The third annual Swanton Fine Art Exhibit and Sale, held at Valleywood Golf Club from October 21st to the 23rd, played to rave reviews from artists, visitors, sponsors and many patrons of the arts who praised the quality and diversity of the art, the warm and spacious ambiance of the venue and the value of the prize money and scholarships awarded.
Over 200 works of art were put on display by 85 artists from three states and 20 different communities. There were nine separate categories for the Adult Group and four separate categories for the Youth Group.
On the first day of the event, Friday evening, the Artists’ Reception was held and three judges awarded ribbons to the top three works in each category and the overall Best of Show. The next two days the exhibit was open to the general public.
The big winner in the Youth Group was Jasmine Tanner of Delta High School. Jasmine took first and third place in the Computer-Generated Art category and first place in Best of Show. Isabella Summers, also of Delta High School, placed first in the Mixed Media category and third in Best of Show. Other local Youth ribbon winners were Olivia Bergman of Swanton and a student at Monclova Christian Academy, taking third in Drawing and Everett Payton of Swanton High School finishing third in Mixed Media. Rounding out the Youth Group was Marika Orta-Deemer of Perrysburg High School winning the Drawing category and Lily Bonar of Whitehouse taking a first place in Painting.
In the Adult Group, several local artists received first-place blue ribbons including Sue Schaller of Swanton in Manipulated Art, Nora Sallows of Wauseon in Pastels and Bill O’Connell of Swanton in Photography. Deanna Richardson of Swanton won second place red ribbons in three different categories, Acrylics, Tolle and Watercolors. Red ribbons also went to Swanton’s Gail Phipps in Drawing, Carolyn Haller in Manipulated Art and Sue Schaller in Photography. Third place and white ribbon winners were Jenny King of Archbold in Acrylics, Alexandra Lederma of Swanton in Computer-Generated Art, Wauseon’s Nora Sallows in Oils and Swanton’s Jaye Badik in Tolle.
Blue Ribbon winners from outside the local area were Denise Declercq of Toledo for Drawing and Best of Show, Steve Mueller of Holland in Acrylics, Barb Sterling of Sylvania in Computer-Generated Art, Timothy Tyree of Maumee in Mixed Media, Debra Buchanan of Toledo in Oils and People’s Choice Award, Rose Letherby of Toledo in Tolle and Kay Kocher of Toledo in Watercolors.
Just under $7,000 in scholarship and prize money was given out and an Awards Dinner will soon be scheduled where each winner will receive a written proclamation from Ohio Governor John Kasich and Lieutenant Governor Mary Taylor. The proclamations will be presented by Governor Kasich’s Northwest Ohio Regional Liaison, LuAnne Cooke.
Bill O’Connell may be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com