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Awards and Jurors
- Awards: $20,000 in cash & merchandise awards
- Jurors:
The Juror of Awards was John Pototschnik OPA
Show Information
- Entry: $75 OPA Members | $125 Non-OPA Members & International Participants Awards
- General Information: Cash and/or merchandise awards will be presented in three divisions: For OPA Members only, first place winners in the plein air and studio divisions will receive automatic inclusion in the following year’s National Exhibition. Divisions Plein Air Division: This division is open to OPA Members only. (i.e. open air) Paintings are executed outdoors as opposed to using photographs or models in a studio. Both painter and subject matter must be outdoors, and photographs may not be used. Studio Division: This division is open to OPA Members only. Paintings are executed indoors. Both painter and subject matter must be indoors, and photographs may not be used. Open Division: This division is open only to non-OPA members and International artists and includes both plein air and studio paintings.
- Advanced Registration: Registration is no longer available.
- Show Rules: Wet Paint Rules can be found here: Wet Paint Rules
- Opa Membership: Not a member and want to enter the Wet Paint Member Division? Learn how to become a member
Events
- September 17, 2020
- Location: Virtual
- Phone:815-356-5987
- Cost:Free to those who registered Join us for this exciting live awards ceremony! OPA Signature member John Pototschnik announced this year's award winners in the three divisions. Please note: Registered attendees will receive a link to this event in advance.
- September 17, 2020
- 7:15 pm- 8:30 pm
- Location: Virtual
- Phone:815-356-5987
- Cost:Free to those who registered Immediate Past President of OPA Kurt Anderson will give an overview of the current scene in representational oil painting, and speaks to its significance as the most vital and burgeoning movement in contemporary art. He will show how most of the leading painters today are part of a distinct lineage, master to pupil, intent on maintaining and expanding the great traditions in painting. And he will speak to the OPA's important role as the leading showcase and advocate for this art. This presentation has been developed specifically for OPA members to take and use in their own communities and will be available upon request. A distinguished painter, Kurt has won top honors from many of the nation's leading art organizations and publications. He is the author or co-author of eight books on painting. In addition to having a BA in art, and a Master's degree in accounting, Anderson spent four years as an apprentice in a traditional atelier, making him part of a master pupil lineage that can be traced back to the eighteenth-century master Jacques Louis David.
- September 18, 2020
- 10:00 am- 11:15 am
- Location: Virtual
- Phone:815-356-5987
- Cost:Free to those who registered Artist and teacher David Dibble OPA shares his process of doing small plein air and studio studies as a means of creating gallery paintings of greater clarity and conviction. Underscoring this approach is David's focus on the elements of value, shape, color and composition as vital story-telling elements. These principles will be demonstrated in both traditional and digital media. Born in 1977, David Dibble OPA was raised on a farm in Davis County, Utah, where he was influenced by the landscape from an early age. He completed a BFA in Illustration from Brigham Young University and began landscape painting in earnest in graduate school at the Academy of Art University. Following attending the Academy, he and his wife Liz moved to New York, where he worked as a color artist for Blue Sky Studios (20th Century Fox), creating Concept Design for such films as Rio, Epic, Ice Age 4, Peanuts, and Ferdinand. David and his family now reside in Orem, Utah, where he teaches Illustration at Brigham Young University and paints often in the surrounding mountains and valleys, focusing largely on agricultural themes.
- September 18, 2020
- 11:30 am- 12:45 pm
- Location: Virtual
- Phone:815-356-5987
- Cost:Free to those who registered John DiGiacomo, Esq. has extensive experience in internet law, intellectual property, corporate law, and international law. He has litigated matters in these areas in state and federal courts across the United States, including in front of courts of appeals and international arbitration bodies, such as the World Intellectual Property Organization, National Arbitration Forum, and the South African Institute of Intellectual Property Law. He has also served as an adjunct professor of both trademark and Internet law for Michigan State University College of Law, teaching both in East Lansing, Michigan and in MSU's summer abroad program in Opatija, Croatia. John is highly sought after for his deep understanding of the intersection of law and technology. He has been published and interviewed concerning internet law, intellectual property law, and emerging legal issues by various media outlets, including the Economist, Intellectual Property Magazine, Canadian Public Radio, and other media outlets across the country and world. He is regularly asked to speak to conferences and corporations on his areas of expertise. In 2014, John was recognized as one of the most influential people under the age of 40 in his home of Traverse City, Michigan, and in 2015, 2016, and 2017 he was recognized as a "Rising Star" by SuperLawyers. John has been interested in technology since his first Apple IIGS, and still maintains a Linux server in his basement. He is highly involved in his community and has served as a board member on the Traverse City Downtown Development Authority and the Traverse City History Center, and as chairman of the board of pH Productions, a comedy theater in Chicago's Andersonville neighborhood. He rarely leaves work behind, but, when he does, you can find him sailing on Lake Michigan, fly fishing, or spending time with his wife Brooke and his dog Grimace. John is a dual citizen of the United States and Luxembourg.
- September 18, 2020
- 1:15 pm- 2:30 pm
- Location: Virtual
- Phone:815-356-5987
- Cost:Free to those who registered Rusty Jones graduated from the University of Texas with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biomedical Communications and the University of Texas Health Science Center in Dallas with a Master of Science Degree in Medical Illustration. He is a Certified Medical Illustrator and a Fellow of the Association of Medical Illustrators. For over four decades Rusty provided highly technical medical art for major pharmaceutical companies, medical product companies, medical journals, surgical atlases and ad agencies. Rusty's love of sports led him into sporting art which landed him illustration assignments with such notable magazines as Golf Illustrated, Golf Magazine, the Golf Journal, the Masters Journal and American Way Magazine. He also provided sports art for the Coca-Cola Foods Division for the Summer Olympics, the Dallas Cowboys NFL team and the Dallas Mavericks NBA team. Now Rusty focuses his artistic skills painting the Western American landscape. Following in the tradition of John Singer Sargent, Julian Onderdonk, Portofino Salinas, Edgar Payne and many other great American painters, Rusty travels throughout the country painting the landscapes before him. "Painting outdoors takes passion. Without passion the wind, heat, snow and bugs will drive you indoors. I enjoy my time in the studio, but it doesn't make my heart race like it does when I am outside."
- September 18, 2020
- 2:45 pm- 4:00 pm
- Location: Virtual
- Phone:815-356-5987
- Cost:Free to those who registered OPA is thrilled to have Rose Frantzen as this year's Juror of Awards. Living in Maquoketa, IA, Rose Frantzen is establishing a history as a working artist, creating figurative, serial, allegorical, and installation works in oil and multimedia, with numerous solo shows and participation in group exhibitions. "Portrait of Maquoketa," a collection of 180 portraits, painted of her townspeople, was exhibited at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery and is now an installation in the Figge Art Museum's permanent collection, which includes a 315 square foot anamorphic landscape, voice, and music. She is also in other notable collections such as the World Food Prize, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Dubuque Museum of Art, Iowa State University, and University of Iowa. She has shown at Butler Institute of American Art, Brunnier Museum, Denver Historical Museum, Iowa State Historical Museum, and as a three-time award winner in the Portrait Society of America's International Portrait Competition. Frantzen is a frequent demonstrator, workshop instructor, guest lecturer, and panelist, discussing art and the artist's life in the 21st century at museums and national art conventions. Her paintings have been featured in national and international art magazines, podcasts, and journals. Her latest project, "In the Face of Illusion," is a 4'x70' wall of contiguous portraits and figures in dialogue with optical illusions. Frantzen is represented by Old City Hall Gallery in Maquoketa, where she shows with her husband, Charles Morris.
- September 19, 2020
- 10:00 am- 11:15 am
- Location: Virtual
- Phone:815-356-5987
- Cost:Free to those who registered Kelli Folsom OPA is an academically trained artist working exclusively from life in oils. She creates museum quality paintings combining an old master feel with rich color and painterly brushstrokes. When collecting her work, you will be bringing a layer of refined beauty of the highest quality into your collection that uplifts the soul. Kelli is an award-winning artist who at a young age is already exhibiting in museum shows and garnering attention and inclusion in some of the highest organizations in contemporary representational art like Oil Painters of America, American Women Artists, American Impressionists Society and Women Artists of the West. She received a B.F.A. from Lyme Academy of Fine Arts in Old Lyme, CT, the first impressionist colony in the U.S. established in 1899. It is here that she studied traditional life drawing, painting and sculpture with great emphasis on in depth study and classical techniques and the joy of working in a direct impressionist style in nature. Every still life arrangement is set up in her north light studio and painted directly from life in a matter of one or two sittings. She paints directly so that her relationship to the subject is heightened in the moment in order to pass on that perception and experience to the viewer resulting in a painting that looks like a painting and not a photograph. Kelli chooses objects and arrangements to create the most aesthetically beautiful design and a feeling of abundance and intimacy. These arrangements are influenced by centuries of traditional painting from the Dutch Masters of the 1600s to French Academics of the 1900s.
- September 19, 2020
- 11:30 am- 12:30 pm
- Location: Virtual
- Phone:815-356-5987
- Cost:Free to those who registered Sooner or later we all hit the artist's wall. No matter what we do, we can't seem to increase our art sales beyond a certain point. We end up caught in a never-ending tug of war between producing our art and marketing our art that ultimately limits our ability to sell our art. Modern, commonly held beliefs about how to market art online have only made this problem worse. These approaches demand that artists spend a ridiculous amount of time marketing themselves on social networks, search engines, and more. What's worse, these approaches often don't work, leaving artists frustrated and disillusioned. But what if there were a better way to market art online? One that required less time to accomplish and delivered more results? One that finally allowed artists to break through the artist's wall and increase both production and sales? Join Dave Geada, CMO of BoldBrush and FASO, as he shares a proven approach to breaking through the artist's wall. Learn how to market in less time, while increasing art production and art sales.
- September 19, 2020
- 1:00 pm- 2:15 pm
- Location: Virtual
- Phone:815-356-5987
- Cost:Free to those who registered Susan Hotard OPA is an experienced and award-winning artist who lived in New Orleans over 31 years and now lives in the Houston suburb of The Woodlands, Texas. She is a proud Signature member of OPA, AIS, and NOAPS, and an elected member of the Audubon Artists Inc. NYC. Susan had a cover story in American Artist magazine (July/August 2005) and earned the highest honor at The New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts and most recently won the Top Fifty Award in the Portrait Society of America's International Competition 2019. Since 2003, Susan has taught portrait, figure, and still life workshops in Texas and Louisiana. She enjoys the vibrancy of both the New Orleans and Houston art communities. She received a BFA in Interior Design from Louisiana Tech University and studied at The New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts and the Arts Student League in New York City.
- September 19, 2020
- 2:30 pm- 3:30 pm
- Location: Virtual
- Phone:815-356-5987
- Cost:Free to those who registered There's a lot to be learned by listening to different perspectives and this session will bring together some of our most well–respected artists to contribute their viewpoints and knowledge on a handful of paintings – a terrific way to learn and be inspired!
