Des Moines, IA - June 25-27
Best in Show: Dylan Strzynski - mixed media
Not only the changeable weather but the rest of the story caught him off guard. First he was on the wait list, then he got interviewed by the Des Moines Register about his successful Kickstarter Project, a video called "The Life You Make" about earning a living at art fairs, then he won Best in Show! Congrats, Dylan.
(Detail from Dylan's mixed media painting, "Is that a barbecue I smell?")
The rest of the winners:
• Longtime exhibitor and frequent winner Nicario Jimenez of Naples, Fla., for his intricate, shrinelike dioramas inspired by the "retablos" of his native Peru.
• Grant Silverstein of Mansfield, Pa., for his detailed black-and-white etchings of allegorical scenes.
• Deborah Mae Broad of Hawley, Minn., for her elegant wood-block prints of real and imaginary animals.
• Susan Frerichs of Abiquiu, N.M., for (mostly) silver jewelry designed to suggest scenes from the Southwest — tiny buzzards circling above miniature train tracks, telephone poles and animal skeletons — all dangling from delicate silver chains.
• Anthony Hansen of Morro Bay, Calif., for his brightly colored scrap metal sculpture.
Each of the three jurors also awarded a prize for one of his or her personal favorites: the mechanical-parts sculptor Michael Schwegmann of Champaign, Ill.; the nature-inspired drawer Helen Gotlib of Ann Arbor, Mich.; and glass artist Patty Roberts of Marysville, Wash., who makes jewel-toned, gritty-surfaced bowls.
For the second year in a row, Sodam Lee of Iowa State University won best of show among the Emerging Iowa Artists for her dreamlike prints of landmarks and fairy tales.
Fun for me to see is that Dylan and his long time partner Helen Gotlib (both from Ann Arbor ) both were winners. I first met Helen and Dylan at probably their first art fair, in Detroit's Greektown, where they couldn't afford separate booths but shared a space.
Nice article in the Des Moines Register with a cool video: Weather keeps artists, visitors on their toes
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