13 AAG Members in Gateway Juried Show; Mattox Wins Merit Award
The Third Annual Juried Show at the Gateway Arts Center in Westminster opened on August 30 and runs through October 11.
The top three awards went to Tom Dimond ($1500 first place for Atlas, mixed media), Cecile Martin ($750 second place for Rain…Again, monoprint collage), and Nancy Basket ($325 third place for Free-form Kudzu Chandelier, kudzu vine).
Anderson Artists Guild member Margaret Mattox won a Merit Award for her pastel drawing Present in the Moment (pictured at right).
Other AAG members in the show are JoAnne Anderson, Debbie Bzdyl, Rebecca Carruth, Marion Fanning, Jane Friedman, Carolyn Gibson, Julie Lamp, Sharon Jacobs, Hamed Mahmoodi, Diana Walter, Michelle Winnie, and Barbara Whitney. (If you are an AAG member not listed here but who did have one or more pieces in the show, please let Evelyn Beck know at evelyn.r.beck@gmail.com so this article can be updated.)
To see photos of all the artwork in the show, visit https://gatewayartscenter.net/1st-annual-juried-show/.
Margaret Mattox shared these thoughts about her award-winning piece:
Inspiration
"We adopted our daughter in 2017 from Durres, Albania, when she was 6. The adoption process involved staying 7 weeks in country while bonding with her in her orphanage, and going to several court dates. The first few weeks we visited her in her environment and weren't allowed to take her out of the orphanage. I loved this time with her, because she was happy and comfortable with me entering her world, and dropping in to her very strict routine. Gradually I was allowed to take her on outings. She would get very nervous because she always thought I was going to kidnap her! But going to the beach, she let down all her defenses and just lost herself in delight for hours. She lived in a coastal city on the Adriatic, so the beach was just a bus ride away. I was so happy to find a place where I could show her maternal love and care, and we could delight in something together and build trust. This painting is of a photo from that time, when we would stay at the beach until nearly dark, and almost emptied of people; she hardly even noticed the waning light. Today she is a happy and social 2nd grader, fully integrated into our family and community; I wouldn't trade any part of that journey for the world."
Process
"I decided on a black sanded paper, Sennelier La Carte. This paper can't take any liquid, because the starch-based adhesive will dissolve, so I had to stick with dry pastel application (I usually like to do an underpainting). I sketched out the design on the sanded paper with a Nupastel, then used Sennelier and Terry Ludwig soft pastels to complete the piece."
Challenges
"First was the type of paper, and not being able to do an underpainting, which is my preferred style. But I like that the black paper was able to peek through enough to create a unified color scheme. I wanted to have the bright colors of the inflatables to be very understated, so it took great restraint to select the right purples and pinks that didn't overpower the piece. Also, the sparkling water--how to draw that as if it is truly catching a slanting light, and then have that recede into the distance. Starting with a pure white and smudging the edges created the powerful sparkle that drew the eye and allowed the lonely boat to be secondary. And thirdly, the fun discovery of a child playing in the water, oblivious that it's nearly dark!"
