The exhibition features the work of 39 Arkansas artists and will travel to 10 galleries throughout the state in a year-long touring show. Fayetteville artists Cindy Arsaga, J.P. Bell, Joanne Jones and Cindy Wiseman have work featured in the exhibition, as well as Dan Snow of Springdale.

Now in its 27th year, the annual "Small Works on Paper" exhibition showcases artwork no larger than 24 x 24 inches by Arkansas artists who are members of the Arkansas Artist Registry, an online art gallery coordinated by the Arts Council. The 2014 show features 40 works, which were selected from more than 300 submissions by juror Mary Kennedy, CEO of the Mid-America Arts Alliance.

"The works I selected for inclusion represent a broad range of media, technique and style and may appear to lack cohesion as a group at first glance, but for me the through-line for this exhibition is the richness and possibility of storytelling represented in these works," Kennedy said. "Regardless of whether they are abstract or figurative, high-tech or handcrafted, they conjure a response'”emotional, intellectual or physical'”that animates the imagination of the viewer and sparks new storytelling and the perpetuation of creative expression."

Kennedy selected 10 artists to receive purchase awards. Purchase award winners receive the cash amount equivalent to the value of their selected works. Funded by entry fees, the purchase award pieces become part of the exhibition's permanent collection. The artists selected to receive purchase awards are Cindy Arsaga of Fayetteville; Claire Cade of Arkadelphia; Houston Fryer of Hot Springs; Lisa Kindrick of Little Rock; Tom Richard of Monticello; Richard Stephens of Hot Springs; Carrie Waller of Cabot; Cathy Wester of Conway; Cindy Wiseman of Fayetteville; and Miranda Young of Little Rock.

The Arkansas Arts Council was established in 1966 to enable the state of Arkansas to receive funds from the National Endowment for the Arts. The Arts Council became an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage in 1975 and shares its goal of preserving and enhancing the heritage of the state of Arkansas.