West Virginia Watercolor SocietyAqueous 2018 National Juried Exhbition
May 19 - July 7, 2018 at the Parkersburg Art Center2018 Juror Ron Thurston, AWS
Aqueous 2018 Award Winners
Watercolor painting is an exploration of transparent spirit possibilities. Some colors hide as a supporting role to others that glow as leaders. If we are lucky these visual combinations of spirits, a little bit spontaneous and a little bit planned, will evoke a memory, even if just for a moment.
Juror Statement
Thank you for this opportunity to pick my favorite Aqueous 2018 Exhibition paintings and award winners. I know you have heard this before, composition and technique is a consideration. This is a given. But in the end, I simply ask myself which works would I like to hang on my own wall. That's easy. Finalizing the award winners takes more thought.
Some thoughts on paintings -- award winners or not necessarily...
- "Daddy" by J. Swartz made me laugh because the guy in the painting spoke to me. I'd like to go to lunch with this guy.
- C.Cutter's "Awestruck" shows the wonderful personality of a kid better looking than he knows.
- It's nice that M. Wilkins' "Monhegan Climate Control" shows the fun of watercolor instead of many others who attempt to show what serious painters they are.
- Good to see risk taking, as in "Mosaic Blast" by R. Montrosse.
- Thank you for a bit of mystery in G. Danz's "Vintage." Mystery is the heart of all great art.
Getting rejected from a show? I have been there. No problem, you will get your revenge in the next show.
-- Ron Thurston, AWS
Aqueous 2018 Accepted Artists
- Ronda Albright, Martinsburg, “Strong Roots”
- Brenda Beatty, St. Albans, “Dazzling Daffodils”
- Matthew Bird, Sykesville, Md., “In the Wings”
- Louise Braddock, West Union, “Caught”
- Jeanne Brenneman, Lewisburg, “Heirloom II”
- Karen Brown, Buckhannon, “Strawberry Beauty”
- JoAnn Byron, Beckley, “Emergence of Color”
- William Campbell, Midlothian, Va., “Dreamer”
- F. Dennis Clarke, Martinsburg, “Passing in the Night”
- Connie Clutter, Washington, Pa., “Awestruck”
- Joe Ann Crawford, Tornado, “Rascal”
- Katherine Crim, Clarksburg, “Eddie”
- Anne Cyr, Rehoboth, Del., “Crab Boats All in a Row”
- Ginger Danz, Fayetteville, “Vintage”
- Linda Elmer, Fairmont, “Babcock: Road to the Cabins”
- Janet Hart, Wheeling, “Gander in the Bulrushes”
- Carol Hilleary, Cross Lanes, “Old Blue Truck”
- Michael Jacques, Blawnox, Pa., “Gliding Past the Wreckage 1”
- Gina Judy, Richmond, Ohio, “The 'Sitter”
- Sidra Kaluszka, Radford, Va., “Emerging from the Darkness”
- Myung Lee-Ryou, Morgantown, “Autumn Scene”
- James Lefebvre, Eaton, Ohio, “Downtown”
- Deborah Lester, Shady Spring, “Bourbon Street”
- Brooklynn Lilly, Athens, “Rainbow Waters”
- Jane C. Michael, Morgantown, “Bird Lady of Cologne”
- Rita Montrosse, Princeton, “Mosaic Blast”
- Betty Neely, Fairmont, “Terra Incognita”
- Susan Pauley, St. Albans, “Thoughtful”
- Sandra Pealer, South Paris, Maine, "Teamwork"
- Donna Perkins, Pasadena, Md., “Raisin's Imaginations”
- Pamela Price, Monroeville, Pa., “At the Louvre”
- Julie Read, Winchester, Va., “Adobe”
- Martha Reynolds, West Union, “Family Fun”
- Christine Rhodes, Parkersburg, “October-Mountwood Park”
- Jeannine Romano, Bridgeport, “3 Sisters”
- Janet Sheehan, Wheeling, “In for a Landing”
- Jeannine Swartz, Mechanicsburg, Pa., “Daddy”
- Jan vanEgmond, Charleston, “Kanawha City Dawn”
- Monica Wilkins, Shepherdstown, “Monhegan Climate Patrol”