MINT HILL, NC – On Friday, June 4, Mint Hill Arts welcomed the public to the gallery for the Novant Health Mint Hill Medical Center Summer Art Show Reception.
“This is our first big-time reception since ‘you know what!’” joked Mint Hill Arts’ President David McGee as he welcomed the crowd. Technically the second in-person reception since COVID restrictions loosened, the first was attended by only 7 or 8 people. In contrast, Mint Hill Arts planned for 50 guests for Friday’s reception, and the crowd that showed up did not disappoint.
Friday’s reception featured wine, snacks and desserts catered from Daphne’s Bakery as well as a presentation of awards to the contest’s winners. The show was judged by Bryan Wilson, a 2015 graduate of the Academy of Art University with an MFA in drawing/painting whose work has been exhibited alongside other distinguished artists in the US and abroad.
From 61 entries, Wilson awarded eight honorable mentions: Terry Ruhs, “Times Square;” Jay Alexander, “September Monarch;” Jan Schopen, “Just Lying Around;” Judy Mizell, “Innocence;” Carol Clayton; “Mother’s Pitcher;” Sharron Burns, “Oodles of Onions;” David McGee, “Sisters;” and Larry Ferguson, “Last Water Hole.”
Third place went to Mint Hill Arts Founding Member Martha Faires for her painting “Precarious Freedom” depicting a surfer. Faires captured the surfer on film when she was in St. Augustine doing some plein air painting. “That’s my passion, plein air,” says Faires. The term comes from a French expression meaning “in the open air” and refers to painting outdoors with the artist’s subject in full view.
“Of course, you can’t ‘plein air’ a surfer because they keep moving!” continues Faires. Yet the image of the surfer in the water captured her interest when she was reviewing photos later. “I loved that green, and the way the light came through the water. I loved the textures of all the moving water and how you can see the light bounce off the blues and purples,” she said. “This is a fresh perspective,” commented Judge Bryan Wilson. “We don’t often get intimate with surf culture. So much luminosity in the water.”
Second place went to Rebecca McDuffie for “Go That Way,” a compelling and realistic watercolor depicting an older gentleman gesturing toward the distance. First place went to Doug Day for the unique cedar carving titled simply “Love.”
“It was stimulated by seeing my great-granddaughter reaching out for the hand of my grandson’s wife,” says Day, “and it just hit me that this is what we take for granted, and you know, it just passes, you don’t think anything about it. It got me, and I thought about it, and I thought, you know all of those times that kids reach out for their mothers’ hands or mothers reach out for their kids? That’s love.”
“This is so heartwarming!” commented Wilson. “The material serves the content so perfectly!” Day hopes the piece will become a family keepsake. “I know they care about it,” says Day, “and that’s the biggest reward you can have.”
Best in Show went to Carmen Davidson for “Behind the Turquoise Door.” The plein air painting depicts a Bed & Breakfast in Albuquerque, where the artist lived for 14 years. “Right before I left there, I went with a whole group,” says Davidson. “It’s an old adobe place where there’s little cabins all around with grassy places, and they had these beautiful big blue pots with flowers in them, so it was a wonderful place to paint. That turquoise door just struck my mind, my heart.”
Brand new to Mint Hill Arts, Davidson was surprised and thrilled to win Best in Show in her first show at the gallery. “There is an intimacy in the small scale and the unified analogous palette works well,” said Wilson of the Best in Show winner.
McGee was thrilled to welcome such a large crowd to the gallery for the first time in over a year and a half. “We are not just an art gallery; we are an art center,” McGee reminded the gathered crowd. “Small but important: that’s us.” McGee encouraged the crowd to explore all of Mint Hill Arts’ offerings on their website.
The Novant Health Mint Hill Medical Center Summer Art Show is currently on display at Mint Hill Arts. Visit the gallery (located at 11205 Lawyers Road) during regular business hours: Wednesday through Saturday from 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm.
