The Selma Art Guild’s Summer Juried Art Exhibition was held June 8 and featured a first ever Best of Show win for Montgomery artist Neal Brantley and the first ever art award of any kind for Selma area artist Dr. David Hodo.
“I was very pleased,” said Cam Walker Guarino, SAG president, following the successful, well attended reception for the event. She said the exhibition will remain on display through the end of July on Saturdays from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.
Carol Barksdale, who juried the show, said of Brantley’s Best of Show oil painting “Pan Am Service Station,” “There is a quiet haunting beauty to this place.” And of Hodo’s First Place dry work “Morning,” she said, “The light cascades through this piece.”
Barksdale also said she was impressed with the quality of all the art in the entire show.
Brantley said he was totally surprised by his Best of Show win. He said, “I’ve never won a Best of Show before, so it was very exciting. Those don’t come along too often.” He said his prized painting was of an art deco service station that was demolished on Madison Avenue in Montgomery.
Since it was a historic building, he said, “I felt like painting it, so there would be some remembrance of it.”
Hodo, a psychiatrist, said he was pleased to win an award for his art. He said he has been doing art for several years with a teacher’s encouragement, but didn’t know if what he was doing was on the right track. He said, “I am on the right track is the indication. I’m very surprised.”
Barksdale is a respected artist and educator, who has been represented by Gallery One Fine Art in Montgomery since 2001 and who dedicated 25 years to teaching art in the Elmore County public school system. She continues to share her passion for painting through classes in watercolor, oils and acrylics at the Armory Learning Center in Montgomery and the Art Mill in Millbrook.
Other winners announced Sunday included:
Opaques, Brantley’s First Place “Gingko Trees;” Guarino’s Second Place “Organic Orchestra;” and Karen Weir’s Third Place “Spider Lilies.”
Transparent, Shirley Baird’s First Place “Aladdin’s Lamp;” Karen Weir’s Second Place “Good Ol’ Buoys;” and Paige Hodo’s Third Place “Verde.”
Dry, in addition to David Hodo’s First Place “Morning” were Robert Baynes’ Second Place “The Teacher;” and Karen Weir’s Third Place “Ol’ Barn Owl.”
Photography, Kay Brummal’s First Place “Over the River…;” Georgia Ann Banks-Martin’s Second Place “Jazzy Forest;” and Libby Christensen’s Third Place “Wetumpka: Still Water Dusk.”
Three Dimensional, Libby Christensen’s First Place “Playing With Marbles: Oops, One Got Away;” Sarita Gish’s Second Place “Hand Knitted Coat/Handmade Ceramic Buttons;”
and John Perdue’s Third Place” Custer Frozen in Time.”
Barksdale commented on the first-place pieces in the show. She said of Brantley’s ”Ginko Trees,” “The subdued hush in this piece beckons.” She said of Baird’s “Aladdin’s Lamp,” “The artist’s use of color and shape and the amorphous forms invite the viewer in.” She said of Kay Brummal’s “Over the River,” “This piece turns the ordinary into the extraordinary.” And of Christensen’s “Playing With Marbles; Oops, One Got Away,” “Playful, captures the viewer’s attention from the start.”
The Selma Art Guild was founded in the 1970s to provide art opportunities and to encourage Selma area artists.
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