VVAA Features Life Awakens Spring-Themed Exhibit

By BOBBIE GREEN

The Progress

Life Awakens was the March theme for the Virgin Valley Artist Association Exhibition and Competition. The winners of the exhibit were announced at a special awards ceremony held on Thursday, March 16 at the Mesquite Fine Arts Center.

The awards ceremony provides an event to encourage the public to come and view the art work, meet the artists and enjoy the beverage bar and snacks.

Ribbons for first, second and honorable mentions are award for each of the four categories. In addition, a Best of Show award is presented from all four first place winning entries.

In the Brush Art Category, the first place winner was Joy Lamb’s landscape watercolor artwork entitled “My Quiet Place.” This entry was also chosen as “Best of Show” for the exhibit.
“My spouse and I like the outdoors,” Lamb said. “We spend time at a place with this scene except for the colors I added.”

The Emerging Artist award came from the Brush Art category also. This award went to a new VVAA member, Nancy Miles, for the watercolor entitled, “Paradise Renewal.”

Second Place in the category went to Cheryl Sachse for a colorful acrylic titled “Spring Growth.”
Two honorable mentions in this category were awarded including Christine Picior for an Alcohol Ink titled “Becoming,” and Cheryl Sachse for a watercolor called “Cactus Blossom.”

Also, in the Brush Art category was a beautiful oil painting entitled “Mountain Sunrise” by Thomas Davis. This work took both Sponsor’s Choice and People’s choice This month’s sponsor was Bank of Nevada.

The photography and digital art category caught the eye of Mesquite Mayor Al Litman. The Mayor’s Choice award went to Steve Dudrow for “Fawn at Dawn.” Dudrow said he captured this photo at Capitol Reef National Park.

Both first and second place in the category went to Shirley Smith for her macro (extreme close up) shots of “Pollen” and “Small Life.” The subject of both of these photos was a lily and its pollen.
“I just wanted to experiment with using macro shots and here we are,” Smith said,

Most viewers could not identify the subject of the picture without reading the name on the tag.
Photography Honorable mentions went to Susan McPherson for “Spring Revival” and Walt Adler for “Osprey Family.”

The Dimensional Art category featured a beautifully painted gourd by Christine Picior which took first place. Second place went to Wendy Douglas for a mixed media piece entitled “Wake Up You Sleepy Head.” Two honorable mentions were awarded in the same category. These were “Cycle of Life” in clay by Dottie Golden and a quilted “Nature Awakes” made by Wendy Douglas.

Drawing and sketch art awakened the viewer with pencil and ink drawings. First place went to Joyce Redweik for the ink drawings of “The Hatchlings.” Second Place went to Maine Chisholms for an ink drawing of “Caterpillar’s Dream.” Both Honorable Mentions went to Amy Wells for her ink and color “Good Morning and Good Evening.”

An extra treat this month was the student art posted in the second gallery. Students from Virgin Valley Homeschool Group, Hughes Middle School, Virgin Valley Elementary, Littlefield Unified School District and Virgin Valley High School all participated in the display. They drew quite a crowd of friends and family members to view their work.