4th Annual Animal Portraiture Open, International Juried Art Exhibition

This exhibition celebrates all things animal portraiture. We are excited to present you with a diverse array of portraiture styles and animal species.

This exhibition is sponsored in part by Blick Art Materials.

BEST OF SHOW

Fast Food, by Donna Goeddaeus 11 x 14 inches, Acrylic

From the artist, "I love fishing for bass. Especially when they explode out of the water unexpectedly! Instead of painting him lunging for my lure, I wanted to show the drama of the bass going after a "real" meal in his everyday life in my river."

BLICK ART MATERIALS AWARD

Prickly Pad, by Mary Leslie 36 x 48 inches, Oil

From the artist, "Prickly Pad."

The delicate treatment of light/shadow lends a certain amount of gentleness to this desert hare portrait. The hare's seat on cactus thorns shows us this is a tough creature. The curving collections of cactus blooms reinforce the idea of a softer side to this rabbit. This is a complex creature surviving in a difficult, yet beautiful, environment.

OVERALL RUNNER UP 

Canada Lynx in Repose on a Moonlit Winter Night, by Harvey Bodach 15 x 20 inches, Original Acrylic Painting on Masonite Board

From the artist, "The Canada Lynx hunts around twilight hours and at night, when snowshoe hares of the boreal forest are most active.  They travel on specific trails or wait in ambush beds for prey. They are not always successful when hunting and need rest after vigorous exertion, like this winter Lynx during a moonlit night. Painting the winter coat of a Lynx with its interesting streaming textures and deep pockets found within the fur is a delight for an artist to explore."

ARTIVISM AWARD

Mane Colours, by Bobbe Jones 30 x 30 inches, Oil on Linen Canvas

From the artist, "My inspiration for 'Mane Colours" came from a book titled, "Shaving the Beasts: Wild Horses and Ritual in Spain by John Hartigan Jr.", a first-person study of a notorious equine ritual affecting thousands of horses in the mountainous terrain of Galicia, Spain. They have inhabited these slopes for millennia and are one of the largest free-ranging populations in the world. Every summer in more than a dozen rural localities, many of these horses are rounded up in a ritual called rapa das bestas, or “shaving the beasts.” That is the heart of the rapa: wild horses, roaming communal lands in the mountains, are herded together and driven into curros—structures similar to rodeo corrals—where their manes and tails are systematically shaved. Their hair, which in the past had many folk uses, falls worthlessly to the ground. This seems a rather chaotic event but assists with anti-parasite treatment for the horses."

OVERALL HONORABLE MENTIONS

Danielle Robertson, Megan O'Connor, A.R. Sullivan, Joyce Danko, Bobbe Jones, Cher Pruys, Amy Chu, Kate Gandolfo, Holly Kavonic, Heather Cudworth, and Michael Potts

FINALISTS

Jessica Roberts, Natasha Baker, Claire Hickman, Crystal Clarke, Natasha Lazareva, Gloria Ellis, Annie Woody, Natalie Toplass, Joe Weatherly, Margot King, Andrew Barker, Andrew Barker, Harvey  Bodach, Ashley  Cook, and Mary Leslie

SELECTED WORKS

Allison Choate, David Mason, Natalie Kraepel, Michele Noiset, Natalie Toplass, Amy Chu, James Zimmer, Robbie Cheadle, Julia Marrack, Kimberly Tadlock-Peluso, Philip Walker, and Peggy Albers