Photography, Mixed Media, Print Making, Sculpture & Fine Crafts

The Newburyport Art Association presents The 2008 Annual Members Fall Juried Show Part 1 from August 22 to September 14. There were 206 entries from 116 artists, 133 works were selected.

Juror:
Lynda Hartigan is the Chief Curator of the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem Massachusetts. She was Chief Curator of the Smithsonian American Art Museum where she was also the founding curator and Director of The Joseph Cornell Study Center. She is an internationally recognized authority on Joseph Cornell and specializes in modern and contemporary art, America folk art, and African American art.

Juror's Show Overall Comments:
“The Fall Members’ Juried Show Part I clearly inspired many photographers to participate more so than artists involved with printmaking, Mixed Media, Fine Crafts, and Sculpture. The photographs selected generally share a command of the medium that goes far beyond the technical – to emphasize strongly felt interpretations of visual phenomena.  For the printmakers among you- do more!  Monoprints dominate- a testament to the confidence that this type of print conveys about an artist.  In the Mixed Media arena- from assemblages of found objects to over-painted photographs- the urge to evoke the act of painting looms.  This suggests a balancing act or perhaps even a tension between tradition and experimentation.  Sculpture and studio crafts, Studio Crafts and sculpture- a fine line exists between many of the works in these two categories- push your envelopes, and expect changes in scale, approach, and audience.  For me, overall, the experience is an important reminder to value the art and artists immediately around us.”

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Mary Alice Arakelian Memorial Award for Best of Show: $100
Artist:  Vivian Earabino
Town:  Newburyport, MA
Title:  “Equine Silhouette”
Media:  Digital Photography
“Looking at Vivian’s photograph is like solving the eternal mystery of what is real and what is evocative and abstract.”


Institution for Savings Charitable Foundation Award for Photography: $75
Artist:  Tom Robinson-Cox
Town:  Gloucester, MA
Title:  “Inner Light”
Media:  Photography
“The atmosphere of light, the light of atmosphere- I wonder if Tom enjoys the nocturnal Edgar Allan Poe or the lamps of Emily Dickinson.  Imagine the story or the poem…”


Newburyport Five Cent Savings Bank Award for Mixed Media: $75
Artist:  Jacob Towle
Town:  Newburyport, MA 
Title:  “Memories”
Media:  Mixed Media
“It is so tempting to arrange found objects in a narrative or still life.  Densely arranged with a sense of helter skelter abandon, the artist’s construction exudes the energy of a keen and greedy eye.”


Newburyport Area Industrial Development Fund Award for Sculpture: $75
Artist:  Jeff Forman
Town:  Fremont, MA
Title:  “The Bull”
Media:  Granite Sculpture
“Those horns!  Jeff has reduced the idea of a bull’s bulky form to an essence, gathered to lyrical effect in the horns that defy granite’s unforgiving character.”


Strem Chemical Award for Printmaking  $75
Artist:  Barbara Nachmias-Kedesdy
Town:  Newbury, MA
Title:  “The Radiant Mahoe”
Media:  Monoprint
“The flower’s form is subtle, it’s color assertive.  Barbara orchestrates this quality with an assuredness that reminds us of the exquisite challenges of printmaking.”



Sam Sargent Award for Excellence in Fine Craft  $75
Artist:  Don Grover
Town:  Amesbury, MA
Title:  “The North Jetty”
Media:  Fine Craft
“Don describes this as a relief carving in wood- and it is a handsome example of carving wood indeed.  But is also reminds me of a print or drawing; which reinforces the talent that is in his hands.”


Laura Coombs Hills Award for General Excellence  $25
Artist:  Linda Germain
Town:  Haverhill, MA
Title:  “wonder”
Media:  Monotype
“Works like this, regardless of Linda’s medium, remind us of the magical relationship among the eye, mind and hand.”





Honorable Mention
Artist:  Judy Robinson-Cox
Town:  Gloucester, MA
Title:  “Walk in the Park” 
Media:  Photography
“Judy’s scenario is a visual toast to the power of humor.  Here’s to the imagination rather than photo shop as the key to seeing things differently.”


Honorable Mention
Artist:  Doug Johnson
Town:  Newburyport, MA
Title:  “Saturday on March’s Hill”
Media:  Seed Bead Weaving
“Douglas’s deft; sleight-of-hand beadwork plays with our ideas of color, form, and composition.”



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