Congratulations Are In Order

The images below were painted by artist John Schiro formerly from Houston. The two gallery shots are part of his thesis exhibition that took place earlier this year at Rutgers in New Jersey. I don't have titles or sizes. You can get a sense of the size in the gallery shots. This post is a personal congratulation to him on his completion of his graduate work there. It is also a nod to his conversation with color. While his work would not be considered geometric it certainly participates in the dialog about color that is an on-going part of Joanne Mattera's conversation with color in her own paintings as well as on her blog.

Montserrat Report - Encaustic Conference

The 2nd Encaustic Conference has come and gone. It was as good this year as last....maybe better. Right off the bat, with Kay WalkingStick the keynote speaker on Friday night, the tone was set for more conversation about the message our work sends. She is a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and has been an active part of the renaissance of NativeAmerican fine art in the United States. It was truly a pleasure to hear her speak about her work.

There was plenty of art to be seen at Montserrat this year. "Hue Again", Joanne Mattera's exhibition was displayed in the Schlosberg Alumni Gallery on the first floor of the school.

On the second floor hallway was the "Diptych Project", an exhibition of work by artists from both the International Encaustic Artist (IEA) and New England Wax (NEW) groups.

In the Montserrat Gallery you could see the exhibition "Therefore & Because: Decoding Norman Laliberté"

The 301 Gallery again housed this years juried exhibition "On the Edge" juried by Laura Moriarity. These are just a few of the images that I loved in this exhibition. There were others. These two paintings on paper are by Russell Thurston.

Work by Cari Hernandez.

Paintings by Paula Roland.

The flowers planted around Salem and Beverly were as beautiful this year as last. I particularly loved the Peonies and Rhododendrons. Deanna Wood and Kate Miller and I took a break on Monday for a visit to Rockport where this picture was taken. Little gardens in front almost every shop were filled with all kinds of flowering plants. I had fried clams for lunch there and they were wonderful! We drove over to Rockport to see "Waxing Well: Encaustic Painting", an exhibition of work by artist's Lynda Cole, Chris McCauley and Mari Marks Fleming but the gallery was closed. Still, it was a nice respite from the bustle of the conference.

Below are pictures from the two after conference workshops I attended. Tuesday was Critical Feedback with Joanne Mattera and Shawn Hill. It was an intensive day with every one there eager to get critical dialog about their work. The criticism was constructive and considered and well worth our time. I only got images after it was all over when we were all packing up to leave for the day. Below is Karen Freedman packing up her painting. Karen had work in the "On the Edge" exhibition.


This is Nancy Natale packing up.

Below is George Mason who instructed the workshop "Painting with Stencils" that I attended on Wednesday.
There is much more commentary to follow, mostly about the conference sessions that I attended. These will be posted later on the texaswaxhouston blog.

Hunting Art Prize Rehash

Apologies for such a bad photo but it is the only one I shot of the "atlas" figure mentioned in the article "Unintentional Surrealism at the Hunting Art Prize Gala." I thought you could at least get a glimpse of the "surrealistic atmosphere" mentioned.

Unlike arriving guests, artists were instructed to park on the top level of the parking garage and enter through a back door so I wasn't privy to the "tooting horns" welcome described in this article. I did, however, hear and see some commotion down street-side as we artists posed for our group photo (see below) on the front steps.

Hunting Art Prize gala handed their car keys off to embarrassed-­looking valets sporting red and green "artist" berets. As they stepped onto the sidewalk in front of the Decorative Center, a guy in a Roman soldier-style miniskirt blew a horn, while the toga-clad guy next to him unrolled a "scroll" and read aloud:

"Friends, Patrons, Countrymen, lend me your ears...come I to welcome you to the Hunting Art Prize by order of Caesar Pontius Maximus." (from Houston Press)

Other "events" I didn't see, probably because I was standing near my work....("In addition to being coached on their wardrobe, artists were asked to stand next to their work to "to sell themselves and their artwork") was the toga-clad woman who was painted white nor the artist Anthony Butkovich "painting abstracted portraits of a model reclining on a chaise lounge in an evening gown and feather boa."

All that aside and back to some points brought up the article challenging the honor's prestige regarding the methods & procedures used for selecting the finalists.
The official call states "established artists, talented newcomers, and promising amateurs" are invited to submit. It seems to me that the here-in lies the problem with some of the above criticism. My question is do all art competitions need to follow the same footprint to maintain validity and prestige? How is the purpose of this particular award different from other "large money" awards given around the world?
I agree with Rainey Knudson of Glasstire, that at this point in time the Hunting Art Prize honor isn't quite as lofty as say, the Hugo Boss Guggenheim prize Turner Prize that offer approximately the same about of money. Those prizes bring more prestige and career opportunities to the awardee. But I am not sure I agree with all her suggestions for improving the prize. Maybe "getting rid of the "absurd" single image selection process" would help. Limiting the finalists to ten or so artists," maybe, but then this prize becomes just like all the others. Yes, I agree that "[treating] the artists as you would be treated" would be a step up but don't know how that affects the "prestige" of the honor.

My complaint is that only invited guests could see the work and only during that evening. The exbhibition was up for only that night's reception. Artists whose work didn't sell could take their work home with them that night or pick it up later in the week from a designated place away from the exhibition location.

There was no opportunity for the general public and other potential patrons or collectors to see the work presented.

An extended exhibition time would allow more exposure for the artists and thus provide finalist and winner alike more beneficial career opportunities.

Even so, the evening was "gala, the food was delicious, the flowers were quite wonderful
and I have line on my resume--- Hunting Art Prize Finalist! (Hmm...I'd rather the fifty grand and a line declaring "Hunting Art Prize Winner.")

More photos of the gala evening plus the finalist images can be seen by clicking "photos" and "finalist images."