Though I have often served as a judge of art exhibitions, I have seldom had the privilege of surveying a group of objects of such consistently high quality as that found in the Seaside Art Gallery’s 17th International Miniature Art Show. I offer my sincere thanks to Melanie Smith, the Gallery’s owner and director, for giving me the chance to discover, and savor, an entire world of contemporary art in miniature!

 

The exhibition embraces nearly 600 works of art created in a dizzying array of media by artists from across the United States and around the world. Needless to say, the task of selecting a mere handful of award winners from such a crowded field of exceptional works was a daunting one. I spent a good deal of time in the gallery, viewing and reviewing the entries with my magnifying glass at the ready and making several passes through the space as I struggled to narrow the field. While I would be the first to admit that a judge can never fully free himself from the snares of personal aesthetic preference, I assure you that I tried my best to keep a set of “objective” criteria uppermost in my mind as I worked though the process. Above all, I looked for authenticity, modernity, and directness of artistic expression, for depth of feeling and visual wit, for compositional unity and balance, and for mastery of those considerable technical skills required of artists working within the pressurized confines of the miniature format.

 

After much consideration, I have awarded first-, second-, and third-place prizes to the following works of art:

 

First Place:Dean Mitchell’s Mrs. Clemmie. This beautifully spare, yet deeply felt portrait is wonderfully contemporary and direct. Within a format less than three inches square, the artist presents a powerful and poetic summation of a life that has clearly seen its challenges, but has gained through them an aura of quiet nobility. It is a splendidly conceived character study! 

 

Second Place: Linda Rossin’s A Shore Welcome. With its near-flawless evocation of weathered wood and metal offset by a brilliant burst of flowers, A Shore Welcome is a miniaturist marvel of textural and chromatic finesse, a contemporary still-life that is a genuine technical tour-de-force. It is also tightly conceived and thematically witty: a seemingly ho-hum stretch of everyday front-door décor that, as the artist shows us, demands and rewards a closer look. For only then do you see the tiny green lizard sunning itself on the propeller!

 

Third Place: Beverly Fotheringham’s Paris Rain. The artist’s ability to capture luminary and atmospheric effects is impressive indeed in this very contemporary evocation of rain-soaked streets in central Paris caught in the fading light of dusk. With feathery strokes and impressionist daubs of paint masterfully applied, she captures beautifully the watery blur of taillights, street lights, and twilight. It is a visual virtuoso piece! 

 

I have also made an award within each of the exhibition’s seven media categories:     

 

Best Watercolor: Richard William Haynes’ Season in the Sun. This close-in, “porthole” view of a flower-decked front-porch rail is both richly decorative and deeply nostalgic – a feast for both the eye and the mind’s-eye of memory. It is also expertly composed: the instability inherent in the composition’s circular, “tondo” shape is effectively countered by the anchoring verticals of the wooden porch slats, which in turn reveal the artist’s gift for patterning and semi-abstract form. The whole is beautifully balanced. 

 

Best Oil/Acrylic: N. W. Lalk’s Lots of Sheep. This miniature has everything, from glowing, enameled hues to exquisitely crafted details. Not only is it splendidly painted – just look at that phenomenal, cloud-flecked sky – but it is absolutely charming in terms of its subject. It is  luminous, minutely worked, and downright endearing. A miniaturist gem.

 

Best Etching/Engraving/Graphic Image: Martha Hayden’s Salute. With an admirable economy of line and an Impressionist’s eye for the ever-changing effects of nature’s light and atmosphere, this tiny etching evokes the watery realm of Venice in the midst of wind and rain. Ms. Hayden gives us the poetic light and monumental sweep of the Island Republic within a format a mere two inches square.

 

Best Drawing/Pencil: Mary Lee Ruff’s Boundary: The powerful diagonal-in-depth of the split-rail fence carries us deep into the fields of Boundary, cleverly countering the otherwise constricted space of the miniature format. The artist’s pencil renders the tactile reality of weathered wood and, at the same time, evokes the gauzy, humid air of a foggy field. Well done!

Best Sculpture in Metal: Cathy Kuzma’s Montana. In this powerful equestrian study, the artist makes expressive use of her bronze medium to capture the untamed wildness of a rearing steed. The straining, swelling forms and serpentine curves animating her “close-up” portrait of a horse’s neck and head evoke the power and force of the horse’s entire body. Beautifully achieved. 

Best Sculpture in Other Media: Beth Freeman Kane’s Blue Bird. This is a breathtakingly delicate assemblage of near microscopic precision and refinement. I marvel that the artist could attain such balance and poise, such exquisite naturalism and gentle poetry within the tiniest of porthole views. A miniaturist tour-de-force!

Best Mixed Media/Encaustic/Collage: Carol Lopez’s Lone Prairie: From the dark, lowering palette of heavy blues and browns to the jagged dance of wind-swept laundry on the clothes line, this desolate prairie landscape conveys with almost cinematic force the threat of an approaching storm. Is that a tornado on the horizon? We are definitely “not in Kansas” anymore!

 

The exhibition included so many other notable works of art. The following seemed to me to be more than worthy of a judge’s recognition: 

 

Harry Francis Sellers’ Corner Sink – A wonderfully witty image.

Andrew K. Gott’s Figure No. 3 andSharon Yoder’s A Perfect Cup of Tea – Both achieve impressive effects using notoriously difficult media.

Terri Yacomella’s Best of Times – What can I say? Simply amazing!

John Nicolini’s David Fathead Newman – Not exactly a miniature, but a powerfully expressive drawing just the same!

Kelly Singleton’s Barred Owl; Jan Knoll’s Harvest Time; and Janet Laird-Lagassee’s Evening at the Lodge – All achieve remarkable textural and luminary effects in the tradition of the best miniature painting.

Thomas Lee’s Assembled XXI – An impressively crafted Cubist composition in miniature!   

 

Jeff Harrison

Curator of Contemporary & American Art

Chrysler Museum

Norfolk, VA

 

 

This award is voted on by the public