Winners Showcase II - May 8 - June 6, 2021
Featuring the work of past juried exhibition winners Ron Becker- Celebrating Creativity, Caryn Coville – Hand Drawn, Lupe Galván – Hand Drawn, Yuke Li- Transformations: Figures of Our Other Selves, Joseph A. Miller – Contemporary Realism, Holden Willard - Transformations: Figures of Our Other Selves, Patty Yantz- Water, Water Everywhere.
Congratulations to Patty Yantz on the sale of two of her works from the Winners Showcase!
**please note that a few of our wonderful artist winners are from other states and will show some of their work online and only one -four works at the gallery….we could not ask them to travel such a long distance for this show!
Enjoy the article by Heidi Sutton-Times Beacon Record Newspapers at the link below!
https://tbrnewsmedia.com/winners-fine-art-showcase-heads-to-mills-pond-gallery/
Enjoy a Virtual Exhibition of the show
Natural environments have always been Ron Becker’s primary inspiration. The unexpected colors and textures found in nature inspire Ron to capture the dynamics of light and dark; form and balance. As a realist, he uses tone and color to invite his audience to experience the moment captured on canvas. His preferred mediums of acrylic (for layering of color), or oil (for blending) are specifically chosen to create a sense of drama and movement. Ron has also developed a strong interest in iconography using the ancient techniques of egg tempera and gold leaf. He studies this process with Janine Manheim, a noted iconographer and teacher. Ron is also a muralist and has done commissions for school districts, hospitals, nursing homes, municipalities, and private residences. Ron’s paintings have been exhibited in galleries and venues on Long Island, New York City, and Western New York, winning awards in several juried shows. https://www.rbeckerart.com
Art has always been a part of Caryn Coville’s life. Shortly after graduating with a B.F.A. from Rochester Institute of Technology, she discovered using colored pencils as a fine art medium. Caryn’s style is realism, and her work showcases the smooth textures and fine details that can only be achieved with colored pencils.
“My work is inspired by my love of nature, travel, and the beauty I find in everyday objects. My paintings start with a line drawing; and using a heated drawing board, I begin the process of applying pigment. Working with a light touch, I slowly build up and blend the color, sometimes adding up to twenty layers. I like the process of watching my painting slowly emerge.” Primarily a colored pencil artist, Caryn has enjoyed extending her artistry into other mediums. For the past several years she has enjoyed East Asian brush painting. She explains, ‘I like the contrast between the very slow process of creating a colored pencil painting layer upon layer, and the spontaneity of brush painting, where I try to convey the essence of a subject by using minimal strokes of ink and watercolor.’ Her latest journey has been into the world of alcohol ink painting. Caryn’s award-wining work has been shown in solo gallery exhibits and she has participated in numerous juried shows and group exhibitions and her work is held in corporate and private collections throughout the United States and Canada. She has an extensive list of awards and credits for her amazing artwork. She is a featured artist in the publications: Ann Kullberg's Color magazine (February 2021, December 2020, May 2019, July 2017, June 2017); The Quarterly of the Sumi Society of America, Inc., (Fall 2020); Colored Pencil Society of America's To The Point magazine (June 2020, January 2020, June 2018, June 2017, January 2016, June 2015, January 2014) among many others. https://www.caryncoville.com
Lupe Galván was born in 1981, and grew up in rural Idaho among the farm lands of the Snake River valley, the historic land of the Shoshone people. He earned a BFA in Illustration from Boise State in 2006 and an MFA from The New York Academy of Art in 2009. Lupe’s personal cosmogony guides him to explore experiences of Indigenous roots and American life and express them through painting and drawing. He is passionate about mentorship and teaches drawing and painting Yavapai College in Prescott, AZ, Boise State University, Boise, ID, Neumann University, Fleisher Art Memorial in Philadelphia, PA and Southern Oregon University.
“My art stems from my experiences of being of mixed race Hispano-Indigenous and as an ESL person growing up in a predominantly White geography. The rural isolation where I grew up provided an opposition between preservation of traditional cultural practices and creating more distance between dominant culture and myself. The land itself became incredibly important and spiritually linked in my upbringing and it continues to be a subject in my work. My landscapes are about space, visually and spiritually. They encompass a contemplation about the past, my past and the present.” Website: lupegalvan.com Email: lupeglvn@gmail.com Instagram: @lupeglvn
Yuke Li is a New York based Illustrator, writer and storyteller. She graduated from the MFA Illustration Program at the School of Visual Arts in the summer of 2020. She has worked in the book industry and editorial area for eight years creating animation, editorial work and picture book spreads working both traditionally and digitally.
Her works have been recognized by many Illustration and Children’s Book Awards, including Moonbeam Award Best Illustrator (2020), 3x3 International Illustration Annual No.17 (2020), ADC 99th Annual Awards (2020), American Illustration 39 Winner (2020) among many others. Yuke’s clients include Chelsea Pier Fitness, New York Times, Dior, Lamer, Kiehl’s, Hope Publishing House, People's Literature Publishing House, CECI, Harper’s Bazaar, Rayli,
Yuke says “Curiosity about the universe and humans is always with her. She believes that visual language is her best way to communicate with the world.” yukeliart@gmail.com https://yukeliart.com/
Joseph A. Miller is an Associate Professor of Art at S.U.N.Y. Buffalo State, where he has taught drawing and painting since 1997. He earned a B.F.A. degree from Kutztown University, Pennsylvania in 1990 and an M.F.A. degree in painting and drawing from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 1993.
Joseph Miller’s work is in numerous public and private collections, and has been shown internationally in Finland, China, Poland and the Czech Republic, as well as across the United States, from Berkeley, California to Cambridge, Massachusetts. His work has been exhibited at the Arnot Art Museum, the Castellani Art Museum and the Burchfield-Penney Art Center in New York, the Allentown Art Museum, the Woodmere Art Museum, the Erie Art Museum in Pennsylvania, and the Springville Museum of Art in Utah. He has earned numerous awards, including a First Place Award in A.D. Gallery’s Art in Times of Anxiety National Exhibition, at Pembroke, NC, a First Place for Drawing Award in the Hopkins Center for The Arts 26th Arts North International Exhibition, in Hopkins, Minnesota, a First Place Award at the Mills Pond Gallery, New Contemporary Realism Exhibition, in Saint James, New York, a Purchase Award and a People’s Choice Award at the Royal Nebeker Gallery, in Clatsop Community College’s, Au Naturel: The Nude in The 21st Century International Exhibition, in Astoria Oregon, a First Place Award in Manifest Creative Research Gallery’s International Drawing Annual V, in Cincinnati Ohio, a Best in Show Award in the National Drawing and Painting Exhibition at the Lore Degenstein Gallery at Susquehanna University, Pennsylvania, and two Purchase Awards from Wright State University Art Galleries in Dayton, Ohio.
“I have always been inclined to pursue art in a manner, which emphasizes drawing and a concern for naturalism. I focus primarily on the human figure depicted in environments that create a context for psychologically charged open ended narratives. Many of these narratives explore ideas about power and vulnerability. Images of figures or figures in landscapes, in groups or in isolation, share a common feeling of significance. Wholly absorbed within themselves or the dialogue shared between one another, they wait for the unfolding of their private story. millerj@buffalostate.edu https://artdesign.buffalostate.edu/faculty/joseph-miller
To purchase, contact the artist - millerj@buffalostate.edu
Holden Willard is a 21 year old undergraduate student studying at the Montserrat College of Art. In May, he will receive his BFA in Painting, however his interests serve multiple mediums: printmaking, photography, performance, collage & woodworking. “I was born and raised in Maine, and while I live in Massachusetts for the moment - it continues to be a place of great inspiration.”
“My work is currently concerned with analyzing the effects of white male toxicity, specifically toxic masculinity. I’m mainly striving towards creating a dialogue between the past, present and future - be it through the lens of family, friends and environment. In my mind, these are essential devices that I utilize to create a coming of age narrative in rural Maine. Images from home, adventures of youth, fears and anxieties expressed through eyesight and posture - all in an effort of saying the unsaid.”
Holden was awarded Best of Show at the Cultural Center of Cape Cod in The WORKS International Art Competition with his self-portrait Red Portrait. https://holdenwillard.com @holdenwillard
Patty Yantz’ art is about personal reaction to a scene or location rather than an attempt at technical reproduction of that view. “Focusing on color, contrast and composition, I have found that close-up observation is a good tool for understanding different perspectives and developing conceptual awareness. After retiring from teaching secondary art Patty has immersed herself in her own art career. She works in Pastel, Acrylic and Watercolor. “Nature is the underlying theme of all my work, with a major inspiration being the Long Island landscape.”
