County's region's best show off work at juried art show
By Becky Barclay
Published in News on May 26, 2010 1:46 PM
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Troy Herring
The Best in Wayne County award went to Beth Hill of Mount Olive for her acrylic painting titled "So ... Which Came First?"
Full Size
Troy Herring
This segmented woodturned vase titled "Diamonds" by Earl Rasmussen of Pikeville won Best of Show at this year's juried art show.
A segmented woodturned vase containing more than 950 pieces of wood won the Best in Show award at the 31st annual National Juried Fine Arts Exhibition at the Arts Council of Wayne County.
It was made by Pikeville resident Earl Rasmussen and is titled "Diamonds."
Second place was "Thoughtful Pause," an oil painting by Yvonne Sovereign of Sanford. It's a portrait of a woman and a dog done in the old world style.
"Where the Gypsy Lives 2" by Lisa Stroud of Cary took third place. It's an abstract piece.
Fourth place went to Dean Bryant Johnson of Goldsboro. It's a photograph titled "Dusty Road."
The Best in Wayne County award went to Beth Hill of Mount Olive for her acrylic painting of chickens and eggs titled "So ... Which Came First?"
Mrs. Hill also won the People's Choice award.
Honorable mention awards were presented to Timothe Cavenaugh of Pikeville for his mixed media work titled "The Meek," Jim Dees of Williamston for his photo titled "The 'Skulll' Driftwood No. 1," Kathleen Dentinger of Emerald Isle for her acrylic painting titled "Icarus Emerges," Bill Gramley of Lewisville for his pastel painting titled "Lean On Me," Hanna Jubran of Grimesland for his cast iron sculpture titled "Harmony of the Sphere," Johnnie Lee Scott of Richlands for her book arts Polaroid transfer titled "The Chandler House," and E. Tracy Williams of Cary for her mixed media entry titled "World Wrapped in Red."
Ali Borchardt was this year's juror. She is the director of education at the Columbia Museum of Art in South Carolina.
There were 170 entries received for the show Of the 104 pieces selected for the show, 39 were by Wayne County artists.
"We got a wide variety of artwork," said Becca Scott Reynolds, gallery and education director of the Arts Council of Wayne County. "We got everything from amateur photography to watercolor and abstract art to sculptures and mosaics."
Mrs. Reynolds said it's great to see the nontraditional artists being represented and lifted up for their talents.
One of those nontraditional artists was Karin Thompson of Goldsboro, who did slab pottery. She took the slabs of clay and rolled them out to make pottery. She had a bowl with rough edges, titled "Poppy Bowl."
"One reason it's so popular is because of the organic shapes and the natural way it looks," Mrs. Reynolds said.
She pointed out one wall of the show that is a good example of the wide variety of art received this year. It contains a mixed media piece, fiber art, oil on canvas, mixed media collage, a cast iron cube and an organically shaped, a watercolor portrait and colored piece of slab pottery.
Although this year's show was smaller than in the past, Mrs. Reynolds noted that juror Borchardt commented that the quality of the entries was tremendous. "She was pleased to see such talent and quality of work," Mrs. Reynolds said.
Mrs. Reynolds said there were a lot of new artists entering the show this year including Eric Schreffler of Goldsboro, an acrylic painter, and Sharon Killette of Mount Olive, an oil painter.
"We use the juried art show as an opportunity to discover new artists," Mrs. Reynolds said. "There were a couple of new artists who entered this year who I was very impressed with, like Robert Jones of Snow Hill."
There were even mother-child and father-child artists who entered the show.
At Wayne County's juried art show, everyone who entered had his or her work on display for the first part of the exhibit, now ended, while those selected for the show will continue to hang through June 25.
The gallery is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sponsoring the awards were TA Loving Co., Tommy and Cissy Bell, in honor of Ian Merritt by his parents and in honor of Zeno Spence by his friends and family.
Something new at this year's juried art show is a scavenger hunt.
Mrs. Reynolds explained that there are eight clues on sheets of paper that visitors may pick up when they first go in.
"You have to use the clues to see if you can figure out which piece of artwork it's talking about," she said. "For example, one clue says to find the farm animals that are known for eating anything. You have to walk through the whole exhibit to figure out the clues."
Although the scavenger hunt was originally made up for children, adults have been playing, too, said Mrs. Reynolds.
"The adults have said it causes them to slow down and really enjoy the exhibit and see what's in each piece of art. It gives their eyes time to really take in and enjoy each piece of art."