The excitement started to build at the Cole Gallery in Edmonds Friday night as members of Plein Air Washington Artists, family, friends and collectors gathered for the awards presentation at the opening of the 2023 Plein Air to Studio Winter Exhibition. Lots of smiling faces and laughter expressed the joy we all had to see each other, chat and catch up with painting buddies and old friends.
The Cole Gallery is a new venue for the winter show this year and we are all so grateful to Denise Cole for accepting our request to host this exhibition. Denise, along with Scott Jones, and the hard working crew at Cole Gallery did a great job hanging 65 paintings! The gallery looked warm and inviting with all the paintings lighted and hung to show them off to the best effect. And it worked well, because the gallery was packed with folks from 4pm till 7pm, at times making it difficult to walk around. That didn't seem to stop the buyers from purchasing work as paintings began to sell in the gallery and online.
Aaron Schuerr, the juror of awards did an outstanding job explaining why the paintings he picked stood out and what caught his attention that put them in the running for top honors. It is always tough to judge a show like this one with so many stunning paintings! You use a set of criteria for judging and instinct that comes from the heart but in the end says Aaron "When you are trying to make a decision between two great paintings I ask myself which painting would I hang in my own house"
Like the rest of us, Aaron must have envisioned a Jim Lamb painting in his house because the long time PAWA member and award winning plein air artist from Sammamish won Best of Show for his stunning work, Winter on the Snoqualmie and second place for Treasure Island Beach.
Other award winners included Melanie Thompson who won First and Second Place awards in the online show, Janice Wall whose master pastel work, The Heart Remembers won First Place in the gallery show and Mark Boyle who took the award for Best Plein Air.
Honorable mentions went to Chris Troyer and Robin Weiss with gift certificate awards going to Laura Gable, Janet Hamilton, David Marty, Jeanne Edwards and Olga Bolgar.
Check the PAWA facebook page for all listed award winners and their paintings.
The winter show is the culmination of the year's inspiration and painting adventures for many PAWA members. We take the best of the plein air paintings done through the year and produce a larger studio piece derived from the study. This is a great exercise that develops skill for the artist and informs the viewer how painting outside can be used by the artist to improve the quality of larger studio work.
With Janelle Kroner at the helm, Plein Air Washington Artists is a well oiled machine as demonstrated by the smooth operation of last night's opening ceremony and awards presentation. With help and expertise from members like Susan McManamen and Janice Kirsten, we were able to stream the opening online as well. Susan also produced a video that will soon be on the PAWA youtube channel HERE. Big thanks to the board and hard working members and staff at PAWA! Be sure to check out the schedule of events in 2023 and get registered for some summer painting fun! =]
photos and text by Robin Weiss
