Juror’s Statement – Clive Fullagar
I would first like to thank the Buttonwood for inviting me to immerse myself for hours in looking at art that glorifies the Flint Hills – a place whose inspiration is testimony to its beauty.
My task was to reduce over 400 submissions by 60-70% so that the Visions of the Flint Hills Show would fit in the Buttonwood Art Space and provide an exhibit that celebrates the Flint Hills through the art of the region’s most accomplished artists. This process meant that I had to cut many pieces that were very good and demonstrated a high level of merit and skill.
Demonstration of technical skill was abundant, but this was not my primary criterion. Art is a way of seeing our world, of making sense of that world, and finding meaning in it. All of the creative forms in this show are lenses through which the artist has shown us a particular experience and “vision” of the Flint Hills. My main criterion in determining the artistic merit, was the extent to which the work provided a unique experience, a different way of seeing – and had expressed this in a way that was original, inventive, sensitive to the medium, and indicative of technical mastery. All of the award winners possess most, if not all of these qualities.
I come away from the jurying process with a sense of the strength of the muse of the Flint Hills. This region inspires such wonderful art. I also have an increased appreciation for the artists’ and the Buttonwood and their efforts to preserve this precious ecosystem.
Category: Other
Honorable Mention
Candi Phillips
Konza Fantasy
5x7”
In this small mixed-media piece, Phillips captures the chaos of color in both the vegetation and the skies of the Flint Hills.
Third Place
Rebecca Tombaugh
Flint Hills in Virtual Reality
This is an extremely innovative piece, using digital media to represent elements of the landscape. Tombaugh avoids the impersonality of the digitized image by inserting her own marks and strokes onto the video. These marks extract the essential shapes, color and form of the Flint Hills, delving into the anatomy of the landscape.
Second Place
Linda Davies
Song of the Flint Hills
16x30”
In this wonderful tapestry, Davies renders both the small beauty and the vast glory of the Flint Hills. For me, this piece draws the viewer in from a panoramic sunset to zoom in to plants that hide a small nest – a hidden secret of the prairie that Davies archeologically discovers for the viewer.
First Place - $125
Mary Gordon
Evening in October
6x6”
Although a small piece, I found this to be extremely impactful. Gordon distills essential elements of the Flint Hills (the shape of rolling hills, the colors of the sky and the Fall, the setting sun) into an abstract landscape that perfectly and simply encapsulates the spirit of the time, the season, and the place.
Category: 3-D
Third Place
Deb Chausee
Prehistoric Flint Hills Nautilus
24 x 13”
The artist makes creative reference to the geological prehistory of the Flint Hills but manages to also grasp the organic density of the ecosystem.
Second Place
Daniel Baxley
Teter Rock, Kansas Flint Hills Close to Cassoday, Kansas
7 x 9”
Baxley manages to create perfectly the essential components of an icon of the Flint Hills with just a few deft strokes and a mastery of the glass medium.
First Place - $125
Marsha Hansen
Wildflower: Snow on the Prairie
7 x 4.25”
Hansen creatively evokes the beauty and color of this wildflower in her fiber art. The size of the piece is exquisitely appropriate to convey the small delicacy of this prairie perennial and to whimsically play with the form of its alternative name, “Snow on the Mountain.”
Category: Photography
Honorable Mentions
Mark Clarke
Late Winter Blues
Clarke’s photograph is almost apocryphal in that it depicts a scene that seems to be mythical and imagined while capturing a mystical moment in the Flint Hills.
Mark Feiden
Trick Pony
Feiden breaks up the surface of this image with lines and shadows and no focal point leaving the eye to constantly try and make sense of the image.
Third Place
Steve Hauk
Bazaar Crossing
18 x 24”
Kansas is often pejoratively known as the “fly-over state,” a state that is so boring that travelers want to pass over it or through it without pausing to notice it’s beauty. Hauk’s photograph encapsulates this misconception with a long exposure that contrasts the straight lines of the traffic against the dark mystery of the Flint Hills.
Second Place
Betsy Forcade
Morning Chill
16 x 24”
If I ever move away from the Flint Hills, this will be the image of them that will remain. Forcade captures the archetypal essence of the tallgrass prairie and the contrapuntal balance between land and sky. She captures repeating form motifs in the clouds and gullies, leading the viewer into the picture and the distant hills.
First Place - $125
Mark Feiden
Hay Bales along Snokomo Creek
20 x 30”
The exquisite compositional equilibrium in this photograph enhances that familiar sense of stillness we experience in the Flint Hills. In a direct and simple way, Feiden reminds us of the bucolic balance between farming and prairie.
Category: Painting
Honorable Mentions
Kelly Yarbrough
Hay Field in Morning Light
4 x 4”
Yarborough references the symbiotic relationship between farming and the Flint Hills in this beautifully intimate pastel. The artist creatively uses a different palette to convey the sense of early morning dew on hay bales.
Donna Paul
Changing Skies
11 x 14”
In this small pastel, Paul captures the light and drama of typical Flint Hills evening. What I liked about this painting was the artist’s aggressive use of pastel to recreate a quiet moment.
Third Place
Elnora Nokes
Late Summer Storm
18 x 24”
Nokes masterfully reduces the shapes and forms of the Flint Hills in this mixed media abstract piece. Although the storm is hinted at, and occupies a minor space in the work, its approach is clearly evident in the colors of the landscape and that peculiar light that precedes a storm.
Second Place
Diana Werts
Misty Prairie Morning – Rust #2
18 x 24”
There is a small beauty in the Flint Hills, that we often pass over. Werts places us amongst the density of the grasses and the wildflowers. It is not often that we lay down in the prairie. Here the artist provides us with an intimate (chigger free) view under “the hood” of the Flint Hills.
First Place - $125
Lisa Grossman
Midsummer Konza
4.5 x 18”
In such a slim space and with such economical and fluid brushwork, Grossman manages to capture the breadth and grandeur of the Flint Hills. The light on the landscape during the Golden Hour is perfectly rendered.
And the one you’ve all been waiting for!
Best in Show - $500
Lisa Grossman
Konza – WA Burn
4 x 16”
One of the most exhilarating and impressive events in the Flint Hills is a prairie fire. Grossman renders the experience in a visceral and cinematic form. Using three frames she moves us in and out of the fire so that we can easily imagine the smell of the smoke and the heat of the flames. There is quick and smooth fluidity in the brush strokes that captures the transient rapidity of the fire. The size of the canvas and the absence of humans transforms our viewing into a personal experience that makes us feel as if we are the only witness to the event.
