Ohio Arts Council Announces Ohio State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition Winners
by Katie Hoppenjans, Public Information Office intern
The Ohio Arts Council presented 10 - $300 awards to professional artists in crafts, visual arts and photography; two - $250 amateur awards; and one Purchase Award during the opening of the annual Fine Arts Exhibition at the Ohio State Fair on July 26. The Fine Arts Exhibition presents works by amateur and professional Ohio artists in the Cox Fine Arts Center on the grounds of the Ohio Expo Center.
Winners of the $300 awards in the Professional Artist category for 2011 are:
Julie Byrne, Groveport (43125) for the ceramic piece Baby-Rat
Georgie Cline, Columbus (43224), for the fiber work Olentangy 1
Susanne Dotson, Lagrange (44050), for the painting Arrangement in Rust & Ochre/ Homage to Whistlers Mother
Fred Fochtman, Columbus (43214), for the painting Waiting
Carol Griffith, Columbus (43206), for the painting Conneaut Cycle-Blue Streak
Lori Kella, Cleveland (44110), for the photograph Feeding the Deer
Jeffrey Owen, Groveport (43125), for his work Desk Table
Jose Luis Quinones, Garfield Heights (44125), for the painting Grapes
Nikos Rutkowski, Columbus (43215), for the mixed media piece Entia per Aggregatum
Melissa Vogley Woods, Columbus (43224), for the drawing Relics
Winners of the $250 awards in the Amateur Artist category for 2011 are:
Owen Simonson, Baltimore (43105), for his work The Tinkerer
Beverly Darwin, Columbus (43209), for her work Watch the Road
Morris Jackson of Columbus (43202) received the Purchase Award for his work Magical Evening.
The 2011 People's Choice Award will be given out at the end of the fair. The People's Choice Award debuted at the Ohio State Fair in 2001 and includes a $500 cash award from the Ohio Arts Council.
The exhibition was juried by Katy M. Reis, curatorial assistant at the Wexner Center for the Arts; Eric Weeks, acclaimed photographer and instructor of digital imaging and photography at the Pennsylvania College of Art and Design; and Sharon Kokot, executive director of Ohio Designer Craftsmen. The jurors assessed nuances of scale, surface, composition and technique in a variety of mediums, from historic to contemporary and studio to decorative techniques. They also looked for work from emerging artists living in Ohio.
The annual exhibition provides viewers with an opportunity to celebrate Ohio's wealth of exceptional artists. It demonstrates each artist's sense of originality, ability to convey subject matter and technical mastery of the chosen media. Selected pieces reflect the diversity and high quality of contemporary art in Ohio.
About the Ohio Arts Council:
The Ohio Arts Council is a state agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally and economically.
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