(Riverton, WY) Winners of the CWC Fall Art Exhibition’s Quick Finish competition were announced at the show’s opening reception on Saturday evening at the CWC Robert A. Peck Art Gallery.
First place was awarded to Al Hubbard with a prize of $500; second place was awarded to Alice Marlatt with a prize of $300, and taking third place was Noelle Weimann with a prize of $200.
“This was an honor,” said CWC Art Alumni Lily Ritter, judge for the Quick Finish entries. “Such wonderful work. This is just the best show, and every year they get better. It was an honor to judge each of you as you worked hard.”
Competing artists were to complete up to 75% of their art beforehand and then had two hours to finish their works, ranging from drawing, painting, printmaking, and ceramics. The art was sold via silent auction during the competition.
Ritter said that as the judge, she was looking for the elements and principles of design, effort, perseverance, craftsmanship, skill, and how well the artist used their time.
“Judging twenty-five percent of an art piece is difficult,” she said. “But there were some who started with a blank canvas and finished in two hours, which is incredibly impressive if you’re not an artist. If you are an artist, it’s a lot of work, and especially to be doing it under so many eyes.”
CWC took no commissions or fees. “Every dollar that you spend goes into and supports our local artists,” said CWC Art Professor and Gallery Director Nita Kehoe. “It’s a great chance to start buying for the holidays.”
“I’m really grateful to Nita and the college for giving us this opportunity because you don’t find something like this where you don’t have to pay a commission,” said first-place winner Al Hubbard. “All the profits go to the artist…that’s kind of unheard of. Living in such a small town, you don’t have the exposure of an artist living in the city, so you don’t have a lot of opportunities to showcase your work. So this is one of those very few I’m grateful for.”
Second-place winner Alice Marlatt said that she thought the exhibition was great, and that she had done quick-draw competitions before, but “haven’t done an exhibition like this one,” she said. “It was a snap for me because I’m used to finishing it up in like, thirty minutes to an hour or so.”
Third-place winner Noelle Wiemann is part of a co-op of fourteen artists at Alchemy in Lander, and said that the “courage and bravery of Nita Kehoe for doing this and getting full funding is big,” she said. “That’s a very difficult thing to do in Wyoming for the arts, especially any kind of visual arts.”
“It’s also nice to have our Lander art community cohabitating with the Riverton community in the arts,” Wiemann continued. “We hardly ever get to work together, and that’s really big. I like that it’s done out of the college. The students hung all of our work…any time you can give an art student an application for the real world of art? To me, that’s fundamental, because most of us that went to art school didn’t get that part of our education, so it’s nice to see them doing that.”
“Nita is really reaching out and trying to bring everyone together,” said participating Quick Finish artist Jenny Reeves Johnson. “I just totally respect that. They’re not taking any commission…it’s helping and working for the artists, and that’s unusual…getting more eyes on my work, whether it sells or not. I do a lot of conservation work, so if I can get some attention to that, even if it’s something I can’t measure, it’s good.”
“I think it’s cool. I’ve never done anything like this before,” said Quick Finish artist Eva Wilzesky. “The challenge of completing a project in this kind of ‘hurry-up-and-wait’ type of venue has been fun.”
Aiyana Perez graduated from CWC as an art major with a degree in photography. “I really just wanted to support this gallery show,” she said. “They did it last year, so partaking in it this year was a goal of mine. Nita is really the greatest supporter ever…she really pushes me to be the best artist I could be, so I had to do it.”
Nita Kehoe said that the event would not have been possible without her staff, aka student workers, thanking Megan Friday, Jade Bell, Patrick Jacobs, and Dorian Thomas “…for being an amazing group of people,” she said. She also thanked the CWC Foundation and CWC President Brad Tyndall for the prize money.
The exhibition will come to a close on Wednesday, December 20. All of the artwork in the exhibition is for sale. If there is a red dot on the label, the artwork has been sold. For more information, contact Nita Kehoe at [email protected] or call 307-855-2211
“We are hoping to encourage the community to shop local for the holidays and support our great artists of Fremont County.”
Exhibition Artists:
Sali Allard, Jerry Antolik, Amber Nation, Aubry Ellis, Bill Kelley, April Makeshine, Colleen Drury, Al Hubbard, Taylar Stagner, Christl Buskohl, Hannah Bush/Lady Luck Mosaics, Joy Jones, Alice Martlett, Gayle Barnett, Joy Buri, Autumn Hnilick, Laura Koch, Aiyana Perez, Jim LaVine, Paula McCormick, Annette McDonnel, Cindy Moore, Jenny Reeves-Johnson, Rosie Ratigan, Susan Streater, Noelle Weimann, Neti Vokovic-Luscombe, Eva Wilczewski, Nita Kehoe
Quick Finish Artists:
Sali Allard, Aubry Ellis, Bill Kelley, April Makeshine, Al Hubbard, Taylar Stagner, Christl Buskohl, Joy Jones, Alice Martlett, Gayle Barnett, Autumn Hnilick, Aiyana Perez, Cindy Moore, Jenny Reeves-Johnson, Noelle Weimann, Eva Wilczewski
