2020 Artist Award Winners
Three of the paintings in the freshART auction have been selected as recipients of the 2020 Patricia & William Applegarth Artists Excellence Awards.
First place goes to Ursula Brenner for her acrylic/mixed media, “Color Harmonies.” Billy Tackett's acrylic painting, “Bee!,” took second. Third-place winner is an oil painting by Stephen Jenkins titled “Pam Spoor.”
Cincinnati artist Brenner said her work is "about the balance of opposites; transparent vs, opaque; large spaces vs. small spaces; cool colors vs, warm colors . . ." A national award-winning artist, she shows her work at the Pendleton Art Center in Cincinnati and is represented by selected galleries. "My art makes a strong, bold statement, an unambiguous statement," she said. "Yet it can be very ethereal too. I want people who look at my art to be transported into another realm, to transcend the normal human experience."
The winning art was selected by a panel of experts, which included artists Mary Beth Dowlin and Tom Gaither and Ena Nearon, art curator of YMCA Greater Cincinnati. The winners will share $1000 in cash prizes from the William & Patricia Applegarth Fund.
All three of the winning pieces were up for bid, along with art by more than two dozen local artists who worked in Covington's Devou Park to create new works for the freshART auction. Another two dozen contributed items for silentART, a collection of previously completed pieces. A highlight of the auction was "Notre Dame Paris," a pastel of the iconic French cathedral by the late artist Wolfgang A. Ritschel, featuring the spire lost in last year's devastating fire.
The livestream auction was conducted by auctioneer H. David Wallace of Heritage Bank. In addition to final bidding action, the interactive event also included artist profiles and videos, trivia games, prizes, a "make-along" signature drink recipe with freshART mixologist Kelly Johnson.
A portion of the sale of both freshART and silentART creations will be donated by the artists to Behringer-Crawford’s youth education programs, benefiting area children. Since freshART began in 1992, more than a half million dollars has been raised, bringing educational and cultural activities to a quarter-million Northern Kentucky children.
Behringer-Crawford Museum is supported in part by its members, the City of Covington, Kenton County Fiscal Court, ArtsWave, Kentucky Arts Council, Northern Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame and The Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr. US Bank Foundation.
Thank you to our 2020 freshART sponsors
Bellevue Family Dentistry; Mrs. Ruth Faragher & Family; The Milburn Family Foundation; Schneller & Knochelmann Plumbing Heating & Air
City of Covington; Joshua One; Southbank Partners; Gerry & Anthony Zembrodt
Artists Awards Sponsor
Patricia & William Applegarth Artists Excellence AwardSpecial thanks to our freshART in-kind partners
The Delish Dish; Mary Beth Dowlin, freshART judge; Frame and Hang Studio Gallery; Tom Gaither, freshART judge; Kelly R. Johnson, freshART mixologist; Gary L. Johnston; Ena Nearon, freshART judge; Ruttle Design Group; Marie Redfearn Smith of NewberrySmith Design; Waltz Business Solutions; H. David Wallace, Auctioneer
