4th Annual Landscapes Art Exhibition Monthly Winners

Best in Show (Traditional)
Duke Windsor

My work for the past 20 years has used revealing aspects of the urban street. The impact on our contemporary city today is that the landscape is changing for communities. During my observation, I noticed that powerlines are vanishing in many cities. Little by little new construction places utilities underground. I find myself continually returning this subject and I feel I am recordings this history for posterity. In my varied and diverse approaches to making art the context of the work has an impact on the work’s relationship to the viewer. My work ranges from the context of the street, alley to sidewalks, old dirt path (yes, in a modern city) to broken sidewalks and patchwork repairs reminiscent of abstract expressionism in concrete and asphalt. Often focusing on loneliness of the scene as the viewer is the voyeur. Light streams through the fences for effect which washes away the darkness the shadows and giving voice to those who are often unheard behind the drawn curtains in the apartment builds ever present in these works. The work tends to draw in the viewer as co-author and witness, create new and unpredictable cycles of thoughts and associations, providing an experimental chance to challenge one’s perceptions, perspectives and assumptions.

Please visit Duke's website if you are interested in seeing more of his work.

Best in Show
(Digital & Photography)
Paul M. Murray

Artist Statement

My photography remains a work in progress. I am very much a visual traveler who interacts with people, places, objects and ideas on a variety of levels through several planes of vision that intersect with time and space. At those intersections, I may capture a moment and portray it with my implied perspective. The journeys to those intersections afford the opportunity to see, and perhaps become intrigued by what I am experiencing. Often the story telling aspects of the photographic art form capture my attention and motivate a series of related images. Although my perspective is predominantly reality-based, I acknowledge not only the subjective nature of what I portray in my images, but an interest in pursuing at times more abstract images. To the extent that my images enrich the experience and vision of others, I feel that I have achieved a way of communicating that is unique to me as a photographer.

Artist Biography

A Rhode Island native and extensive traveler, Paul is an internationally recognized color photographer and skilled journalistic writer. His expression in images, words and design reflect a blend of his lifelong interests in art, nature, technology, aviation, urban life and societal change. His approach to photography and life is to remain open, trust his instincts and discard labels that are divisive. He uses technology to increase his creative options and productivity but not to replace his vision and responsibility. Paul exhibits throughout the United States, has had five solo exhibits in Cuba, and has served on several art association boards. As an artist, his skills have been recognized at the highest levels of achievement at the Providence Art Club, Art League Rhode Island, Mystic Museum of Art, Wickford Art Association, Plymouth Center for the Arts and the Cape Cod Art Center.

Please visit Paul’s website if you are interested in seeing more of his work.

2nd Place (Traditional)
Joe A. Oakes

“Each painting is an emotional response to color… real or imagined but always felt.” All of us, in varying degrees, have become blind to the colors of our world. The mind dictates the color of things without true observation. Giving those colors back to each of us through painting is my goal. Taking the time to see the least obvious colors in everything is the start. Then I make those colors bigger, bolder and brighter so they become the star. That is the spark needed to awaken our desire to know color better and enjoy it in our everyday lives.

To purchase this award winning piece or to see more of Joe's work please visit his website.

2nd Place
(Digital & Photography)
Freddie Bommer

Having Asperger's Syndrome, I have always had challenges with my social & communication skills so my camera has always been my "voice"; the bridge for my social integration, and where I am most comfortable...a means for me to share the beauty of the world around me and those within it. So after retiring in July 2016 after nearly 30 years in a career that was my "life", I set forth on a new life - a photographic journey to capture images to evoke emotion, to "move" mind and spirit, and to reach down and touch one's soul; images you can't soon forget For this is the photographer I aspire to be and anything less, for me, will not be acceptable.

To see more of Freddie's work, please visit his website.

3rd Place (Traditional)
Raymond Quenneville

Born in 1956 in Trois-Rivières (Canada), Raymond Quenneville is a self-taught artist who has been painting for over 40 years. After having explored a variety of media, he went back to oil painting, and decided to pursue his own unique style in expressing landscape and light. He likes to paint peaceful environments, expressing serenity and equanimity of places where it is good to stop and just be for a moment. Winner of several national and international awards he has received many special mentions from juries and the public. He is a member of the Institut des arts figuratifs (IAF), the Society of Canadian Artists (SCA), the Mondial Art Academia (MAA) and has been nominated as Master of Fine Arts by the Académie internationale des beaux-arts du Québec (AIBAQ).

To see more of Raymond's work please visit her website.

3rd Place
(Digital & Photography)
Ian English

Ian English is an award winning photographer living on the east coast of Australia. These images were all taken on a recent 13000 kilometre road trip through South Australia and Western Australia. Ian is President of The Maitland International Salon of Photography which is in its 62nd year. He photographs in all genres of image making but the main interest is in portraiture. This recent trip confirms what a vast size this continent is and what diversity of landscapes there are.

To purchase this award winning piece or to see more of Ian's work, please email him directly.

4th Place (Traditional)
David Williams

Bio

With a spare, poetic expression, David Williams' artwork captures the landscapes beauty and solitude. An avid day hiker, artistic inspiration finds spark while following the horse trails, ridge lines and meadows near his home. Often beginning as a plein air sketch, paintings develop into works recognized for quiet composition and richly textured surfaces. A professional artist for twenty two years, David's artwork is a continuing celebration of form, light and atmosphere.

Statement

My artworks are influenced by nature, painting on location and the understanding of color, brushwork and design developing from the practice. Using a simple composition, with a few major shapes as a starting point, a finished painting emerges. Working in oil, with a limited palette of five or six colors, a natural color harmony occurs. My brushwork is broadly applied and accentuated by generously layered, textural, paint creating a nearly sculptural quality.

In their approach, my paintings are contemporary realism. With a primary interest in simplified form, I explore naturalistic landscapes and parts of our built environment that evoke nostalgia and a sense of place.

My lifestyle is fairly simple and contained, nature oriented and also punctuated by new things; my artwork reflects this personal aesthetic. Visually describing a subject without unnecessary embellishment and allowing the viewer to quietly participate is the experience my artwork offers.

To purchase this award winning piece or to see more of David's work, please visit his website.

4th Place
(Digital & Photography)
Angi Tianzhu

Artist Statement

Can we share the same moment, same experience, same thoughts, ever? We can never know that we see anything in the world the same way. Our perception of the color, mood, and story is relative to person references, current state-of-mind, and attention. We spend most of our life internalizing our experiences, alone. My work is about trying to bring my internal experience out and let others in. It is about loneliness, finding connection, and returning to the primal part of ourselves that feels, instead of labels everything.

Bio

Angi Tianzhu is best known for her cinematic photography. Blending her background of photojournalism, fine art, and film— each photo feels like a piece of a storyline. Her work is humanist, focused on the inward-outward societal reflection and often pairs juxtaposed themes with color. Originally from the remote Blue Mountains of Eastern Oregon, she began photography with disposable cameras and shot for years with a pawn shop camera shooting everything from twin cowboys to portraits and scenery. She further developed her skills in photojournalism at the University of Oregon, and worked as a studio photographer, ranging from retail to headshots. Over the last decade, much of her projects have been in studio portraits with costume, idealization of femininity, and street photography taken in the US and while working and traveling abroad.

To purchase this award winning piece or to see more of Angi's work, please visit her website.

5th Place (Traditional)
Elizabeth Malara-Wieczorek

Bio

Born in Kraków, Poland in 1964. Her affair with art began early under the guidance of artists referring her to the heritage of European Art and painting. Her private classes began under the patronage of an artist illustrator Ewa Mrozowska. She continued her studies in High School of Visual Arts, obtained her Master of Fine Arts degree at the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts in 1989, under the supervision of Professors Stanisław Rodziński and Zbylut Grzywacz. Since 2008 she worked in Canada as a freelance illustrator, graphic designer, and artist. She is an elected member of the Society of Canadian Artists, an Ontario Representative in the Board of Directors of the SCA. She works in plain-air and in her home studio. Elizabeth is focused on the landscape, from cliffs and ravines to agricultural scenery. Another significant topic of Elizabeth’s work is still life. Elizabeth works with watercolor, oil and acrylic paints. Her works are in private collections in Europe and America. She is a winner of prizes and awards, and honorary mentions in juried shows.

Statement

In my painting, I follow the harmony reflected in the surrounding world. I select subjects for longer study and contemplation. The landscape is my favorite topic, the source of inspiring beauty. I am looking for the mood and the essence, and I try to build on the traditional approach to subject and technique. I strive to find texture and colors. Finding the transposition to the language of painting is a challenge, and the joy and pleasure. My paintings embody a journey through the known and the unknown. They attempt to reach this unique and nearly-ecstatic experience of watching the wonders that surround us. I consider myself an explorer, and a happy human being when I get the opportunity to paint.

To purchase this award winning piece or to see more to Elizabeth's work, please visit her website.

5th Place
(Digital & Photography)
Shelley Benjamin

Shelley Benjamin, a resident of southeast Florida, is an award winning digital artist. She received a BS in Textile Design from Cornell University. After a career as a textile designer and weaver, she became interested in mixed media, and ultimately, photography. Ms. Benjamin’s experimentation and involvement with digital photography began after she purchased her first DSLR camera.

During the learning process, she joined an international group of digital artists. With the advanced training she was able to develop her skills, which has allowed her to transform her images to reflect her vision. The inspiration from the group opened up the possibilities of taking photos into a new realm. She is motivated by the art she sees in museums and galleries. From the time she was young she has always been an avid museum visitor. Her background in weaving exposed her to the art of fine crafts and the masters in those fields.

Shelley uses her photos as the foundation for a digital painterly approach, utilizing modern technology to enhance and transform the original image. Drawing upon her textile design background, she imparts a tactile feeling to her work. She is challenged and inspired by color, reflections, light, the changing seasons, nature and architectural elements. Shelley is always searching for the extraordinary visual imagery in very ordinary environments.

Ms. Benjamin states that her goal is to share the beauty around her and impart the uplifting feelings to the viewer that are the source of her inspiration. Shelley Benjamin’s work has been exhibited in local and international competitions and in online galleries as well as being featured in national digital photo and print magazines.

To see more of Shelley's work, please visit her ArtBoja website.