I am delighted and proud to announce that my watercolor “In The Spotlight” has received a top award at the opening of the 35th Biennial Juried Exhibition of the Tennessee Watercolor Society! My painting received the “Beauty of Watermedia” cash award, which is funded by donations made by the Society’s members over the past 2 years… $1150 in cash – whoopee! My award was the third place; the two lovely paintings chosen for 1st and 2nd received $1200 purchase prizes, which means the businesses which donated those awards also get ownership of the winning paintings. I get the $$ and get to keep my painting, so that’s fine with me! The show of 55 selected watermedia paintings premiers in Knoxville, the major Tennessee city closest to where I live.
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| Judy with Juror John Salminen |
The juror for the show was internationally known and published artist John Salminen. In his statement about the exhibition he said: “My final choices were difficult. When selecting paintings for the exhibition I looked for work with a combination of compelling content and evidence of well-developed technical skill. I felt that the selected paintings were strong in their ability to draw my attention and to maintain it.” Jurying a show is admittedly a subjective process, and Mr. Salminen remarked at the awards ceremony that when artists don’t get into a juried show they usually conclude that it was an ignorant juror! He encouraged artists not to be discouraged, but to continue to enter other shows. A work once rejected is often chosen by another juror. He said then the artist thinks that juror wasn’t so ignorant!
This exhibition includes works from exceptionally talented watermedia painters, working in both representational and abstract styles, from all around Tennessee. Many of those artists have won awards in national and international art shows, give professional art workshops, have hung in museum shows, and have been published. Some of the gorgeous paintings which I thought would get the top prizes didn’t win any award. So I am truly honored, not only to be included as one of the 55 paintings in the show, but to have also been chosen for such a high award among such talent.
The art show is being held at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, and runs through June 24th, 2016. After that, 30 paintings selected from the Main Show will travel to 6 other locations around the state through next January. The Emporium’s regular hours are Mon-Fri 9-5. They will also be open for the First Friday Artwalk on June 3rd until 9pm, and Sundays, June 5 & 19, from 3:30-6:30 PM.
The Tennessee Watercolor Society’s website will have this exhibition online and currently features the paintings from past Exhibitions.
