. Each year Jim Clark, the fine arts superintendent, chooses artists to curate the show. In 2017, Welton was one of those artists.
“The year I curated, I couldn't even pick pieces I wanted to because not all of them could go in,” Welton says.”
Welton — and many other artists — are taking their rejected entries elsewhere. “Queer” will be on view for “State Fair Rejects,” an exhibition that runs Aug. 9 through Sept. 27, at the Douglas Flanders & Associates gallery in Minneapolis. The Burl Community Art Gallery in St. Paul will also reprise its “Rejected!” exhibition, on view Aug. 23 through Sept. 30.
“There was a lot of professional artists complaining about being rejected all the time, and I thought, well, maybe we should do a reject show,” Douglas Flanders says. Last year was the gallery’s first reject show with 50 artist submissions. This year, Flanders says there are almost 80 artworks, from sculpture and paintings to textiles and photography.
Gallery manager Syril McNally says the first rejected exhibition was one of the gallery’s best-attended shows of 2024.
“People loved coming and supporting it and having another opportunity, obviously, to show their work, too, at a gallery that maybe they would otherwise never have the chance to,” McNally says. “So this year, that's even more popular, just [by] word of mouth.”
Beth Stoneberg of the Burl gallery says it’s the fifth time they’ve hosted “Rejected!”
“It's probably one of our most anticipated exhibits of the year. It draws a remarkable crowd. It sparks a lot of conversation,” Stoneberg says. “People are really rooting for the underdog, the person that perseveres and has resilience and keeps creating.”
The Burl show will have 79 artworks that were rejected from the Fine Art Competition on view.
“I always love the ones that sort of honor the State Fair and the history of it,” Stoneberg says.
One of her favorite submissions this year is “The Corn King” by artist Julie Peters Krohn. The painting depicts Ron Kelsey, Minnesota “corn historian” and the former superintendent of farm crops at the fair’s Agriculture Horticulture building. Krohn has painted Kelsey with seed sacks (Kelsey may have the largest collection of seed sacks in the world at 1,400).
“I was inspired while attending the Minnesota State fair last year after I met Ron Kelsey and his scarecrow in the agriculture building,” Peters Krohn said in her artist statement.
“I learned about the fair honoring him with a lifetime membership for his many years of involvement, which has included, but is not limited to, corn producer, corn judge, seed art competition creator, scarecrow competition creator and the display of his collection of vintage seed bags. I saw humor in creating a painting of a sculpture of a man so involved but so little known. An inside joke that would hopefully spark questions.”
The Burl will host an artists' reception with a People’s Choice Award on Sept. 4.
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