Sunday, August 2, 2009

2009 Paint the Parks100 Opens at Kolb Studio - Grand Canyon!


We can't think of a better place to open the Third Annual Paint the Parks100 Exhibit than at the Kolb Studio Gallery on the south rim of the Grand Canyon. The Kolb is a truly remarkable landmark, perched on the edge of this incredible canyon. The canyon receives millions of visitors each year.

The Kolb Brothers were the first ever to record their adventures on the Colorado River with a movie camera. The Kolb Studio Gallery is in the original auditorium the Kolb brothers added on in 1915 to present their river trip movie to Grand Canyon visitors. Emery Kolb ran the movie daily from 1915 until his death in 1976, making it the longest-running motion picture in history.

Today, the gallery is filled with paintings of the National Parks by some of the top artists in the country. Every painting is a national award winner. The show will run until September 7th, and is the perfect opportunity to view and purchase some incredible fine art dcoumenting our country's national parks.

Monday, June 29, 2009

2009 Paint the Parks100 Judging is Complete!




After a long weekend of final judging of several hundred submissions, the jurying is complete and our winners are ready to be announced. The $10,000 Grand Prize Purchase Award in the full-size competition goes to Patrick McManus for his oil painting of Glacier National Park entitled "Trail Watchers"(middle image). The $5,000 Grand Prize Mini50 Purchase Award goes to Elaine Lierly Jones for her pastel painting entitled "Arches National Park" (top image) For a complete list of all winners, including the Second100 and the SecondMini50, click here. We will post the images of the Jurors awards and Regional Awards shortly.

We want to extend our tremendous appreciation to Kim Casebeer(left), Howard Friedland (middle) and Susan Blackwood (right) who worked long and hard to score every entry in the final judging. They worked late into the night Friday night, all day and deep into the night on Saturday, and came back Sunday morning to finish. They took great care to be fair, thoughtful and thorough with every piece. They were professional, yet they made the long weekend fun and enjoyable.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Susan Blackwood, Howard Friedland and Kim Casebeer named 2009 Paint the Parks Jurors



PaintAmerica Association has announced the jurors for the 2009 Paint the Parks100 international art competition. They are Susan Blackwood, Howard Friedland and Kim Casebeer.

Since 1975, Susan Blackwood has taught watercolors in colleges and workshops around the country, overseas in Pakistan, the Bahamas, Great Britain, France and Italy. Susan has lead painting holidays to Europe with her husband, oil painter Howard Friedland. They both have been featured in the Master Painters of the World section of the International Artist Magazine. In 2003 Susan switched to oil painting. She now paints almost exclusively in oils. Her work has been seen in Southwest Art Magazine, U.S. Art Magazine, and Wildlife Art News. A partial list of her publishers include the National Audubon Society, the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Alliance, the Big Brothers Association, National Riflemen's association, North Light Publishers-(Best of Flower Painting by Katherine Kipp) and Medici Society Ltd. of London, England. Her originals have been exhibited in galleries in England and all over the U.S. in National Shows and galleries. The recipient of numerous awards, currently her paintings are in 5 galleries in the U.S., in addition to both museum and corporate collections.

Howard Friedland was born in Bronx New York. He has lived in Miami Florida, Albuquerque and Taos, New Mexico and now resides in Bozeman, Montana with his wife, artist Susan Blackwood. He studied fine art and commercial art at New York's High School of Music and Art. He went to college at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Art and Science in the department of Art and Architecture in New York's Greenwich Village. Howard has studied painting with Ned Jacob, Michael J. Lynch, Mark Daley, Laura Robb, William Schultz, Robert Kuester, Charles Reed ,Carolyn Anderson, Mitch Billis, Scott Christensen and most recently with Matt Smith. Oil Painters of America inducted Howard as a Signature Member into their organization in 2003. He was featured in the July 1989 issue of American Artist Magazine. He was featured in the Master Painters of the World section of the International Artists Magazine. His work has been selected to be shown in his own exhibition room #120 at the C. M. Russell Auction and Exhibition, held in Great Falls, Montana. He has painted, taught and exhibited extensively in New Mexico, Colorado, Montana, Arizona, Florida, Mexico, France, Italy, England, Spain and Portugal. His work has won numerous awards, and he has been featured in exhibits far too numerous to list. His work is sought after in many private and corporate collections.

Kim Casebeer's work has been featured in Southwest Art, American Artist, American Art Collector and The Pastel Journal, and has been published in a book titled Living the Artist’s Life. She is a signature member of the Pastel Society of America and the American Women Artists, and has also exhibited with the Oil Painters of America and the Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters. She has received awards through each of these organizations, as well as the Salon International Show, the American Academy of Women Artists, Scottsdale Artists School Best and Brightest, the Pastel Journal’s Pastel 100 Competition and The Artist’s Magazine Competition. Kim has participated in museum shows such as the C.M. Russell Masters in Miniature Show and the American Art in Miniature Show at the Gilcrease Museum. Her work was included in “Homage to the Flint Hills,” a 3 year traveling exhibit ending with a show in the Senate offices in Washington D.C. She is represented by Galleries West Fine Art in Jackson, Wyoming; Rive Gauche Art Galleries in Scottsdale, Arizona; Leopold Gallery in Kansas City, Missouri; Strecker-Nelson Gallery in Manhattan, Kansas; and Silver Heron Gallery in Depoe Bay, Oregon.

PaintAmerica is pleased to have such a stellar juror panel for the 2009 Paint the Parks show!

Thursday, April 2, 2009

HURRY! ONLY TWO MONTHS LEFT TO SUBMIT ENTRIES!






Just a reminder to be getting your entries together for the 3rd Annual 2009 Paint the Parks100 Competition. $10,000 Grand Prize Purchase Award; $5,000 Mini Grand Prize Purchase Award! Thousands more in additional prizes and awards! The Paint the Parks100 has become one of the country's top juried exhibitions for established and emerging artists. Save $10 on your early entries postmarked by April 30. 2009. Final deadline: May 31, 2009.
Paintings should be representative, and depict any area under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service, in any way, in any medium.
Go to www.nps.gov for a list of eligible areas viewable by state.

PaintAmerica is a national, non-profit organization to support and promote the visual arts.
Proceeds support the PaintAmerica Scholarship Fund and the National Park Foundation.

Don't miss this important juried competition – enter now! Full details and entry form at www.PaintAmerica.org or call us at (785) 273-4502.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

PaintAmerica Annnounces 2008 Top100 Winners!


The juror’s scores have been tabulated and the results are in! The 2008 PaintAmerica Top100 $7,500 Grand Prize Purchase Award goes to Johne Richardson, for his painting, “Shadows Upon the Land.” The 2008 PaintAmerica MiniTop50 $2,500 Grand Prize Purchase Award goes to Steven Lesnick, for his painting, “Supper Time.” Top100 Jurors Awards are as follows: “Pumpkin Patch” by David Jackson – Cally Krallman Juror’s Award; “Sausalito Ferry” by Howard Koslow – Henry Dixon Juror’s Award; and “Yellow Slicker” by James Reid – Michael Albrechtsen Juror’s Award.

In the MiniTop50, Juror’s Awards were as follows: “Ethel and Lacey” by Elaine Lierly Jones – Cally Krallman Juror’s Award; “Prairie Picnic” by Eileen Nistler – Henry Dixon Juror’s Award; and “Winter’s Return” by Dan Young – Michael Albrechtsen Juror’s Award.

Click here for a complete list of the winners, including the Second 100 and Seocnd Mini50. All Top100 and MiniTop50 winners will receive a letter in the coming weeks with complete instructions on forwarding their actual artwork. Congratulations to all!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Mike Albrechtsen Painting Seminar Well Reviewed



A Painting seminar by Mike Albrechtsen this past Sunday was very well received by all attendees. The seminar, part of PaintAmerica's education mission, was held at Westboro Fine Arts gallery in Topeka, Kansas. It was limited to only 12 participants, so that all attendees could get up close and personal with Mike and his demonstration painting. Participants came from as far as 235 miles away to see Mike's demonstration, and based on comments received, all took away some important information that they felt would make them better artists.

Albrechtsen has painted all over the country, and his works are sought after by many collectors. He teaches at the Scottsdale Art School and the Fredericksburg Art School. His work is in major galleries across the country. He was in Topeka as a juror for the 2008 PaintAmerica Top100 art competition, and graciously agreed to provide this important seminar and demonstration for PaintAmerica.

PaintAmerica Top100 Judging Complete - Look For Results Later This Week


The long juror's weekend is finally complete. This past weekend, jurors Cally Krallman, Mike Albrechtsen and Henry Dixon deliberated over the hundreds of entries that had survived the preliminary jury process. 190 Mini entries made it to the final round of judging, and 309 full-size entries survived the preliminary jury, making a total of 499 entries judged in the final round this past weekend.

It was a grueling process, with judging going until 11:30 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday nights. The juror panel was extremely careful in reviewing each piece, offering excellent comments and critiques. Each piece was scored individually by each judge, and all scoresheets will be tabulated by a third-party to determine the Top100 full-size scores, Top50 Mini scores, and ultimate Grand Prize winners. We'll be posting the Judges Choice Awards to this site later this week, and expect to have the full results back to us and posted on Friday, January 16th. Click on "Posts" in the "become a follower" box at the upper right of this blog, and be automatically notified as soon as the results are posted.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Excitement at PaintAmerica

It’s an exciting time at the PaintAmerica world headquarters.

We’re getting ready for the opening of the Paint The Parks100 at the Westboro Fine Arts gallery in Topeka, which is coming up on Friday, January 16. All the boxes are now unpacked!

The Internet is the easiest way for us to stay in touch with you, and we want to encourage you to join us there.

If you read this blog regularly, or even if it is your first time, we encourage you to subscribe using one of the various RSS services which are available. Just use the links in the “become a follower section” in the top right-hand side of this page.

Once you’ve subscribed, you can check us out on Facebook using the following links.

Fan page
Group
Paint the Parks Event

And of course, there’s always our website, www.paintamerica.org.

PaintAmerica grows more and more every day and it’s because of the wonderful support we get from all of you. Keep up the good work!