Holidays & Traditions Art Exhibition Winners - Oct. 15, 2018-Jan. 14, 2019

Best in Show (Traditional)
Kathy Paulus

Kathy Paulus resides in Southern California. She considers herself a self-taught artist specializing in pastel work. She specializes in pet/wild animal portraits and still life subjects. She accepts commissions for pet and animal portraits and enjoys the joy it brings to a devoted pet owner. She enjoys realism and the challenge to capture the real beauty in animals. She has a special love for horses and all wild cats.

Kathy also enjoys painting still life subjects. She also loves to explore other mediums such as colored pencil, watercolor and scratch art. She became a member of the International Society of Scratchboard Artist in 2018. She is an active member of the Redlands Art Association in Redlands, California and Yucaipa VisionQuest Art Association in Yucaipa, California.

Kathy is involved in the international group of artist and photographers, Paint My Photo. She is also involved in many online groups as well. She enjoys teaching in workshops and sharing the knowledge she has obtained through the years in the area of pastels and scratch art. She enters many local international art shows and has won many awards for her pastel work.

Please visit Kathy’s Facebook Page to see more of her work.

Best in Show
(3-Dimensional)
Chelita Riojas

Chelita Riojas is an artist and sculptor based in Bolzano, Italy. She was born in Mexico City and graduated with a degree in Architecture in 1991. In 2006 she moved to Bolzano, Italy where she chose to devote herself to other creative activities. In 2016, she began to create sculptures of plants and flowers.

Chelita’s sculptures are made of aluminum and copper sheets of different thicknesses and textures. The sculptures reflect the sun, in any climate and shine in both natural and artificial light. She chose aluminum because it reflects everything that surrounds the sculptures. Its elasticity allows the plants to move with the wind and adapt to all the elements.

Chelita’s sculptures are in public and private collections around the world.

Please visit Chelita’s website to purchase this award winning sculpture or to see more of her work.

2nd Place (Traditional)
Richard Haskins

Drawing on the people and events of my childhood primarily, my art is a mix of memories and imagination. This era has been my primary source of inspiration and has allowed me to return to a time when things were much simpler, a look back that generates new curiosity in viewers of all ages. Faceless people spring to life in colorful paint, each piece is a world inhabited by my favorite icons and motifs Children, Animals, Fishing, the Great Outdoors, and New England. My goal is to create something unique yet familiar in a way that resists taking life to seriously.

Richard Haskins is a self taught Artist born on April 4, 1962 in Tacoma Washington and currently resides in North Adams, Massachusetts. Grandson to the late primitive painter Herman Haskins of North Adams who achieved international fame during the 1970s, His detailed Acrylic paintings depict everyday life as seen through his minds eye. Whether a childhood memory or an current event his paintings are unique yet familiar to the viewer.

His paintings have been exhibited in Boston and New York City as well as other Galleries and Museums in Massachusetts.

To see more of Richard’s work please visit his website.

3rd Place (Traditional)
Toni Sliber-Delerive

Born in Philadelphia, I studied painting at the Philadelphia College of Art. A Manhattan-based artist and graphic designer, my work is represented in private and corporate collections and has been in many exhibitions.

My aerial-view paintings represent diverse places and spaces of the contemporary landscape seen from an aboveground perspective. The flattened surface planes convey the textures of abstract space enhanced by compositional aesthetics and skillful use of color. From the elevated position of high-rise buildings and helicopters, my images of cities and towns, factories and farmlands, power plants, suburban communities and highways are delivered with a distinctive angle on structures frequently taken for granted. Through the aerial vantage point one discovers a modern perspective and fresh visual vocabulary. The flattened plane reduces details to strong graphic images thus creating abstractions of the landscapes.

An appreciation of unconventional views and eternal human habits come together in my up-close, above-view paintings of food. While the colors and shapes are traditional, the oversized proportions painted from above display the subject in a way that is both original and recognizable.

To purchase this award winning piece or to see more of Toni’s work please visit her website.

3rd Place
(Digital & Photography)
Barbara Mierau-Klein

Barbara Mierau-Klein is a digital artist recognized for her multi-layered, imaginative and colorful fine art images. A native of Germany, Barbara lives in the Washington, D.C. area but often travels the world as a passionate landscape and nature photographer since her teenage years. Barbara discovered digital art several years ago and became so fascinated that it turned into a full-time pursuit. Much of Barbara’s work is highly stylized and focuses on beautiful moments and evocative moods across a wide range of subjects. The inspiration for her images comes from many sources like books, song lyrics, movies, nature and works of other artists, old masters as well as contemporary digital artists.

Barbara’s work has been exhibited at the Heaven Art Gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona and the Orenda Gallery in Reno, Nevada. She has had nine top-ten placements in online juried art competitions at the Light Space Time Art Gallery and Fusion Art Gallery over the past year. Her work has also appeared regularly in Living the Photo Artistic Life Magazine and Fine Eye Magazine with a feature article on her work in August 2018. With her digital art creations Barbara seeks to impart a sense of wonder and invite the viewer to step into a different reality for a brief moment.

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

4th Place (Traditional)
Leah Dockrill

The artist, Leah Dockrill explains: “This painting features an image of the festive cake, baked every year about this time, by my darling mother-in-law. Even as a very old lady, she continued this tradition of making the cake – in multiples- and sending them by courier to each of her married sons and their families – seven families, living all over the country. The cake was a masterpiece. It required twelve eggs, and loads of raisins and gumdrops and who knows what. It deserved to be the centre of attention in many of my still life paintings.”

This one is a watercolour. Leah paints acrylics as well, and her art practice includes collage and digital art. Her art career spans over thirty years, during which she has exhibited her work in Canada and the U.S., in both private galleries and public venues.Leah has been an elected member of the Society of Canadian Artists since 2000.

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

4th Place
(Digital & Photography)
SweetPea’s Lenz
by DarsellB

SWEETPEA’S LENZ BY DARSELLB. (Writer/Director/Producer- Photographer) began working in the entertainment industry at a young age. Her life in photography started as a journalist with the publication of her newsletter SweetPea’s International Arts Review. She was honored to receive the 2003 Harlem Arts Alliance Re-Grant Award. She also provided coverage for The Harlem Times newspaper. Working in Theatre for over 30 years has afforded her the opportunity to capture images from live performances.

Journalistically she has photographed awards ceremonies, openings, festivals, and events including, but not limited to, The National Black Theatre Festival, The CMJ Music Festival, The Harlem Arts Alliance, The August Wilson Century in New York City & The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, Urbanworld, The ABFF, The Atlanta Black Arts Festival, The Essence Awards, The Billboard Awards, Midem, The Lifetime TV Awards, The Source Awards, The GRAMMY Awards, and had her own stage at the 1996 Olympic Games.

Always ready with her camera, she primarily finds relaxation when taking pictures of nature and still life. A majority of her photography is unedited (straight out of the can), however, there are times when artistic renderings are created. In addition to prints, selected artwork is currently being produced as acrylic and glasswork.

Recently deciding to share her work with a wider audience, SweetPea’s Lenz by DarsellB. is currently on exhibit at the Surfaces 2018 Group Exhibit & it’s Magazine presented by LoosenArt Gallery, Rome, Italy, and has been on exhibit at the 2018 Botanical & Floral Online Exhibition presented by Light Space & Time Gallery, Jupiter, FL, Special Recognition “Orchid Moon”; the 2nd International Photography Exhibition 2018 presented by Fusion Art, Palm Springs, CA; All Women Online Exhibit 2018 presented by J.Mane Gallery, Voorhees Township, NJ; the 2nd Annual SPRUNG Exhibit 2018 presented by ArtHouseNYC, New York, NY; the East Greenbush Library Exhibit December 2017 presented by Capital Region Photography Group, Albany, NY; the 3rd Annual AUTUMNAL Exhibit 2017 presented by ArtHouse NYC, New York, NY; and the 2016 Postcard Exhibit presented by Linden New Arts, St. Kilda, Australia.

Her fine art photography is also currently used as backdrops for The Carmen Mathis Show, produced by Casea Arts Inc.; and is seen as the official CD cover image for “Please Save Your Love For Me”, CD by Ebony Jo-Ann produced by blackgold, Inc., as well as other ancillary uses.

As a 2-year cancer survivor, Darsell seeks to continue her mission to “capture that moment” and aid artists with their endeavors. “I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” Psalms 34:1. SweetPeasLenz@gmail.com or www.SweetPeasLenz.com

5th Place (Traditional)
Candace Cima

The ethereal mix of color and texture that is created by watercolors is fascinating to me. Every time water and color meets paper magic happens. And every time magic happens a story is told. This is my world of watercolor painting. My goal is a painting that will create a story in the viewers mind. When looking at my art no matter what the subject I want the viewer to see a story in their imagination. What the subject meant to me is not the important thing it is that I have painted an image that speaks to the viewers and creates their own story.

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

5th Place
(Digital & Photography)
Brandie Ferguson

Raised in Hemphill, Texas, married to Martin Ferguson since 1992. She is the mother of two grown sons and a college aged daughter. She is the grandmother of 2. She has lived in the Minden, Louisiana, area since 2008. Brandie and her family have traveled extensively with her husband’s work, and she has seen many of God’s majestic wonders in nature which has inspired her to capture these sites in photography.

Brandie is currently working towards an Associate’s Degree in photography from Bossier Parish Community College. She is a member of the Phi Theta Kappa, she has been published in the 2016, 2017, 2018 Savior Faire and in the Photographers Forum for 2016, 2017, 2018. Her work has been in numerus galleries all over the USA.

My approach to photography is based on my belief in the beauty and majestic aspect of nature that God created. I want my photographs to give the feeling of wonder and mystery that are rarely seen in daily life. There are great photographs to be found everywhere and in everything. One must always have his eyes open to the awesome world that we live in. It takes the vision and insight of the artist to bring out the grandeur, weather great or small, of what is seen through the lens.

I use photography as a means to capture the things people look at but don’t really see. My goal is to make my photographs draw viewers in and make them think about what I have captured. I create my photographs to express my interpretation of the world around me, whether it be a mountain range in Montana or the tiny flowers on the side of the road in Louisiana.

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