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International Juried Exhibition

The Pennsylvania Watercolor Society’s
43rd Annual International Juried Exhibition

Pennsylvania Watercolor Society respects the right of all artists to express their views or opinion through the creation of art. All works that appear herewith do so with the consent of the artist. The artworks expressed are solely those of the original artist whose views do not necessarily represent those of the Pennsylvania Watercolor Society, board, and/or any/all contributors to this site.

Welcome, everyone!

The 43rd annual juried exhibition is again a beautiful representation of the conceptual variety and talent the Pennsylvania Watercolor Society has in its membership and non-members who entered this year’s exhibit. Thank you to Anne Abgott with the difficult selections she made of the fine work the accepted artists produced. The task was not a simple one.

For me, every intention up to this date was made to have another live awards presentation but unfortunately, the end-planning stages presented an unforeseen obstacle that we couldn’t make it happen this year. We, as well as Stewart White the awards judge, are disappointed this year couldn’t be an interactive one for you. 

However, alternative plans were made with Stewart White to allow us to record his comments about the top twenty-seven paintings.  Mr. White was also looking forward to a live presentation because he likes to interact with the artists. We did the best we could with a very qualified person and talented artist, Pam Wenger who created this YouTube awards ceremony for you. Thank you, Pam.

My personal thanks go out to my Vice President, Jeannine Swartz who is the juried show chairperson for her organization and coordination of the show through Café and to Nick Mohler for our PWS website presentation.  A special thank you goes to the large corporate sponsors and the friends of PWS for their award contributions this year.  The awards committee of Helen Canfield and Gay Dunn worked long hours in preparation, establishing and obtaining an increased goal total for awards.  It takes special people to be able to ask for support and I think they did a spectacular job in acquiring the total number of prizes in the difficult economy that we have had.

Congratulations to all. You are the best.

Linda R Young, President


Letter from Juried Show Chairperson

Congratulations to everyone selected for the Pennsylvania Watercolor Society 43rd Annual International Juried Exhibition. Enjoy the breathtaking exhibit in this catalog and in our virtual gallery at our website www.pawcs.com.

This year 303 artists from 41 states and 9 countries submitted a total of 540 entries for consideration.

We appreciate the time and careful consideration of our jurors. Juror of Selection Anne Abgott selected 102 works for the exhibit.  In her words, “This is one of the most impressive shows I have seen in a very long time! Just amazing works. Wow this is a massive job!” Her process was to aim for a balanced show of various subject matter: Still life and Florals, Landscape, Portrait and Figure, Abstract, and Other. 

Juror of Awards Stewart White had an equally difficult task in choosing 27 to receive awards.  Stewart shared with me that the strength of the collection made his job challenging.

Thank you to everyone who had a hand in making the exhibit possible, with special thanks to PWS President Linda R. Young, Membership Chair Anni Matsick, Awards Co-Chairs Helen Canfield and Gay Dunn, Webmaster Nick Mohler, and the entire PWS Board of Directors. Finally, a heartfelt thank you to those who donated to awards and to the catalog printing. Your support is vital to presenting this top-quality show. 

Cheers to another successful International Juried Exhibition!

Best regards,
Jeannine Swartz
PWS Juried Show Chairperson

Awards

  • #1 1st Place Award - Howard Eberle
  • #2 2nd Place Award - Yan Liang
  • #3 3rd Place Award - Cheryl Schlenker
  • #4 4th Place Award - Richard Haynes
  • #5 PWS President’s Award - John Bierley
  • #6 Paxtang Art Association Award in Memory of Nicholas Feher - Ron Thurston
  • #7 PWS Board Members Award - Richard Ressel
  • #8 Mildred Kratz Award - Kristin Herzog
  • #9 Mary Jane Sausser Award - Jacqueline Gnott
  • #10 Baltimore Watercolor Society Award - Chris Krupinski
  • #11 Philadelphia Watercolor Society Award - Alisa Shea
  • #12 R. Mike Nichols Friend of PWS Award - Irena Roman
  • #13 Linda Young Friend of PWS Award - Linda Slattery Sherman
  • #14 Dixon Ticonderoga Award - Toni Elkins
  • #15 Free Spirit Watercolor Award   - Allan Butt
  • #16 Jean Spicer Friend of PWS Award - Linda Buechting
  • #17 Linda Buechting Friend of PWS Award - Radhika Srinivas
  • #18 Elizabeth Burin Friend of PWS Award - Sandra Webster
  • #19 Joseph A. Gerber Friend of PWS Award - Stacy Lund Levy
  • #20 Helen Canfield Friend of PWS Award in Memory of James Meihaus - Sih Shian Wu
  • #21 Cheap Joe’s Art Stuff Award - Christine Alfery
  • #22 Giny Crawford Friend of PWS Award - Merv Richardson
  • #23 DeEtta Silvestro Friend of PWS Award - Jean Gill
  • #24 Friend of PWS Award - Tan Suz Chiang
  • #25 Laura Cowburn Friend of PWS Award - Karen Mai
  • #26 Susanna Anastasia Friend of PWS Award - Susan M. Miller
  • #27 Blick Art Materials Award - Rose Marie Strippoli

OUR JURORS

Anne Abgott, Juror of Selection
Title: "BIZMARK 1"
Size 22x30
Transparent Watercolor
Price $4,500.00

ANNE ABGOTT
JUROR OF SELECTION

“It was an honor to be the Selection's judge for the 2022 Pennsylvania Watercolor Society. As an artist and educator, it was both a daunting and rewarding experience to review the 540 submitted paintings. I want to thank the PWS officers and committee members for their trust and willingness to allow me to judge this quality show!

I look for initial impact, compositional design, creativity, and lastly sensitivity to the medium of watercolor. Craftsmanship and control of the medium were not the dominating factor. Lastly, I looked for a balanced show. Using the following as my guidelines: Floral and Still Life, Landscape, Portrait and Figure, Abstract, and finally Other. This I describe as thinking outside the box.

It was a wonderful group of paintings submitted of very very high quality.”

Sincerely Anne Abgott AWS, TWSA, NWS

Anne Abgott was born in Ontario Canada and moved to the USA in 1998. There she began to explore watercolor. Galleries, art centers and competitions became a big part of her life. Anne authored the bestselling book by Northlight titled “Daring Color” in 2006. Anne’s love of color is obvious. Her technique is to work directly from the moistened well of paint to the paper. She believes design and composition are very important and not easy to conquer. Anne says, “there is no greater feeling than getting up each day with nothing but the desire to get a brush in my hand”. Anne is a signature member of American Watercolor Society (AWS), National Watercolor Society (NWS), and Florida Watercolor Society (FWS). She is featured in The Artists Magazine “Over 60” March/April 2022 issue.





Stewart White, Juror of Awards
Title: “View of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum“
Size: 22 x 16

STEWART WHITE
JUROR OF AWARDS 

“I read a sentence once by John Sloan about Art. He was clear that he had a point of view and that it was just that. Like a contemporary of his Thomas Hart Benton, Sloan was not short on opinions and points of view when it came to anything, but particularly so when it came to Art and especially Painting. That was in the 20’s and 30’s. These days are no different. Opinions are everywhere to be found.  But I do like this statement, nonetheless. “Art is something which has been created in response to an urge that came through contact with life.”  

I made choices not so much by style or technical competence (though almost all my choices show competence to spare), I chose these works because I felt that there was a “contact with life” in them and the artists used whatever skills, styles and knowledge they could muster to express that. Some judges pride themselves by choosing an "artists choice” selection that matches their own as a sort of validation for their own tastes in art. Popularity has seldom been a great standard by which to appreciate a good painting. I am always amazed about how Watercolor continues to show an almost inexhaustible ability to cover an infinite variety of expressions for the artist and still at the end of the day, manage to be just stains and marks on perfectly clean white paper. Ah, but what stains and what marks it makes!!

Stewart White AWS NWS

Stewart White is a watercolorist from Baltimore, Maryland. He works as an architectural illustrator and designer. He is a transparent watercolorist in the purest tradition of watercolor painters. Stewart studied at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and after serving 3 years in the US Army he received a BFA from UC Berkeley. His watercolors have won many awards. Stewart exhibits his paintings in juried and gallery exhibitions throughout the US. He is a member of the American Impressionists Society (AIS), a signature member of the National Watercolor Society (NWS), and a signature member of the American Watercolor Society (AWS).  Stewart is past President (2012) of The American Society of Architectural Illustrators (ASAI) and the Mid-Atlantic Plein-Air Painters Association (MAPAPA).





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