| Randy Bennett of Rudolph, Ohio (left) stops to take a look at art by local artist Derek Brennan during the 6th annual Northwest Ohio Art Exhibition at the BGSU School of Art. (Photos: Enoch Wu/Sentinel-Tribune) |
When Sarah Aubrey, a curator at
the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, was asked to judge the NoWOH exhibit at Bowling Green State University,
she didn’t know what to expect.NoWOH, the Northwest Ohio Community Art Exhibition, now in its sixth year
is open to all comers, whatever artists bring gets hung. "I was surprised at the depth of talent in
the show," she said.The high quality of work "made my job very hard," Aubrey said. And
she predicted it’d be hard for viewers to find their own favorites.As the judge "I found
mine," she said.That would be Kelsey Scharf, an art education major in the BGSU School of Art, who
won The Andersons Best of Show for the oil portrait "Show Me Your Teeth."The NoWOH exhibit
opened Friday night with a reception and awards ceremony. It remains on exhibit through July 12. Hours
are Thursday through Sunday 1 to 4 p.m. The show also is open Fridays 6 to 8 p.m.Peter Burroughs, a
recent Bowling Green High School graduate, won the Kiwanis Youth Award.Scharf said her entry was at the
last minute. She’d heard about the show, and then "I almost forgot."A student of Dennis
Wojkiewicz, Scharf’s portrait is of an elegantly dressed woman, laden with necklaces. But the painting
only captures half the model’s face. That framing came about accidentally during a photo shoot, and
immediately captured the painter’s fancy.
| Attendees are see browsing pieces in the Dorothy Uber Bryan gallery during the 6th annual Northwest Ohio Art Exhibition. |
Another entry from Scharf was of a night scene set outside the Cla-Zel in Bowling Green.
She said she loves the challenge of representational painting. "I love getting in there and
rendering things and getting them to look just right."Scharf, from Clyde, is a senior, who
transferred to BGSU after studying for two years at Terra Community College.Gallery Director Jacqueline
Nathan said the NoWOH show continues to get stronger, and this year attracted a larger contingent of the
youngest artists, age 16 through 18."To have an unjuried show of this quality is
breathtaking," she said.The event actually got started as an arts management class project. The
students studied what it would take to stage a community art exhibit. After completing the project,
several of them proposed actually putting their research into practice.Other winners were:• Derek
Brennan, First Place 2-D, for "Young Salmon."• Ellen Fure Smith, First Place 3-D, for
"Chair."• Gary Wittenmyer, Second Place 2-D, for "NWD-7."• Ann Hymel, Second Place
3-D, for "Backbone."• Elizabeth Breyley, Toledo Federation of Art Societies Award, "Dark
Escape."• Honorable mentions – Bradley Scherzer, Matthew Cook, Lindsay Rosengarten and Isaac Smith.
