About 50 art enthusiasts came to the Sumter County Annex Sunday afternoon for the Visual Arts Association’s first art show of 2015. This is the third year artist, Jo Ruth Patterson from Hadley Village, has chaired the event, which is known as the Winter Annex Fine Arts Show.
Patterson enjoys the task of organizing the shows, which display many works from talented Villages artists. She also loves seeing the artists’ joy when they win. The judged shows at the Annex yield first, second and third place winners, plus three honorable mentions and three merit awards. The exhibit is changed three times each year, allowing visitors who come to the annex for elections, car license tags and passport photos to enjoy the colorful art.
Accomplished artist, Billie Edwards, won first prize for her small colored pencil composition “Going for the Gold.” The Fernandina Villager was doubly surprised she won the blue ribbon, because this is the first piece she has completed in this medium. “It began with a few photographs I took of two fellows panning for gold outside a mine in Breckenridge, Colorado,” Edwards said. “I’m not sure why I chose colored pencils over my usual paint mediums this time, but it worked out well. It’s just a slow process — it takes a long time.”
Visitors to the punch and cheese reception admired how the boy’s denim jeans looked like real denim, and how the interplay of shadows and light brought out the softness of the older man’s shirt fabric.
“You approach colored pencil art similarly to watercolors in that you make sure to keep the white spaces white,” Edwards added. “Working with colored pencils doesn’t take up a lot of room. It’s a good choice for people who have a lot of patience, but don’t have a lot of storage space at home.”
Barbara Bockenstedt, a new Village of Collier resident from Leavenworth, Washington, asked Billie if she would create a colored pencil painting for her from a photograph she has at home. She is a retired nurse married to a retired radiologist, who was the medical director for a 200-physician multi-specialty clinic out west. She was intrigued by the realism Edwards achieved with her pencils.
The second prize red ribbon went to Belvedere Villager, Adeline Curlett, for her mixed media and ink fantasy on yupo paper entitled “Under the Sea.” Yupo is a synthetic polypropylene-based paper which, when compared to tree-based paper, is very durable. Since it resists tears, stains, chemicals and water, it is sometimes used for wipeable restaurant menus and waterproof maps. Special inks must be used and the resulting art has a unique look which is characteristic of yupo.
“I tried my best to catch the mood and color of ocean water,” said Curlett, who had a career as a graphic illustrator in Michigan before moving to The Villages. “I’ve just been painting forever,” she revealed. She loved high school art classes and went on to study at the Detroit Institute of Art. “First they had me making maps, then drawing cars, then missiles.” Married with four grown children, Curlett enjoys mentoring aspiring artists.
“Strolling Through Siena,” painted with vibrant watercolors, won Wendy Lahey the third prize ribbon, and first prize in the photography category went to Diane Pattie. Pattie is president of The Villages Photography Club. Three visitors asked to buy copies of her “Just This Side of the Wrinkles” — a whimsical picture of an elephant’s wrinkled hindquarter — nicely matted and framed in burnished gold tones.
Villages Art League president, Frank Zampardi, enjoyed handing out the awards. Among the other recognized works were John O’Hara’s “Cracker House;” Eileen Navikas’ “Are We There Yet,” which depicted a sand hill crane couple and two newly hatched chicks and Marilyn Bachelor’s “The Devil is in the Detail.” The latter is a humorous close-up depiction of a golf ball plus red traces of a devil’s pitchfork, horns and tail in a golf hole. One clever viewer quipped ‘I think I know what she meant by de-tail — meaning the devil’s tail.”
Joyce and Ron Rabin often attend new art openings in The Villages, and were marveling at Sunday’s new selections. Ron owned a fine art gallery for about 10 years in Syosett, New York, and is a camera, video and painting hobbyist himself. Part time Hadley Villagers for the past five years, Nancy and Doug Gray, from Michigan, were inquiring about The Villages Art League. “She won’t tell you she’s good, but my wife paints beautiful portraits in acrylics and pastels,” Doug said. “I’m glad to see she wants to get involved with other artists here in Florida.”
Villages Art League members encourage folks who enjoy art to visit the group’s current exhibit whenever they have some spare time. “They are in for a special treat,” Ron Rabin added.
