"The people" have spoken at the Crary Art Gallery.
"Journey" by Steven J. White garnered 80 "people's choice" votes to become the winner of this major prize, a plaque and a cash award of $300 at the International Juried Exhibition of Pennsylvania Watercolor Society (PWS) that continues through Nov. 14 at the gallery, 511 Market St., Warren.
The winner was chosen after four weeks of voting, and out of a field of 116 paintings. The winning entry may come as no surprise to some of the volunteer proctors staffing the gallery during open hours, when they heard many positive comments from a very appreciative audience. Still, favorites among visitors have been wide ranging, with 1021 votes cast for 102 paintings.
Article Photos
‘Journey’ by Steven J. White
"Journey" depicts a landscape with a riverway and ducks and measures 26 inches by 38 inches.
Visitors to the gallery were given a ballot upon entering the gallery and asked to select their favorite painting. The ballots one per patron per visit were then deposited in a locked box to be tallied after voting ended Oct. 31. The voting was done in the time-honored, trustworthy method favored around the world with secret paper ballots that can be recounted if there was a dispute but "Journey" was clearly the favorite among gallery visitors.
Other paintings with a high number of votes were "A Bleeding Heart" by Ona Kingdon; " Wintry Looks " by William T. Perry; and "Red Butterfly" by Dashuai Sun. The 116 watercolors came to the gallery from twenty-six states and two foreign countries.
"Journey" is still available for sale at the gallery. Juror and famed watercolorist.
Anne F. Fallin awarded several prizes at the opening of the show in early October. Some of those award winning paintings, as well as many of the other 116 paintings, are also still available for sale. All works will continue to be on display until the exhibition closes at 5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 14, so there is more than a week for patrons to stop in and see the paintings, or to purchase a painting or a DVD or poster of all the paintings.
The exhibition drew a record number of visitors to the Crary Gallery, and members of the gallery's board of directors were pleased by the turnout. They plan to continue this momentum with their upcoming slate of shows. The next exhibition, opening Dec. 10, will be "An Architecture of Spirit," with colorful, intricate geometric paintings by Spring Creek resident Lainard Bush, who holds a master of fine arts degree from the San Francisco Art Institute and is represented by dealers in Florida and Pittsburgh. That show will be followed by a photography exhibition by Sugar Grove native Zack Frank, whose images have graced National Geographic magazine. Works will be of national parks and depict scenes in Iraq and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The gallery's other scheduled exhibitions are booked through the summer of 2012, many of which can be seen on the gallery's website, crarygallery.org.
The PWS Juried Exhibition runs through Nov. 14 and can be seen Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m. Thursday evenings have additional hours, 7 to 9 p.m. The Crary Gallery is located at the corner of Sixth Ave. and Market St. The voting may be over, but all the art at the Crary Gallery can still be appreciated.