The PA Wilds Center is pleased to announce it has secured grant funding for a forthcoming photojournalism exhibit featuring juried artisans creating their artwork in their unique workspaces throughout the Pennsylvania Wilds. The gallery show will tell the story of the region’s creative makers who are a vital piece of our region’s identity.

Presented by The Wilds Cooperative of PA, the exhibition will explore representations of artists in their workspaces and will capture the splendor and uniqueness of the Pennsylvania Wilds landscape and rural lifestyle. This project is supported in part by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. Individual grants were awarded by the Pennsylvania Partners for the Arts project stream program by the Elk County Council on the Arts, Bradford County Regional Arts Council and Galaxy – the Arts in Education Program of Central Intermediate Unit 10. A total of $4859 was awarded to the PA Wilds Center for the project.

“We are really grateful for this PPA grant support from these three organizations,” said Ta Enos, Executive Director of the PA Wilds Center. “So many talented artists and craftspeople live in the Pennsylvania Wilds. This project will help us capture and tell this story, all while creating another work opportunity for a local artisan.”

The PA Wilds Center has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to hire a Juried Photographer from The Wilds Cooperative of PA to capture the images of juried artists in their workspaces. Proposals are due by 5 p.m. on January, 16. The contracted photographer will select 24 Pennsylvania Wilds artists to photograph. The images will be curated into a gallery show that celebrates the creative spirit and skill of the region’s rural artists and craftspeople, many of whom practice their craft in a room at their house on a back country road, out of sight.

The Wilds Cooperative of PA provides arts business development services to nearly 100 local juried artists and craftspeople in its membership. The Wilds Cooperative of PA is one of rural Pennsylvania’s largest networks of creative entrepreneurs, working together to bringing handcrafted Pennsylvania products that reflect our region’s natural beauty and rural traditions to diverse marketplaces throughout the region, and on a soon-to-be launched PA Wilds e-commerce website.

Set to premiere in June, the show will be a free public art experience for residents and visitors to enjoy and learn from. The exhibit will travel to various galleries throughout the Pennsylvania Wilds; show dates and locations will be announced in the summer.

For more information on The Wilds Cooperative of Pennsylvania and its services and members, please visit www.pawildsartisans.com

The photojournalist Request for Proposal can be viewed at www.pawildscenter.org/news/rfp-portrait-photographer