By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
For an art exhibit dedicated to artists of Northwest Ohio, it was fitting that the best of show winner was a local scene.
Aaron Pickens received the top honor at the 10th Northwest Ohio Community Art Exhibition for a pairing of two small paintings of fields in the Grand Rapids area.
They were certainly not the flashiest pieces among the work by 47 artists in the Bryan Gallery in the Bowling Green State University Fine Arts Building. They were not even the flashiest of the pieces Pickens was showing.
For juror Robert Thurmer that was the point.
“I choose that as best of show mostly to honor the feeling that’s created here with a few skillfully placed brush strokes and color combinations that are apparently simple, but are really quite complex,” he explained. “This is a very, very thoughtfully produced and skillfully handled, and it creates a mood and feeling that’s highly personal statement.”
Pickens created the paintings plein air, in the open air. It’s a discipline he’s adopted to complement his studio work, an example of which hung right next to the landscapes.
That studio painting is a still life of toys, set on a sheet of cardboard, with an ominous forest in the background.
That painting took 70-80 hours to create, Pickens said.
The plein air landscapes, each took about an hour to create. He goes out for just a limited amount of time to try to capture the light, in this case dawn and dusk. “This is what taught me how to paint, how to use my material quickly and efficiently,” he said. “It’s a way to clear my mind. It’s a Zen exercise.”
The skills he learns outdoors he brings into the studio, he said.
While Thurmer preferred Pickens landscape over his toy still-life, he honored another painting that depicted a toy with first place for 2-D work to Joanne Cook’s “American Beauty.”
Joanne Cook with “American Beauty”
Another small painting, Cook took her inspiration from the movie poster for the film “American Beauty,” but instead of a naked young woman, she put a Little People figure of Wonder Woman, at the center.
Thurmer liked the skill of the skin tones placed against the intensity of the red rose petals. The painting, he said, also makes a statement about American aesthetics with its sense of unreality and intentional saccharine quality.
Cook said she tries to imagine famous movie scenes filtered through the imagination of a child.
For the first place in 3-D work, Thurmer selected glass piece, “Off-kilter” by Noel Welch.
Noel Welch with “Off-kilter”
“It manages to do a good job of actually being off kilter while maintaining a certain balance,” the juror said, adding, he was “dumbfounded” by Welch’s use of veins of color inside the glass form.
Welch said the piece was constructed of 15 layers of float glass that were pressed and glued together, and ground to achieve its elegantly odd shape. “It was a lot of grinding, grinding, grinding,” she said.
When tapped, the piece rocks gently back and forth.
Thurmer said in his artist statement that he found the exhibit especially impressive given the works were not selected but rather included everything delivered was shown.
There were more pieces worthy of recognition, he said, than he had prizes to award.
Pickens said he appreciated the dialogue among those like himself who are trained and professional with avocational artists who are just as passionate about art.
The show, Cook noted, had a range of styles and ages, from older artists to teenagers. An art teacher in Perrysburg, she said she would encourage her students to enter. In fact, a former student now at BGSU had a piece in the exhibit.
The awards were handed out by Charles Kanswicher. He became director of the School of Art on July 1, and this was his first official act.
“I love the way the community comes out for this show,” he said. Those exhibiting include School of Art faculty, art students, high school students, and community members. “This shows what an art resource we have here in Northwest Ohio.”
Other NowOH winners were:
- Sheila Graham, second place, 2-D.
- Joel O’Dorisio, second place, 3-D.
- Xuanyi Wang, Toledo Federation of Art Societies Award.
- Rachel Sykes, Bowling Green Kiwanis Youth Award
- Dave Grabarczyk, Jim Rich, M.M. Dupay, Gary Wittenmyer, and Stephen terry, all honorable
The Bowling Green Arts Council Popular Choice Award will be announced will be announced when the show closes July 29.
The exhibit hours are: Thursday, 6 – 8 p.m. and Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, 1 – 4 p.m.
