“Annual Members’ Awards Exhibit” - Comments by Judge Nancy Baur Dillen, B.A., M.F.A.

Artist and art educator, Nancy Baur Dillen is Art Professor Emerita at Brevard Community College (BCC). She

graduated from Florida State University with an M.A. in Art Education and Constructive Design

in 1971. After graduation, Nancy moved to Melbourne, Florida, where she became an art

instructor at BCC. While at BCC, she expanded the art program and taught a variety of

courses that included drawing, figure drawing, painting, advanced painting, watercolor, acrylics,

two-dimensional design, art history 1 and 2, and the business of art. She has been a guest

lecturer, juror, exchange instructor, and art consultant both nationally and internationally.

Narrowing down 117 artworks to the top 28 was a real challenge. But, somehow, I did it! I could have definitely given many more… and, as you know, with your permission, I did add two more.

I hope your members will enjoy the exhibition and understand the challenges a juror has. With a background in teaching art to college students for 35 years, I set high standards for my expectations. When evaluating art, I:

1. Look for the most creative images, 

2. Discover the “story” behind each piece, 

3. Place it within an art historical context,

4. Look at the technical skills the artist has to create the piece,

5. See how they organized the elements and principles of design to compose their artwork, and 

6. Look at their professional presentation… how it is matted, framed, and or displayed. 

The top 30 definitely met my criteria for excellence.

BEST IN SHOW “By the Blue Truck” by Weldon Ryan

This realistic oil painting stood out to me as best of show for a variety of reasons. Mainly the execution of this large piece depicts the subject as a proud black woman demonstrating strength, courage, confidence, and determination as she steps out with head held high, body erect in front of a huge, shinny, macho truck symbolizing a male dominated world. The composition is perfectly balanced. The eye moves from the viewers left to the right though the use of a series of dark to light-blue horizontal lines and shapes that point toward the figure in the middle.  A swooping arc framing the wheel-well and tire starts at the figure’s back and continues above her shoulder to the far right. That arc is echoed from top to bottom carrying the eye across the composition. The circular motif is repeated with the holes in the chrome plated hubcap, as well as in the circular shapes created in the figure’s head, shoulder, breasts, and hips. Framing the composition and keeping the eyes within the painting are the strong vertical line that defines the edge of the door, the white horizontal trapezoidal shape that represents the fender that points to the buttock on the viewer’s left. On the right, the elements that keep the eyes from going out of the composition are the horizontal, trapezoidal light on the top of the wheel well and the white/chrome colored hubcap. The whole piece is perfectly painted and balanced compositionally complementing the positive statement about this woman’s place in her world.

1ST PLACE “Portrait of Giulia Bianci” by Jennifer Bilek

This realistically painted oil portrait of a young woman captures the innocence of adolescence on the verge of adulthood. She sits in the center of the composition against a simple, neutral-colored, shallow, flat background. Her youthfulness is seen in the way her hair is cropped and how she is dressed. Repetition of the rich varied textured shapes of reddish-brown/black colors found in her hair, scarf and pants leads the eye from the top of the head to the bottom of the composition and back again.

Her youthfulness is echoed in her short cropped hair, simple attire and accented black and neutral-colored, plaid scarf. The earth-toned color scheme is accented with the use of a rich dark-red blouse. Creamy warm flesh colors are repeated in the sitters cheeks, long-sleeved under blouse, arms and fingers.

The buttery rich texture of paint shows the strength and confidence in the mastery of the artist’s painting skills. The overall painting shows a mastery of painting techniques, and understanding of formal composition through the range of thick impasto paint to smoother blended layers.

The simple black frame helps unify the whole painting.

To me the subject recalls the portraits of the artist Alice Neel.

 2ND PLACE “Welcome to Wonderland” by Sharon A DePauw

I loved the whimsey captured in this imaginative ceramic interpretation of “Alice in Wonderland.” Great use of color, rich variety of textures, and interesting forms are found wherever you look. Definitely, this artists enjoyed playing with clay, developing the personality, and is confident in the use of glazes to create this lovable character.

 3RD PLACE “The Gift” by Julie Kessler

This painting really speaks to me because I love rich colors and invented textures. Plus, the whole piece was developed from the artist’s imagination. The longer I looked at the piece the more I realized the subject is a contemporary depiction of a mother and child like in many of the Renaissance paintings of the mother Mary, the Christ child and John the Baptist. Christ is usually depicted reaching out and offering something to John. Often birds and animals are included in the composition. In this painting there are a variety of birds and animals ranging from chickens, small birds like humming birds, frogs, and cats. A basket of oranges sits as an offering. The centralized mother figure has a halo around her head created from feathery pointed leaves alternating with fertile, flowers with long, leafy stems. Looking at the mother’s eyes, a tired, sad feeling is revealed as she protects her child. In the background on the viewer’s right, a series of undulating organic vertical forms dotted with stylized flowers is located in the center of each.

Color-wise, each image has rich textures and either a range of warm/cool complementary colors as seen on the little girl’s dress, or analogous colors as seen in the body of the green-headed chicken. The body is composed of red, purple and blue colors accented with a warm complementary colored red/green chicken head. The overall red background really causes the colors to pop and sing.

 Distinction “Sydney II” by Richlin Burnett-Ryan

This colorful woman’s portrait is masterfully created using a collage of many layers of tissue paper to create the background for this composition. Where the figure is found, stronger values of color are located. On top of those layers, black ink is used in a full range of textures such as dots, strips, solid shapes, squiggles… whatever is necessary to create the figure’s form and mood. Interestingly, the portraits eyes do not look out, but down in a more introspective way so that the figure does not engage with their audience. Quite a contrast between the bubbly colorful setting and the introverted body language.

 Distinction “Chris & His Two Friends” by Eliza Pineau Casler

 What a fun-loving depiction of personalities this painting offers! Look at that big, devilish grin and twinkle in his eyes on the gentleman’s face as he holds up two fingers in a “V” position above the innocent, unsuspecting pure-white dog with perky pink ears who politely poses for the camera. The man reclined on a suede leather couch while unknowingly a small grey-black cat places a paw on the side of the sofa desiring to be included. The artist masterfully captures the three personalities of the man and two animals. The background is limited to the couch and a thin line that suggests a wall with blue curtains and foliage outside the room. Interesting how the use of white in the dog’s fur is repeated in the man’s and the cat’s eyes to lead you across the canvas in a triangulated form.

 Distinction “Torso” by Stephen Suttle

This highly polished smooth, wooden sculpture to me depicts the grace of a female dancer’s torso balanced on one leg that is mounted on a wooden, circular disk. Implied motion is created by arc of the opposing leg and upper torso. The sculptor has beautifully carved an elegant suggestion of a females buttocks, legs, and torso by taking advantage of the grain of the wood and the natural way it grew.

 Distinction “Nature Series: For Whom the Bell Tolls” by Deborah Hildinger

A tall, vertical gourd forms the framework for this very imaginative, well-crafted altarpiece. It is balanced between three wooden posts from which are suspended beaded tassels. At the top of a horizontal wooden branch, a series of three brass bells hang in the center of the frontal opening. Below center, in the bottom of the gourd, is a winged figure made from mixed media such as twisted vine fragments, a ceramic bead, and a metallic head-like form. Holes of various sizes are punched into the gourd’s surface setting the stage for the central figure. At the top, overlapping the supportive horizontal bar, are water-lilly seed-pods and bark from several other natural forms. Additional man-made elements like wire and beads are added to enrich the textures of the gourd’s housing. A tool for creating a scraffito-like texture was used to activate the gourd’s external texture in a number of places to help carry your eye around the object. The surface has been stained and painted with analogous colors to complete the package.