The Art Guild of O.P. presents our Winter Show...

'Creative Compulsions' drew a great crowd of delighted visitors attending the Opening Reception last night at Avondale Artworks.  It was a grand display of the Guild's talent at the beautiful Avondale Artworks Gallery in Jacksonville. Owner Ken Stutes hung our work with great style and expertise.

Mary Atwood's photograph, 'Thrill Ride', took first place. Other awards went to 2nd place winner, Judy Culpepper for her oil painting, 'Mystic Prams' and 3rd place winner,  Barbee Cunningham for her mixed media piece, 'Chick of the Sea'. Honorable Mention Award winners were Toni Charneco, Carolyn Ann Day, Lisa Fiore, Beth Haizlip, Margaret Pelton and Kris Kines. 

58 pieces were entered and 40 were accepted into the show. The juror took alot of time and consideration for his selections. He gives some insight into his process in his Juror's Statement. Congratulatons to you all.

Juror's Statement ...

It was an honor to serve as juror for, Creative Compulsion, this year’s winter art show for the Art Guild of Orange Park. I was impressed with the wide variety of styles and media covered by the group which always makes the task of editing difficult yet quite challenging. My criteria for evaluating artwork is quite straightforward: I place a large emphasis on a work’s initial visual impact.  This immediately isolates a handful of stronger pieces.  From there I expand my search as I evaluate individual works for creativity and originality; composition & design; color & value; movement; skill and control of the medium; and presentation. Once the core paintings are selected, I return to re-evaluate them with the same criteria as I make note of favorites.

As for the selection of First Place, Mary Atwood’s winning photograph, “Thrill Ride” best exemplifies my criteria of initial visual impact. As painters make strong visual marks with a brush, Mary has accomplished the same with her digital image: a powerful design through the lens with brilliant color and movement that immediately captures the viewer’s attention.  Judy Culpepper’s Second Place painting, “Mystic Prams”, exhibits a sound skill of value control with small, delightful, accents of color.  Choosing Third Place was a bit more difficult among the contenders but my final choice was Barbee Cunningham’s “Chick of the Sea” for its originality and daring, whimsical composition. A sense of humor in art is always appreciated and hers comes through with a smile. This mixed media collage represents a growing category with renewed interest and it was evident among the submissions that it is also one of the strengths of the collective group. I also noted group strengths in photography and pastel.

The Honorable Mentions were expanded to cover a range of talent.  Photography shines through again with Carolyn Ann Day’s “Vegas”, a hand-tinted image full of graphical visual impact.  “Good Morning World” by Toni Charneco is a small, visually striking assemblage of color and creativity. Lisa Fiore shows a deliberate control in the medium of pastel as well as local interest in her work, “Guard Tower”. Beth Haizlip expresses good control and understanding of the medium of watercolor in “Banana Split” while Margaret Pelton’s lyrical mark making creates a visual variety in her painting, “Croton”. And finally, Kris Kines’ “Poseidon’s Paw” is an elegant, oceanic abstraction carved from stone.

Thanks for the opportunity to select artwork for this show and I would like to wish all of the artist members a very creative and inspirational 2012! - Robert Leedy