Entries Sought for Northern National Art Competition at Nicolet College

Artists from throughout the Northwoods and across the country are invited to submit original pieces for the 35th Northern National Art Competition at Nicolet College. 

The juried competition, sponsored by Nicolet and the Northern Arts Council, features more than $8,500 in prize money raised through generous donations from community members and entry fees. Prizes include three $1,000 Awards of Excellence. 

“This is one of the premiere national art exhibits in Wisconsin and it’s so exciting to bring this back to being an in-person event,” said Melinda Childs, Community and Cultural Development director at ArtStart and Nicolet College. 

Others agree. 

“The pandemic forced us into the virtual world last year and, while it was nice to keep the Northern National going, we were hearing over and over from people how they missed being able to view the actual art in person,” said Lisa Sage, Nicolet Workforce and Community Engagement specialist, who helps organize the art competition. 

The opening reception will start at 5 p.m., Thursday, June 16, in the Lakeside Center on the Nicolet Campus. The exhibit will then run through July 28 and is free and open to the public. 

Tickets for the opening reception are $20 and can be purchased at Child’s Frame Shop or Trig’s, both in Rhinelander. 

The competition is open to all artists 18 years or older who are U.S. residents. Submitted pieces can be in any medium, but they must be original, recently completed, and designed to hang on a wall. 

Entry fee is $35 for up to two pieces of art. The deadline to submit entries is April 1. 

The Northern National Art Competition began in 1987 with a mere 37 entries. Today, the show attracts the work of artists from all across the United States with hundreds of entries as diverse as the artists themselves and showcases a wide array of contemporary art in a variety of two-dimensional mediums. 

The juror for this year’s exhibit is Emily Lanctot, director and curator for the DeVos Art Museum School of Art & Design at Northern Michigan University. 

Lanctot’s work explores themes of identity, the archive, the collection, memory, and institutional politics. Her work moves between media to examine cultural rituals and everyday practices. Lanctot received a B.F.A. in Drawing and Painting from Northern Michigan University in 2008, and an M.F.A. in Interdisciplinary Studio Arts from Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2010. 

For more details about the entry process, along with the online registration form, contact Lisa Sage at lsage@nicoletcollege.edu or call her at (715) 365-4533. 

Image above: “Forest Hill” by Robert Gehrke | Eau Claire, WI | Oil | 2018 NNAC Benefactor Award