The Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (MMoCA) strives for excellence in its upcoming exhibition “2010 Wisconsin Triennial.” Wisconsin artists submit work every three years for this state tradition, which has evolved since its start in the late 1960s and features most every medium. The artworks are then studied and reviewed for inclusion in this prestigious exhibition. Curators travel thousands of miles to visit individual studios, where they interview each artist before finalizing their selections.

This year’s “Triennial,” which includes more than 40 artists, opens with a reception on Friday, May 21, at 6:30 p.m. Along with several site-specific installations, artists created works in ceramics, drawing, painting, performance, photography, printmaking and watercolor.

Age and career experience remain inconsequential in this impressive Wisconsin art survey, as jurors omitted artist ages so as to include the broadest range of talent. Recent UW-Madison graduate Sofia Arnold, whose first solo show debuted at Milwaukee’s Tory Folliard Gallery in January, shows alongside the famed Warrington Colescott, who opens his expansive print retrospective in June at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

Many other familiar names represent Milwaukee as well, including provocative printmaker Santiago Cucullu; Peck School of the Arts Inova curator and text artist Nicholas Frank; abstract painter and Walker’s Point Center for the Arts member Richard Knight; surrealist oil painter Gina Litherland; elegant photographer Sonja Thomsen; installation artist John Riepenhoff; recent Charles Allis Art Museum “Forward Now” grand-prize winner Linda Wervey-Vitamvas; and Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design professor Jason Yi, who presents sculpture and performance.

UW-Milwaukee faculty member Marc Tasman will exhibit his in-progress 10-year photography project. The artist shoots a daily self-portrait to document the progression of life, and his project will be updated for the MMoCA exhibition.

The “Wisconsin Triennial” continues through Aug. 15 in the museum’s lobby, State Street Gallery, New Media Gallery, and main galleries at 227 State St., Madison. MMoCA will sponsor gallery talks and events by several artists, with the schedule to be released before the opening. Curator of Exhibitions Jane Simon “hopes everyone will come” to view this intriguing collection that represents the state’s very best contemporary art.

Milwaukee artists also express themselves through the May exhibition “Ink” at the BYO Studio Lounge (2246 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.) in Bay View. Twelve hometown animators, illustrators and graphic designers will fill the space with their artwork. Included in this high-quality exhibition will be Elizabeth Brophy, Kim Haller, Jeremy Lowther, Allison Alexander Westbrook and Steve Wierth, among others.

“Ink” opens May 22 with an artist’s reception from 4 to 8 p.m. The hospitable BYO Studio Lounge will also introduce several summer cocktails, beginning with their refreshing “Strawberry Caipirinha.”