Open Season at Brand : This year’s art show at the library features 61 works, an eclectic mix of subject matter and techniques.

Since the Brand Library in Glendale opened its art galleries 24 years ago, the Associates of Brand Library and Art Center have sponsored an annual juried art exhibition at the end of each year.

During several of those years, this library’s support group has limited entries to a particular medium, such as watercolor or ceramics. But this year’s “Brand XXIV” was, like last year’s competition, opened to artists working in various mediums, including ceramics, drawing, graphics, painting, photography, sculpture, textiles, watercolor and mixed media.

“Last year was the first year in multimedia. We do think it’s useful to stay with the same choice of medium for at least three years,” said gallery director Joe Fuchs, because the continuity attracts more artists to enter the competitions. “But it’s also fun to do multimedia. The caliber of work that was submitted was very high.”

Any artist residing in the United States could enter as many as three slides of works that were executed within the past two years and had not appeared in any major juried show. More than 1,000 slides were submitted for “Brand XXIV,” an exhibit co-sponsored by the library associates and the Library Division of the city of Glendale.

Southern California artist Laddie John Dill was asked to jurythe show. From the entries, he selected 61 works that are now on display. Among them, Dill awarded cash prizes--courtesy of the associates, other community groups, businesses and individual sponsors--to 16 works. Prize money totaled more than $4,000.

“In the past few years that I have been jurying shows I have found that, recently, the criteria of the work is at a very high level,” Dill wrote in his juror’s statement. “Draftsmanship and sheer mastery of paint, combined with solid concepts, have become more of the norm rather than the exception.

“It is gratifying to see this, yet it becomes increasingly more difficult to jury shows of this caliber. I find that I must resort to personal bias and subjective reactions in the face of a body of exceptional work that was presented to me for the Brand Library exhibition.”

Dill’s personal bias and subjective reactions have still left plenty of room for an eclectic mix of subject matter and techniques. Abstract sculpture shares space with assemblages, prints and representational paintings. Karen Jollie’s award-winning watercolor, “Leaves of the Silver Mountain Gum,” vies for attention with Andrea Zuill’s haunting oil-on-canvas portrait of the “Ordinary Man,” which also received an award. There is something here for everybody.

Hy Farber’s gigantic laminated plywood sculpture, “The Baseball Player,” stands at the gallery entrance, ready to belt a fast ball out of the park. A short video that shows Farber at work in his studio accompanies his slugger, which won a Patron Cash Award.

So did Connie Mississippi’s birch plywood and rubber “Black Hole,” a conical-shaped abstract sculpture. It draws one’s eye into its nicely textured interior and then beyond to the opening in back, which could take viewers anywhere they want to go.

Voyagers will also find the sky is not the limit in Denise Carson’s painting, “Thru the Looking Glass.” Through her skillful use of paint, we sense movement and mystery in deep space. In this universe of hers, there are at least some bright spots.

Victor Kreiden’s colorful, jaunty “Virtual Painting” received the Associates Purchase Award. The large oil-on-canvas work, in which abstract figures mingle with umbrellas and floating hats, becomes part of the Brand Library’s permanent art collection.

Betty Dore conveys a more penetrating slice of life in her painting, “Vox Populi, Vox Dei.” The image depicts a neglected urban street corner with piles of trash. But life continues on here, where people go about their business and the Owl Cafe beckons.

The sharp knife that stands about as tall as the larger-than-life figure in Saak Pogossian’s “Figure With Knife” attracts and repels simultaneously. The figure is cloaked in what appears to be a clergyman’s robe and sprouts burned wood beams in place of a head. The piece brings various scenarios to mind regarding the institutional use of force and power.

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Where and When

What: “Brand XXIV.”

Location: Brand Library Art Galleries, 1601 W. Mountain St., Glendale.

Hours: 1 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1 to 6 p.m. Wednesdays, and 1 to 5 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Ends Jan. 31.

Call: (818) 548-2050.