Lake City, South Carolina-- 

The sixth annual ArtFields® competition will showcase 400-plus works by Southeastern artists in 40 downtown venues. This year, it will also serve as a public introduction to numerous arts-focused developments in a town that is truly humming with promise. ArtFields will take place April 20-28, 2018.

Competition artwork was chosen from a near record number of submissions, and represents a wide range of subject matter and media from artists both new and established. The list of accepted artists can be viewed on the ArtFields website. Prizes of $50,000 for the Grand Prize, $25,000 for Second Place and two $12,500 for People’s Choice (one each for two- and three-dimensional work), plus eight Category Awards of $1,500 each and 10 Citizens Bank Merit awards of $1,000 each, will be presented to winning artists, who collectively represent every state eligible to participate. 

Visitors to ArtFields help determine the People’s Choice winner through an easy ‘text to vote’ system. 

Inspired by the success of ArtFields, Lake City is emerging as a year-round art destination. This year, the Lake City Creative Alliance (LCCA) will unveil the new TRAX Visual Art Center, or TRAXvac, one of South Carolina’s largest art centers. At 5,000 square-feet, the venue will feature two professional gallery spaces, along with a planned sculpture garden next door. 

The long-time ArtFields storefront office will be transformed into the ‘AFO Gallery’, which, along with the Smithsonian-certified Jones-Carter Gallery, brings the town three permanent art venues, with a fourth planned soon to allow for ongoing, simultaneous exhibitions. 

Meanwhile, during ArtFields’ nine days in April, Lake City becomes one of the mostly densely galleried spaces, per capita, in the nation, as work is exhibited in a wide range of area municipal centers, galleries, shops and restaurants.

ArtFields Features New and Beloved Returning Events for 2018

For the festival surrounding the competition and exhibitions, popular events include ColorMe ArtFields 5K Color Run & Walk (ticketed - 7:30 a.m., April 21) and the Portrait Contest(noon, April 21). Visitors can peruse the popular MakersMarket during the first weekend and can also experience Brittany Watkins’ (2017 Juried Prize Winner) work again in the form of a colorful outdoor art installation. For the full lineup of events, visit the calendar page. Greenville, S.C. artist Jeff Sumerel will create humorous, irreverent daily video reports that will be released on social media and shown at Lake City’s Village Green on a jumbotron, on which also the Jeff Sumerel Film Festival will run continuously during the week.

Also to be unveiled at ArtFields 2018 are two murals and one large public sculpture. Created by Florence, S.C. artists Patz and Mike Fowle, the sculpture will honor Lake City native and astronaut Ron McNair. Among the murals will be a large floral composition by Tennessee artist Lance Turner and collaborating landscapers from Lake City’s Moore Farms Botanical Garden.

2018 Draws Strong Jury

Accomplished authorities in the arts comprise the ArtFields 2018 jury. They are: Edmund Barry Gaither, Director and Curator of the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists (NCAAA), and Special Consultant at the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), Boston, Mass.; Eleanor Heartney, Art in Americana contributing editor, author and curator, N.Y.; Jessica Gaynelle Moss, BFA, MA, student, artist and entrepreneur who focuses on the intersection of fine art and sustainable community redevelopment, Pittsburgh, PA; Frank Poor, an artist whose work focuses on the changing Southeastern landscape, BFA and MFA, Cranston, R.I.; and Marilyn Zapf, Assistant Director and 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, Brooklyn, N.Y.; Frank C. Martin, II, interim director of the Stanback Museum and Planetarium at South Carolina State University, Orangeburg, S.C.; 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.

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About ArtFields®

April 20-28, 2018

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 is 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.