VVAA Awards Winners In Monthly Themed Competition

By ABIGAIL SNOW

Moapa Valley Progress

The Virgin Valley Artists Association held an open house on Thursday at the Mesquite Fine Arts Center to announce the winners of their monthly themed competition titled “The View From Here”. The competition was sponsored by Mesquite Gaming.

The winners for June were as follows: Best in Show- Jan Hansen, 1st Place-Cheryl Sachse, 2nd Place- Ray Pittman, 3rd Place- Susan Holladay, People’s Choice- Floyd Johnson, Sponsor’s Choice- Susan Wakefield. Honorable Mentions were: Susan Wakefield, Janet Trobough, Charyn McDonnell, and Joan Cooperman.

Riddick said the VVAA recruits sponsors for each exhibition, whether it is a themed competition or a special event. This helps with prize money, but it also shows community support for the VVAA and the Mesquite Fine Arts Center. The sponsor gets the benefit of advertisement on exhibition posters distributed throughout the community.

Each competition awards ribbons and cash prizes. The primary goal of some competitions is not only how well each artist interprets the theme, but also the degree of skills they demonstrate in creation of the artwork.

During the open house, Riddick announced the awards and handed out ribbons and cash prizes.
“ I want to acknowledge Mesquite Gaming since they have been very supportive of the Virgin Valley Artists Association and the Mesquite Fine Arts Gallery,” said Riddick. “They usually sponsor a competition twice a year, and we can’t thank [them] enough.”

Barry Winter with Mesquite Gaming accepted the ribbon for Sponsor’s Choice on behalf of the artist, Susan Wakefield, for her painting titled ‘Take Off’. The work portrayed a hot air balloon, viewed from below, as it floating up into the sky.
“I would like to congratulate all who have displayed art here,” said Winter. “I was very impressed and it was a difficult decision when it came time to decide on Sponsor’s Choice. I walked around for quite a while before deciding and chose an art piece that goes with one of our signature events in Mesquite, which is the Mesquite Balloon Festival.”

First Place winner, Cheryl Sachse, from St George Utah recently joined the VVAA two months ago. This is her first competition in Mesquite, and she entered four pieces of art.
“I joined this group because many people up in the St George galleries said this is a wonderful group of artists to work with,” explained Sachse. “They are all volunteers and they do such a great job here.”
Sachse’s piece was called ‘Hidden Waterfalls’ and was done with alcohol ink. Sachse said that she was new to the alcohol ink medium.
“It’s been interesting to work with because a lot of times the colors will work together and other times they repel each other,” she said. “I really prefer to use watercolor which is what my other three art entries were. I was very surprised that this piece won, but I think it fit the theme better.”

The last award Riddick presented was People’s Choice. This award is from those who visit the gallery and vote on their favorite art piece. This went to Floyd Johnson for ‘Honoring Those Who Serve”. It was a color painting of the famous photo of the Marine Corps raising an American flag on the island of Iwo Jima. Johnson said he was waiting for the right theme to come up for entering that painting.
“The famous photo was in black-and-white and I wanted to do it justice with a painted rendition in full color,” explained Johnson. “When ‘A View From Here’ came up as the theme for June, I felt it was a perfect fit. The view of the flag-raising for the Marines on the beach and the sailors at sea that day has been acknowledged as legendary.”

The exhibit will be on display until June 30. At that point, July’s themed exhibition and competition titled “Nevada” will be set up. Anyone interested in entering art in July’s competition need to bring or mail their artwork to the gallery by July 1 along with the required entry forms.

Information on the VVAA, or events and classes held at Mesquite Fine Arts Center can be found at www.mesquitefineartscenter.com or by calling 702-346-1338.