2nd Place
(Digital & Photography)
Stephen Smith

Stephen uses photography to document a world he finds difficult to see with his own two eyes because of an eye disease that affects his natural vision slightly. Photography enables him to see the world up close. He focuses on the light and dark, the beauty which is gone so quickly and the joy it gives him. Stephen first became interested in photography in 2014 after joining a local camera club. His skills were further enhanced after a photography trip to Thailand in 2016. Since then he has enjoyed photographing all types of genre however nature and portraiture are his passions.

To see more of Stephen’s work, please email him directly.

2nd Place
(3 Dimensional)
Jon Ruehle

Art and science merge in the bronze wildlife sculpture of Jon Ruehle. He received his PhD in Developmental Genetics from UC Berkeley and UC Davis, and his sculptures have been exhibited in many national venues including the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Museum and The National Academy of Design. His work is in over 1000 public and private collections, and the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, Wyoming, selected Jon as one of the 50 most influential wildlife artists in the world in 2000. Art lets Jon bring his academic understanding of animal behavior and how development produces shapes that work in environments with the personal bond he feels with all life to a wide audience. Jon is particularly interested in depicting the inner life, behavior and habitats of subjects through the textures of fur, wood, stone and water. Two of his favorite comments about his work are that they capture the subject so that if you look away, they will move, and that these are the sculptures the animals would collect. Once his English Setter was caught pointing his quail sculpture. Jon works in lost-wax-cast bronze and occasionally in wood, silver or stone. His limited edition bronzes are on a personal scale that people can easily live with. He has a love of the craft as well as the art of sculpting. He makes the production molds and does all the finish work that determines the final surface of his castings, including his own signature patina.

Every effort goes into producing the finest sculpture possible, from the first inspiration to the final polish. Command of the casting and mold-making processes allows Jon the freedom to tackle technically challenging pieces. Working in wax as his preferred medium allows more complex and crisp detail in the final piece than is possible working in clay. The properties of wax are very similar to metal ensuring that the final bronze takes full advantage of the casting process. Jon developed a technique that directly produces hollow wax sketches in the field to capture subtle nuances of both form and movement quickly. This technique avoids the need for armatures so that the pose of these sketches can easily be modified, and these original wax models can be cast directly in bronze to produce unique bronzes. For years the art and science tracks of his life ran parallel until he was asked to teach a class in 3D Art at the University of Arkansas. Jon long questioned whether art could be taught, however his technique translates directly to the studio and the classroom. Even his science students produce remarkably realistic and dynamic sculptures with their first efforts. Every four-year-old can sculpt, yet all his adult students initially claim to have no artistic ability. This intuitive wax technique immediately revives the innate ability in everyone to represent their world in sculpture. Science and art have been brought together in Jon’s life by teaching people to see their world in new ways.

To see more of Jon’s work, please email him directly.

3rd Place
(Digital & Photography)
Merrilee Soberg

After retiring from a successful career as a potter, Merrilee turned to photography and digital art to fulfill the need for a creative outlet. Her digital skills and artistry were fine tuned with her enrollment in Sebastian Michael’s Photoshop Artistry courses. As a result, her work has been published in many editions of “Living the Photo Artistic Life” magazine. Many of the photos that are used in Merrilee’s digital compositions were taken during her world travels. She is passionate about photographing wildlife in their natural habitat. These photos which are blended with numerous other elements and digital painting are the building blocks used to create inspired, unique works of art. She currently teaches photoshopping techniques to seniors as a way of sharing her enthusiasm and knowledge in this field.

To see more of Merrilee’s work, please visit her Artboja website.

3rd Place
(3-Dimensional)
Kelly Deakin

Kelly Deakin is a Pyrographic Artist from Ucluelet, BC Canada. Pyrography is a fancy way of saying burning. As well as finding influence in M.C Eshcer’s work, at age 14 Kelly received a book called The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper’s Feast, inside were detailed templates created by Alan Aldridge and Harry Willock, it is the detail that stuck with her and is evident in her pieces today. Kelly has created a niche for herself with burning detailed pieces from 1cm in size to 170cm in size and she continues to strive in creating larger and more eclectic pieces. Kelly’s idea behind her work is to bring nature back into the homes and offices and corporations that are surrounded by and engulfed in technology and everything digital. Kelly loves color, the natural colors that surround our world, yet, she works in sepia, not black and white. She says, “burning is a medium that allows the canvas to hold some of its own natural flavor and still allows the subject to come to life.” She is continually inspired by her outdoor world and incorporates the flaws of the natural canvas’s she uses into her work. “There is nothing as creative as the flaws of nature”

To see more of Kelly’s work, please visit her website.