It's Small
Juror: Alexandra Hunter Byrum || Catalog || Flier
Awards:
- First Place: Sienna, oil painting by Thomas Smagala, Spotsylvania, VA
- Second Place: The Empty Nest, charcoal drawing by Phyllis Graudszus, Unionville, VA
- Third Place: Victims Along the Road, photograph by Jeanne Tanks, Fredericksburg, VA
Honorable Mentions:
- Tranquil Daze, monoprint by Charlotte Richards, Fredericksburg, VA
- Ridge Road, oil painting on aluminum by Jane T. Woodworth, Fredericksburg, VA
- The Little Red Steam Shovel, oil painting by Nancy Brittle, Remington, VA
- Western Landscape No. 1, mixed media by Christine Long, Fredericksburg, VA
Juror's Statement:
When a work of art is small, we are forced to look closer. Our eyes move towards the piece, resulting in a shared intimacy between the viewer and the artist. As viewers, we quickly discover what the artist has chosen to focus on and what is most important to their trained eye.
As I spent a November day with over one hundred submissions for the It's Small exhibition, I was especially taken by the details that participating artists chose to represent: the turn of face in Tom Smagala's Sienna, the lines of grass in Phyllis Graudszus' The Empty Nest, and the layered branches in Jeanne Tanks' Victims Along the Road. I simultaneously met artists whose love of gesture and color popped off the paper, aluminum, or canvas, as in Charlotte Richard's Tranquil Daze, Jane Woodworth's Ridge Road, Nancy Brittle's The Little Red Steamshovel, and Christine Long's Western Landscape No. 1.
I am so grateful for the opportunity to have served as the juror for the It's Small exhibition, as the experience introduced me to so many wonderful artists from Virginia and talented participants from as far as Arkansas, California, Iowa, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas. There were many strong works that I was not able to include in the exhibition due of space constraints.
I hope you enjoy looking closely at the details, color, and gesture of It's Small. I extend a special thanks to Carrol Morgan and the FCCA membership for welcoming me to your center -- a vibrant place for creativity in Virginia.
