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Over the last four years, the The Pen and Brush's programs have shown exponential growth and have attracted an ever-growing pool of artist entrants with an incredibly diverse slate of exhibits and events.
Once predominantly drawing from the New York metro region, the programs now attract entrants and artists from more than 35 states and 13 countries.
This growth is due to a variety of factors, including the quality of guest curators, the expansion of annual events, increased marketing efforts, and the use of technology and social media.
Introducing guest curators and judges with outstanding credentials in the art world has attracted new attention from potential entrants in the fine arts world. Some top names that have been associated with The Pen and Brush in the last 4 years include art world icon Roy DeCarava; New York University Dean, professor, and art historian Edward Sullivan; best-selling literary pop genre author Claire Higgins Clark; museum director and international fine art magazine editor Peter Trippi; and Caribbean artist Deborah Jack whose own work opened up new areas of video and mixed media artists' interest in The Pen and Brush.
In addition to the exhibition program, our gallery events and an expanded literary program have helped bring new interest and excitement to The Pen and Brush. The most highly attended events include: the National Women's History Project reception for Molly Murphy MacGregor, Executive Director and Co-Founder, President of the NWSHP Board of Directors for Women's History Month 2008; the Valerie Capers concert in 2009; and the Pen Conference 2007.
The Pen and Brush continues to grow with annual events that achieve significant leaps in participation. These events define The Pen and Brush and will continue to attract new entrants and audiences. Among the most significant are the Women's History Month Exhibition, the Craft as Fine Art Exhibition, and the upcoming P&B Books e-anthology of award winning works for the Pen Contests. This year also saw the launch of Transitions, the first "virtual" exhibit on PenandBrush.org. This online show received 440 entries from more than 100 artists from around the world.
We will continue to build on these successes to bring more artists and audiences together as we move forward in 2010.