January 16 – February 14, 2004
Pastel, Drawing, Printmaking, Photography, Digital Art, Fine Crafts
Sargent and Hartson Galleries

Juror's Overall Comments:
Other media shine when the painting category is eliminated from an exhibition. It was fascinating to select a show of Drawing, Printmaking, Photography, Pastel, Digital Art, and Fine Crafts.

Photography, the largest category, featured a wide variety of subject matter, ranging from micro-close ups of metallic reflections to landscapes with long horizons. Images were printed from 35 mm or 4x5 large format film or scanned from film and then manipulated via computer. Some photographs used pinhole cameras. Others added hand-coloring.

Although the printmakers are heavily into monoprints, they exhibit different approaches to imagery and color.

Pastels, in the second largest category, include seemingly simple color line drawings as well as complex “paintings” that utilize a full range of color and contrast.

The few drawings entered in the show include some fine figures in pastel.

Fine Crafts is another small category, mostly clay attacked with imagination and vigor.

In general the quality of the work, even the rejected work, was excellent. 116 artists entered 196 pieces. 92 artists had 142 pieces accepted. By dividing the Annual Winter Juried Show into two parts, the current exhibition and the Painting/Sculpture exhibition that opens in February, the Newburyport Art Association changes the context of their members’ exhibition and makes each category of work easier to see and enjoy.

My thanks to NAA for inviting me and to the Jury Committee for their very organized help and the excellent lunch!

Nancy R. Davison

Click on thumbnail for larger view.

Mary Alice Arakelian Memorial Award for Best of Show
Nancy Redding, from Andover MA, for Protecting Your Heart, clay and mixed media.
Juror's comments:
I chose Protecting Your Heart by Nancy Redding “Best of Show” because it is engaging and fun. The idea is unusual. I like the interactive component, and esthetically, all the parts work together. For example, the hearts reflect the color of the table top.

H. Patterson Hale, Jr. Memorial Award for Excellence
Margette Leanna, from Newburyport, MA, for Studio Shelf, Pastel
Juror's comments:
Studio Shelf by Margette Leanna receives this award because of the artist’s interesting choice of subject matter and unconventional approach to pastel. The three shelves of papers, books, and spools each have a different jazzy rhythm of repeated forms and color.


Zip Type Printing Services Award for General Excellence in Printmaking
Susan Jaworski-Stranc, from Newbury, MA for Fishing Holes-West, Monoprint with Chine Colle
Juror's comments:
Fishing Holes- West is a mysterious underwater collection of nets and pointy headed fish. It develops the monoprint into more than a “squashed painting” by adding embossing and chine colle textures.

Zip Type Printing Services Award for General Excellence in Drawing
Veronica Morgan, from Gloucester, MA, for Deserted Corral-Taos NM, Pencil on Crib Board
Juror's comments:
Deserted Corral-Taos, NM reads as a fully realized work of art, not a sketch for something else. Drawings on tinted paper require the artist to develop both lights and darks to contrast with the middle tones of the paper.

Institution for Savings Charitable Foundation Award for Pastel
Deb Citron-Stevens , from Essex, MA for Hancock Street, Pastel
Juror's comments:
Hancock Street shows a likely but controlled choice of color and an excellent use of darks and lights. Formal elements aside, it is interesting to look at.



Newburyport Civic League Award for General Excellence in Photography
Randy Radke, from Newburyport, MA for Nocturne Winter Greys, Black and White Photograph
Juror's comments:
Nocturne Winter Greys just happens to be a photograph of the NAA. It is well composed and moody.

Newburyport Bank Award for General Excellence in Digital Art
Julie Shaw Lutis, from Salem MA, for “1652”, Photo Collage
Juror's comments:
There is a lot to look at in 1652. Who is this girl?What is written in the leaves?This photo collage takes advantage of some of the possibilities of digital art.




Newburyport Area Industrial Development Charitable Foundation (NAID) Award for Fine Crafts (or award of juror’s choice)
Gary Rathnell, from Newton, NH, for Vessel 88, Stoneware
Juror's Comments:
Vessel 88 by Gary Rathmell is a teapot in name only. It stands on its own as an effective sculpture.

Newburyport Art Supplies & Framing Award For Best Use of Medium
Ron Sprague,from Hudson, NH, for Pencil Drawing, Graphite pencil
Juror's Comments:
Ron Sprague’s Pencil Drawing is a confident and sophisticated rendering of a figure in the simplest of Media - pencil.

Honorable Mention
Lyudmila Romanov, from Plaistow, NH, for Louisa and Louis, Couple of Dolls, Fabric, Jewelry, Lace, and Foam
Juror's Comments:
Louisa and Louis are fun to look at with the subtle textures and colors of their clothes and their little pointy toes. Are they levitating? Who knows?




Honorable Mention
Susan Spellman, from Newburyport, MA for Suzanne, Oil Pastel
Juror's Comments:
In Suzanne an oil pastel drawing, Susan Spellman captures the pose and personality of her model with authority and verve.




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