50 Years Later: Davidson National Print and Drawing Competition

From 1972 to 1976, the Davidson National Print and Drawing Competition—organized by Herb Jackson ‘67—brought some of the most compelling contemporary works on paper to Davidson College.

50 Years Later: Davidson National Print and Drawing Competition celebrates the spirit of that original exhibition while reimagining it for today.

Similar to previous iterations, the submissions represented a survey of contemporary drawing and printmaking from across the United States.

We also invited distinguished curators, though this time working together as a panel. Caitlin Haskell (Davidson College Class of 2000), Gary C. and Frances Comer Senior Curator in Modern and Contemporary Art and Director of the Ray Johnson Collections and Research at the Art Institute of Chicago, IL; Maria Elena Ortiz, Curator at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, TX; and TK Smith, curator, writer, and cultural historian based in Atlanta, GA, reviewed over 230 submissions.

The panelists selected nine artists, who then worked with our gallery director/curator to select works—or, in many cases, groups of works—for display. Representing some of the many important conversations shaping the field today, we invite you to engage more deeply with the artists’ practices.