Erie Art Museum 101st Spring Show Opens March 16, 2024

ERIE, Pa. - The Erie Art Museum is excited to announce that the opening for the 101st Spring Show will be on March 16, 2024. The Spring Show is a juried art exhibition open to any and all artists living, working, or studying within 250 miles of the City of Erie, Pennsylvania. The Erie Art Museum, in partnership with the PennWest University Art Department's Visiting Artist & Speaker Endowment committee (VASE), has selected Tanya Aguiñiga as the Spring Show 2024 juror.

Tanya Aguiñiga was born in 1978 in San Diego, California, and raised in Tijuana, Mexico. An artist, designer, and craftsperson, Aguiñiga works with traditional craft materials like natural fibers and collaborates with other artists and activists to create sculptures, installations, performances, and community-based art projects. Drawing on her upbringing as a binational citizen, who daily crossed the border from Tijuana to San Diego for school, Aguiñiga's work speaks of the artist's experience of her divided identity and aspires to tell the larger and often invisible stories of the transnational community.

The Spring Show originated as the Art Club of Erie's "May Show." The inaugural exhibition was held in 1923 with the help of director emeritus and founder of the Art Club of Erie, Lovisa Card-Catlin. Throughout

the first fifty years, submissions were limited to artists within a 75 mile radius. When former director John Vanco assumed the mantle of the then Erie Art Center, he renamed the exhibition to the "Spring Show" and expanded the artist call to a 250 mile. Eventually, the EAM teamed up with Edinboro University (now part of PennWest) and expanded the associated programming with Spring Show jurors to include art talks, workshops, and critiques. The 101st Annual Spring Show will open March 15, 2024. Tanya Aguiñiga will be

speaking at the William P. Alexander Music Center recital hall on the PennWest Edinboro campus at 6 pm on Wednesday, March 13th. The lecture is free and open to the public.

About the Erie Art Museum

Located in Erie, Pennsylvania, the Erie Art Museum holds the region's leading art collection with more than 8,000 objects spanning American ceramics, paintings, sculpture, and photography. The museum regularly hosts special exhibits bringing art and inspiration to the community. It also hosts lectures, educational programs and provides artists' services including interdisciplinary and interactive school tours.

The Erie Art Museum is open every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, 11-6 pm, Saturday, 10 am-5 pm, and Sunday from 1-6 pm. The museum routinely posts updates on activities on social media - Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

For more info on upcoming programs, visit erieartmuseum.org or call 814-459-5477.