VVAA Reception Was Filled With Stuff Of Dreams

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

The awards reception for the July contest exhibit at the Mesquite Fine Arts Center was uncommonly spirited last week. Performing at the ceremony were more than two dozen talented youngsters from the Mesquite Youth Theatre Players.

The troupe’s musical act brought quite a crowd to the event; uncommon during the slow summer months. Parents, siblings, friends and other family members of the young performers packed the gallery on Thursday, July 21 to hear the music and to see the art exhibited all around them.

The young theatre troupe, led by director Wende Wolfe-Killinger and music director Mitzi Bender, recapped several highlights from their hit musical productions “Beauty and the Beast” and “101 Dalmations,” both staged earlier this summer at the Mesquite Community Theatre.

The kids’ appearance gave a strong shot of energy and life to the gathering and put smiles on the faces of all attendees.

The theme of this month’s exhibit was “Let Your Dreams Fly.” The artwork submitted by local artists was as imaginative and capricious as the show’s theme.

The Best of Show winner was a watercolor called “I Wish I Was…” by Cheryl Sachse. It was an energetic piece depicting two young boys on an imaginary aviation adventure while sitting together in an old wooden box on the floor. It was perfect for the theme of the month. The piece also won the People’s Choice award at the exhibit.

Sachse also won second place in the contest with a whimsical watercolor entitled “Fly me to the Moon”. This remarkable piece depicted a young girl flying through the night sky on the back of a magical moose.

An acrylic painting with the same “Fly me to the Moon” title won the First Place award for the exhibit. This painting was a duet of sorts, painted in collaboration between artists Floyd Johnson and Kathleen Ludwig.

The painting depicted a closeup of Frank Sinatra, who was famous for crooning the song of the same name as the painting. Sinatra’s iconic blue eyes were depicted with amazing vibrance. In the distance behind Sinatra, in the dark background, a jetliner airplane is shown approaching the moon.

In an interview Johnson said that he had the idea for the painting and began himself with the eyes. Then he had the notion to split the painting in half and collaborate with Ludwig on the completion. He painted the right half showing the brightly lit side of Sinatra’s face. Ludwig took the half that was in shadow.

Local photographer Randy Bauman won the third place award with an intriguing infrared photograph entitled “Where Dreams Are Made.”

Bauman also received Honorable Mention for a photo called “Dancing Dreams.” He also won a second Honorable Mention for a dynamic Digital Photo Art piece called “Soaring Dreams.”

Other Honorable Mention awards went to Rachelle Knight for a vividly colorful painting entitled “Oh The Places You’ll Go;” and Lynn Craven for a fantastical acrylic and pyrography piece called “Pegasus in your Dreams.”

Mayor’s Choice was awarded to a poignant watercolor painting called “Father of the Bride” by artist Linda Harris.
“I chose that one because of the depth of the expressions on their faces,” said Mesquite Mayor Al Litman, who was in attendance at the reception.

Harris explained that the painting was taken from a photo of a friend and his daughter on the daughter’s wedding day.

“I just loved it because it was so beautiful and simple,” Harris said. “I made a few little changes from the photo to focus on the facial expressions that I wanted. That is part of the fun in painting from photos.”
The “Let Your Dreams Fly” exhibit in July has been sponsored by Mesquite Gaming. Photos of all the winning works can be viewed at mesquitefineartscenter.com

The competition for the month of August has the theme “Abandoned Places.”