2 AAG Members in Hartwell Juried Show
The 26th Annual Juried Art Show opened at the Hartwell Art Center in Hartwell, Georgia, on June 18 and runs through August 8.
The $350 Best in Show Award for 2 and 3 dimensional pieces went to Mary Dilworth’s Rhapsody (mixed media, pictured above left). The $350 Best in Show Award for photography went to Ray Richards’ It’s Time (pictured above right). The juror was Kimberly Spears, former director of the Anderson Arts Center.
Two Anderson Artists Guild members—Carolyn Gibson and Evelyn Beck—were among the 21 artists in the show. Their reflections on their pieces are below.
Carolyn Gibson (photography)
During the spring I enjoy watching things bloom. I spend time using my photos to create compositions that I feel enhances them.
I used my cell phone to take the photos. Often I just use the enhancement in the Gallery app. I use Pixlr when I want a double exposure or other more defined changes. Composition is important to me, as is making sure that negative space is used as part of a total design. Sometimes I continue to alter images, and they can morph into total abstraction. Most of the time, however, I don't lose the original subject.
In The Climbing Rose (above left) I wanted to include the brick wall but merge the flower with it. It would make it more interesting than just a rose against a wall. Go Green (above middle) is from a leaf I picked up in my yard. It was almost pearlescent, a bronze leaf with silver dots. I first created this composition in the original colors, then went beyond it to the greens. For The Textured Rose (above right), I took a photo of a rose and made numerous variations with it. I worked toward challenging myself to go beyond a single solution.
Evelyn Beck (fiber)
All of my pieces are based on photographs I’ve taken and then manipulated in Photoshop to create a simplified (and to some extent abstracted) pattern which I use to cut out fabric pieces. These are glued and later sewed.
I’m the world’s worst gardener but love photographing flowers. Black-Eyed Susans (above left) is one of those flower pieces that I’m happiest with, and I was thrilled that someone purchased it from the show. Tiny Dancers (above middle) is a piece where I experimented with unrealistic colors—I’m not sure it appeals to others, but I like the effect of the blue tints. The Rower (above right) is from a photo I took in Boston. I tried and failed at this piece several times; I struggled with how to simplify it enough to work with and not lose the identity of the subject matter. The rower herself is barely there, but I think she’s still visible, and I was glad to finally finish this one.
To view all the entries in the show, visit https://hartregionalart.com.
