SIDNEY — Michelle Walker of Wapakoneta won the Best of Show Award at the Spring Arts Event 2017 held at the Gateway Arts Council for her drawing, Married to June for 59 Years. Gateway Arts Council announced the awards during the exhibit’s opening reception on May 5, 2017.
Top honors among the categories were:
Watermedia: First place, Kathy Moeller, Refracted Reflections; second place, Kathy Moeller, Pinklicious; third place, Kathy Moeller, Backdoors on Main Street.
3D: First place – Michelle Geissbuhler, Olympic Steed; second place, Anna Talei Fisher, Scattered; third place, Jennifer Thompson, The Great Horned Owl.
Miscellaneous Art: First place, Mike Behr, Copper Casted Flowers; second place, Jan Lendino, Just Relaxin; third place, Joann Davenport, Masquerade II.
Drawing: First place, Michelle Walker, Married to Henry for 59 Years; second place, Caroline Armstrong, 45 Ford; third place, Isaac Smith, Stasis.
Oils and Acrylics: First place, Steve Wohler, Knight’s Last Customer; second place, Michelle Walker, Alla Prima; third place, Maureen O’Keefe, OMG, We’re Soul Mates.
Photography: First place, Jeff Doseck, Auglaize Street; second place, Cathy Huber, Take One and Go; third place, Patrick Elsass, Riders in the Sky.
Literary Arts: First place, Calen Fledderjohann, Dark Walls; second place, Jerry Knoch, Stand of the Sentinel; third place, Lisa Barrett, Dear Mr. Smith.
This year’s exhibit included 168 works of art. The exhibit, which is free and open to the public from May 5 through June 13, helps to make the arts available to as many people in Shelby County as possible. The hours for the exhibit are Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Weekends and evenings are by appointment.
The sponsors for the event were Tom and Polly Watkins, Creative Marketing Strategies, Behr Design, Huffer Chiropractic, Sidney Electric, The Spot Restaurant, Allison’s Custom Jewelry, Thomas, Martha and Carol Milligan in memory of Mary Beth Milligan, and Tom and Darlene Woolley in memory of William and Doris Allenbaugh.
“We would like to take this opportunity to share our deepest gratitude to our sponsors. Their support has helped us bring this superb exhibit to Shelby County for almost 15 years,” said Gateway Arts Council’s Executive Director Ellen Keyes.
The “creative awareness” brought by the arts can be vital to the quality of life in people and in the community. It helps to encourage communication, teamwork, expression, sense of community, and creativity and imagination. The arts are a reflection of life, and therefore make for common ground, spanning every kind of gap between people. They are a universal language among people, and give us a better understanding of our world.