Portrait

Our first Art competition “Portrait” started in July 2019 and concluded on August 31, 2019. Art Room Gallery received entries from many countries around the world: USA, Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, Costa Rica, Germany, Spain, Argentina, Taiwan, Israel, Australia, France and Hong Kong. The Portrait theme in this competition included a diversity in types, styles and mediums (oil on canvas, acrylic, photography, altered woodblock print, ink and wash, digital art, pastel and polycrylic, hand painting chinese pigment, textile, watercolor, collage, graphite, crayon, pencil, mixed media and charcoal. The following evaluation criteria has been used for judging the artwork: creativity, interpretation of the theme, originality and quality of art, overall design, demonstration of artistic ability, and usage of medium. Jury decided to select 51 artworks for inclusion in the exhibition. Aside from First, Second, and Third place Jury also presented Merit awards and Honorable Mention awards.

Thank you, and enjoy the exhibition!

Statement:

Having studied Art and Landscape Design in Lousiana State University (LSU), and at the Paris American Academy in France and Universidad Autonoma de Centroamerica UACA, in San Jose, Costa Rica, I am an architect and also an artist. I have participated in 16 groups exhibitions and held 5 solo shows at Costa Rica, Guatemala , Paris, France and U.S.A.. My main exhibitions are IEAA Best 2017 Art Book, 7 Pintoras Latinoameriacanas, Museo Casa Santo Domingo, Antigua Guatemala; Art Fusion Gallery, Miami U.S.A., Casa del Artista, San Jose Costa Rica. Most recently I had a solo exhibitation at the National Gallery of Costa Rica, 2018. Haussmark-Blow Art Costa Rica. 2017. Won the International Prize, Christophoro Colombo, Italy, Geneve. Also invited at the second Edition of Art Berlin International Book 2018. I havae represent my country for the Bienal of Arte at the Bienal de Barcelona, 2017 with the Internacional Prize Goya, exhibition done on May 2017 at Piazza di Popolo Bramante Gallery 2017. Otros Premios: Primera Bienal de Pintura CR 1999. Mencion Honorifica ICE Pintura 2002. Statement: Self-portraits are a way of expressing the essence of ourselves. These two paintings represent me as a contemporary woman. The use of strong colors is the way my strengths and weaknesses are reflected on the canvas with brush strokes that represent the importance of living our lives in front of the world.

Second place

Statement:

Claudia Wilburn is a mixed-media artist currently living in Northeastern Georgia and teaching as an Associate Professor at Brenau University where she is the Department Chair for Art & Design and Program Director of Studio Art. She received her Masters of Fine Art from the University of South Carolina and her BFA from Clemson University. She grew up in the Lowcountry of South Carolina and has lived throughout the South. Her work draws on the connections, paths, family and community present in the Southeastern American experience. Her academic research has been presented internationally and her work has been exhibited all over the US. Selected Exhibitions and Presentations: In August 2018 Wilburn was awarded Best in Show in The Road Show at Arts Illiana Gallery, Terre Haute, Indiana. In May, 2018 she was awarded the Ann Austin Johnson Outstanding Faculty Award at Brenau University in Gainesville, GA. This award is selected by a committee of previous awardees based on recommendation by students and faculty; awardees demonstrate and foster outstanding teaching, enhancing teaching as a profession, and supporting other faculty in the pursuit of excellence. In March 2018 she hosted a Colossal Prints event at Brenau University with students and community members. Much of my art is autobiographical; I often draw on my life experiences, emotional journeys, and memorabilia. These pieces serve as a material translation of these histories and use ephemeral source material to bring the transitory biography passed back and forth between family members into a fixed pictorial realm. Eight years ago I became very interested in my family history and began to research the branches of my family tree from the present to the Revolutionary War and back to the Old World. I have researched and found photographic portraits of my great-grandparents and I am in the process of developing nine prints using these portraits as references. These pieces begin as blackline woodblock prints, which are then impressioned onto different types of paper and collaged back together into a unified image on a panel. A few of the source photos for these pieces have been damaged or lack specific details; when this happens I have used secondary, period-correct, source images and artifacts to help realize the image. One example of this is in the piece “Ethel Almond Roberts (Wilburn), 1894-1932.”

Statement:

I work with oil paints, putting layer upon layer.Using only the paint knife for making form and defining light and dark at the first stage. I keep fixing the drawing until I finish my work. While I am painting, I try to communicate with model to feel their emotion. If I understand the model, my painting catches their face and figure better. It is the most wonderful thing in figurative painting. My working process is kind of meditation and my paintings are a carefully observed negotiation. Thank you.