Members’ Showcase on Display
by Kara Dicker
The gallery at Heartland Art Club was brimming with anticipation and energy this month as more than 100 attendees joined in the kickoff of the annual Member’s Showcase. The juried exhibitionowch, representing the talent of 58 member-artists, depicts an array of content and media. The Showcase runs July 7-August 23.
“This year’s Showcase is especially exciting to view,” said Mary Drastal, president of Heartland Art Club. “There is a variety of media and content from the members, including drawing, printmaking, painting, photography, and mixed media. The show is rich with imagery of landscape, still life and portraiture. Heartland is very pleased to support its members with the showcase.”
BJ Parker, PhD, lead instructor at Gateway Academy of Classical Art, juried the Showcase, which awarded cash prizes to four winners and gift certificates to three honorable mention recipients. The Art of Entertaining provided refreshments.
The top prize went to Dennis Babbitt. His Hot July Afternoon North Dakota Hills is set in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, where Babbitt and his wife hiked in early July. With temperatures reaching 104 degrees, they were eager to find a place to rest and watch the sun set. The painting, rendered in acrylic on panel, overlooks a valley facing southwest in the late afternoon, emphasizing the brilliant color of the thick grasses and brush that withstand the tough, dry terrain. He said of his experience painting this scene: “This is my way of seeing things.” Babbitt said he encourages everyone to see for themselves the beauty of the park. Gateway Academy of Classical Art sponsored the $300 first-place award.
Bob Thomas was awarded second place for Grand Canyon #4. The oil painting is the bookend to a four-part series of Grand Canyon paintings that began in 2014 after he and his wife first visited the national park. The painting captures a view from the South Rim looking back toward Mather Point near the Visitor Center just after midday. “It was mostly sunny that afternoon, however there was haze in the sky,” recalled Thomas, who added that the muted highlights allow for more atmospheric depth. This is the only painting in his series that depicts human presence amid the vastness of the sky and canyon. Grafica Gallery and Framing sponsored the $200 second-place award.
Michelle Streiff ‘s portrait Painting Frida Kahlo garnered third place. Rendered in bold color and vibrant brush strokes befitting her subject, Streiff’s oil on canvas depiction of the iconic Mexican artist includes two small dogs, a tribute to both women’s love for animals. Streiff, who paints portrait and Plein Air, is a commission painter. This piece, she said, was a welcome exception: “It’s such a treat for me to paint something purely for myself.” Mary Drastal Fine Art sponsored the $100 award.
In addition to the top three awards, the gallery recognized Daniel Fishback as recipient of the David Cornell Composition Award. Fishback’s Sun Peeking Through, oil on canvas, is a Plein Air celebration of perspective and color softly illuminating the eye’s pathway to a distant car and barn. The David Cornell Memorial Fund sponsored the $250 award.
Heartland Art Club awarded Dick Blick gift certificates to three Honorable Mention recipients: Brian Anderson, St. Louis Picnic; acrylic; Connie Schmidt, Cloudy Morning at Sprague, watercolor; Josh Sorrell, Rise, oil.
