REGENHARDT GALLERY AT SHRODE ART CENTER
Shrode Fine Art & Craft Competition Exhibit
March 21 – June 14, 2026
- Exhibit Open: Tuesday – Saturday 10 am to 5 pm & Sunday 1 to 5 pm
- Gallery Admission – Free
Gather at the Galleries - Exhibit Opening Reception
Saturday, March 21 | 5:00 to 7:00 pm
Admission $10.00 | Cedarhurst Members – Free
- Open bar and appetizers | 5 to 6 pm
- Shrode Fine Art & Craft Competition Awards Announcement | 6 pm
- Gallery hop to see the art and meet the artists | 5 to 7 pm
- Shuttle rides to the Shrode Art Center | 6 to 7 pm
Gallery Sponsor:
about the judge
Professor Laura Strand, head of Textile Arts at Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville, has a comprehensive background and formal training in weaving, surface design, papermaking, bookbinding, and basketry through a BFA from Georgia State University and an MFA from the University of Kansas, Lawrence. She has exhibited widely and lectured throughout the country. As a working artist, her interests include the interface between feminism and visual culture, exploring the connection between the textile field and our Western cultural understanding of “women’s work.” As an artist and a person, she engages in an effort to link the rich heritage of textile arts with contemporary theoretical discourse.
About the Exhibit:
The Shrode Fine Art and Craft Competition and Exhibition is an annual exhibit open to all artists 18 years of age and older living in southern Illinois, south of Interstate 70, including Charleston, IL. Artists may enter a variety of media including painting, drawing, printmaking, clay, fiber, mixed media, wood, fine jewelry, metal, and sculpture. There are five prestigious awards; Best of Show ($500), Best of 2-Dimensional ($250), 2 Honorable Mention ($175 each), and 4 Merit Certificates. This year 201 works of art were submitted for judging and 43 works were chosen for the exhibit by Laura Strand, our guest judge.
Juror’s Statement
It has been a privilege to review the diverse array of artwork submitted for this exhibition. A juror’s role is inherently challenging: to distill a large pool of strong entries into a cohesive selection. My perspective is informed by eleven years as a practicing artist and over three decades in academia—culminating this summer after 31 years as a Professor of Art at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Throughout my teaching career, I have challenged students to balance technical excellence with rigorous intellectual research, helping them develop a distinct voice that makes their ideas visible.
This exhibition represents a deeply focused group of artists. Each selected work successfully communicates its intent by harnessing the craft of making, a mastery of the formal principles of Art and a unique ability to translate concepts into a visual language that “speaks” to the viewer.
For the creative artist, community response is as vital as personal engagement. An artwork’s reception is realized through the questions and dialogue it sparks. I encourage every viewer to share their observations and inquiries with the artists; it is through these conversations that artists expand their reach and evolve their practice.
The diversity of thought and medium—spanning painting, printmaking, sculpture, metalsmithing, and ceramics—is truly inspiring. Whether representational or purely formal, the works I chose share a vital relationship between technical skill and conceptual energy. Together, they form a narrative that I hope is meaningful to all.
