Bedford Artist receives Best in Show in Bower Center’s 13th Annual National Juried Exhibit
Friday, October 24, Bower Center hosted the awards reception for its 13th Annual National Juried Exhibit which drew 162 entries by 53 artists from 9 states. Of those, 75 artworks by 38 artists were accepted. The art disciplines range from paintings in various media, fiber arts, mixed media, collage, sculpture, and photography.
Veronica Jackson, whose background includes architecture, interpretative exhibit design, and her own visual art practice, juried and judged the array of submitted art. At the reception she spoke about the exhibit as a whole and her approach to determining what to include for a cohesive storytelling collection of works for visual appeal and to best present the individual artworks selected.
As award and recognition recipients were named she spoke briefly of each piece. Those honored are as follows - Awards: Best in Show, Revelle Hamilton ( Bedford VA) for “Koi Pond #2, in the Rain”; 2nd Place, James Menefee (Danville VA) for “A Day at the Beach”; 3rd Place, Susan Talbot-Elliott (Lynchburg VA) for “Mom in the Kitchen”; 3 Awards of Merit: Kathy Belcher (Staunton VA) for “We can Run Away”; Janet Chalker (Forest VA) for “Bouquet”; Sidra Kaluszka (Radford VA) for “American Dream: Lady Chrysanthemum in Gold”;
Recognitions: Body of Work – 1st Place, Sarah Bolduc (Littleton NC) for “Moonstruck”, “Send Me a Postcard”, “The Village Green”; 2nd Place, Susan Bradbury (Bedford VA) for” Cannot Be Erased”, “Holding On”, “Letting Go”, 3rd Place, Abigail Monteclaro (Forest VA) for “The Frailty of Yellow”, “The Restlessness of Pink”, “The Deep Resentment of Magenta”, “The Acceptance of Blue Violet”; Juror’s Choice – 1st Place, Desmond Black (Goode VA) for “Bush Kangaroo and Joey”; 2nd Place, Julia Emanual (Salem VA) for “Moon Struck”, 3rd Place, Gabrielle DiTota (Melbourne FL) for “When It ALL Goes Up in Flames”.
This exhibition will be on display through Saturday, November 15 and followed by a one-week Bedford County Public Schools Elementary School Art Show. The year ending exhibits that open on November 25 are the Through the Lens II – Invitational in the Sara Braaten Gallery/Lobby which will feature work by 15 photographers and “Caught in Old Lace between the Stars and the Earth” in the Terrace Gallery/Lobby, an exhibit by Andrea Wild, the 2025 recipient of the Suzie Viemeister Emerging Artist Residency at Bower Center. She will give a gallery talk at a reception on Friday, December 12.
