2022 'Make Your Mark' Virtual International Juried Exhibition

He Shilei, Best in Show, Sunlight in the Corner

Celebrating 35 Years 1987-2022

“Make Your Mark” was kicked off with an international audience attending a Zoom awards ceremony on April 16 at 1:00 p.m. Nine cash awards, totaling $4,300, were presented by Tony Allain with commentary. He then provided all of the guests a magical 1 hour demonstration.

A huge thank you to the 163 artists from around the world who painted and then submitted 514 paintings to be considered for this show. This show would not have been possible without each one of you. For the artists who were not accepted this time; you are in the company of other strong artists so don’t be discouraged. It was a tremendous task for our juror, Tony Allain, to narrow it down to 121 when there were so many more deserving paintings.

Thanks so much to the volunteers at Southeastern Pastel Society who made this beautiful show possible; a special thank you to the ‘Make Your Mark’ exhibitions chair, Anne Spivey as well as the submissions chair, Donna McGue. Additionally, an entire team contributed to the Zoom & Video production; Terry Metzler, Cheryl Tryon, Terri Whitesel and Debbie Anderson. Thank you to the board members and most of all; our president, Connie Reilly.

This was our first exhibition using the ShowSubmit platform so we want to thank Austin Hamby at ShowSubmit for providing a user friendly website as well as the personal technical assistance to the artists, submissions chair and the juror.

$4,300 in cash prizes were awarded to 9 artists.

Exhibit

VIEW FULL EXHIBIT

Donna Catotti, Across the Lynn Canal from Viking Cove

VIEW Awards Ceremony Video

Juror's Comments

Tony Allain PS, RSMA, PSA, MC-IAPS, MPAN, EP/IAPS – tonyallainfineart.com

Being invited to judge an exhibition is always a pleasure for me. It allows me to see new work and new artists in my own sort of private view. Being asked to judge this exhibition has indeed been a pleasurable duty.

Firstly, I wish to thank Anne Spivey, Donna McGue and the Board of the Southeastern Pastel Society for their trust in me for being the judge of the 2022 Online “Make your Mark” International Exhibition.

I was presented with over 500 works of art to feast my eyes on! A daunting task lay ahead for me to not only select around 120 paintings for the exhibition but to choose just nine award winners. It’s important to understand that there will of course be some disappointments when artists have worked hard and have put their work up for scrutiny to a single judge only to find that their paintings have just narrowly missed out. I know only too well as I recently had my work stumble at the starting line!

However, I wish to congratulate the nine award winners which I shall list and comment on below. I wish to send huge congratulations to all the artists whose work is featured in this spectacular event and thank and congratulate all of the 509 entries that gave me so much pleasure and joy as I made my selection.

What makes a good painting?

I believe that all forms of art, be it music, literature, drama or the visual arts should have some important ingredients;

Revelation, Communication, Celebration!

If you take the first one; revelation – I think it’s simply revealing to oneself through the act of painting, an artist will begin to find their way on their creative journey thereby revealing to others the way they see their world. The artist opens the eyes of others to their way of seeing.

Secondly; communication- Art should also communicate to the viewer. I guess that’s why you do it for yourself first and hope that your ideas will be communicated to others.

Finally; your art should celebrate your surroundings, nature and the human form etc. You want your art to raise your spirits and invite the viewer to feel elevated.

Best in Show Award, He Shilei, Sunlight in the Corner

This painting took my breath away and captured my thoughts of this solitary figure of an elderly gentleman, sitting quietly in a courtyard, contemplating his surroundings. It is a tonal painting of warm neutrals exploring all the subtle value changes of this beautifully observed composition. The draughtsmanship of all the elements is superbly painted, very much in keeping with a Singer Sargent painting. The warm colours of the flesh tones and the exquisite attention to detail add that all important balance of an exceptionally skilled and creative artist! Congratulations.

He Shilei,Best in Show, Sunlight in the Corner, (27.5x39.3)

First Place Award, Veronique du Boisrouvray, Noir Intense

Hyperrealism is considered an advancement on Photorealism, a fairly new art style developed in the 1970s. This artist has left us without a doubt, the amazing attention to optically convincing visual illusions of absolute reality, from the folds in the material, to the hair cascading over the shoulders and the fine lacework of the millinery. We are then drawn to the portrait of the sitter, complete with an attractive beauty spot! Finally the subtle way the artist has included the feint shadow on the background wall. This painting deserves lots of attention from the viewers. It certainly captured me for quite sometime.

Veronique du Boisrouvray,First Place,Noir Intense,(19.68x27.55)

Second Place Award, Jeri Greenberg, At Winnie’s Tavern

150 years ago a group of French painters living in Paris decided to launch their own exhibition after repeated rejections by the leading critics of that time. Nowadays, almost everybody knows that impressionist paintings are full of life, colour and honesty. One only has to look at Edward Manet’s painting of the “Bar at the Folies Bergeres”.

In this fabulous painting we can see the artist is free to follow her own approach to capturing the joy of impressionism, colour, light and the freshness of the pure pastel medium. Is it perhaps the choice of subject-matter, or the way in which everyday scenes are transformed by there treatment of intense observation and figurative skills? This painting follows in the footsteps of Impressionism that revolutionised artistic perception and techniques.

Jeri Greenberg, Second Place, At Winnies Tavern, (10x12)

Ron Pircio Third Place Award, Donna Catotti, Across the Lynn Canal from Viking Cove

Here is a painting by an artist who appears to have a complete understanding of their surroundings. This scene with its dramatic backdrop of snow capped mountains, is perfectly observed and rendered by pitching good values, colour and visual recession in both the landscape and the sky. The large expanse of water is not a distraction, but, a clever lead in to the star of the show- those majestic mountains. I am drawn to the light that floods over the mid ground hills and the way it captures the snow peaks giving the whole painting a feeling of natural grandeur. Congratulations to the artist for sharing their vision.