BOCA RATON, FL.- Looking for a sign of growth and upturn to balance daily reports of downsizing? If the submissions that poured into the 58th Annual All Florida Juried Competition and Exhibition are any indication, independent art continues to flourish in Florida. The Boca Raton Museum of Art’s annual contest and exhibition drew 1260 submissions from artists around the state – up more than 10 percent from 2008.

The All Florida is the state’s oldest statewide annual juried competition. It showcases both prominent and emerging Florida artists, granting visitors insight into today’s Florida art scene. The exhibition opens June 10 and runs through August 30, 2009 at the BRMA.

This year’s juror, Roy Slade, selected 60 artworks – paintings, sculpture, photography and installations – by 48 artists. The Museum once again employed the use of CaFÉ,TM a webbased site offering electronic online applications for art exhibitions. The program provides an affordable and efficient submission method and opens the competition to a wider audience of participants.

“Art crosses all borders. While these artists share Florida as their residence, and their works collectively reveal something about Florida contemporary art, one could argue that just as importantly, the All Florida provides an opportunity to recognize the international world in these Florida artists’ works, rather than the region in which we reside. Indeed, many of the artworks in this year’s All Florida mirror the struggles and common energy shared by artists everywhere,” said Wendy Blazier, Museum Senior Curator.

“Although only a select few were chosen for this particular exhibition, it was encouraging to see such an overwhelming response. I believe that the All Florida Juried Competition and Exhibition may appropriately be labeled a cross-analysis of the best of Florida for 2008, which makes it quite an enjoyable exhibit to curate,” said Kelli Bodle, Museum Curatorial Assistant and exhibition curator.

“The artists selected for this exhibition are to be congratulated, as are all those that submitted entries. To be creative with eye, hand and mind is to be encouraged; for art enriches our daily lives,” said Roy Slade.

Roy Slade is Director Emeritus of Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where he served as Director of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. from 1972 to 1977. Slade has presented lectures on contemporary art in the United States, Europe, South America and Japan, and has curated or juried more than one hundred exhibitions. Slade is a practicing artist, painting each summer in his studio on Shelter Island, New York. He has nearly thirty years experience as an artist, arts administrator and educator, and is an outspoken advocate of the arts, lecturing and writing about contemporary art and art museums.