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You can ‘Own an Original’
  
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By Sonya Ellingboe
“It’s really the craft of the art I look at,” said Lewis Sharp as he led a gallery walk Oct. 22 and discussed his process as juror for the 44th Annual Own an Original Arts Exhibition, which will continue through Jan. 3 at the Littleton Museum.
“It’s always very subjective. I want to see a competence in handling the medium, in composition...”
He first looked at the 232 entries from 82 artists in Power Point format and selected which would be exhibited. While it’s a convenient way to sort, a juror doesn’t get a good idea of the size and strength of each work. A limitation was the size of the gallery at the Littleton Museum and 70 works of art were chosen for this regional show. He made sure three-dimensional works were included, explaining that his early expertise was in 19th century American sculpture.
Sharp, director of the Denver Art Museum, commented that while he chose Lisa Calzavara’s large oil, ”Country Meal,” for inclusion via Power Point, he was much more impressed when he saw it actually on the wall, noting it’s impressive scale.
“Black is difficult,” he commented about the large, horizontal canvas in blacks, whites, tans. “ This artist was able to hold the composition together. It’s bold, striking, by a painter who has full command of her medium.”
After he made his choice of “Country Meal” as Best of Show, he said he learned that Calzavara had also won this award in 2008, which proved to him that arts professionals will agree on good work. Calzavera, who works full time on her painting, won an invitation to present a one-person show next year and a check for $1,000.
Three additional awards were given.
While Sharp was debating about a first-place winner, he narrowed down to two, both located in the center gallery, and both it turned out, painted by Jeff Velarde. He finally chose “Haitian Dream“ over “Beneath the Neon,” but spoke of the painterly skill involved with both. Velarde’s strong, photorealistic oil has a “wonderful sense of composition, complexity and technical ability.” It was a bold decision to place a group of glass soda bottles center front, with figures behind them.
Spontaneity was a quality Sharp admired in his second-place selection: “Hidden Image,” a watercolor by Chuck Danford. The juror noted the use of white paper, clear color and again technical command of what he described as “one of the most difficult mediums.”
Visitors should spend time looking for an image in the landscape with waterfall.
“Delightful, playful... I could live with that every day,” he said of Jutta’s ceramic and iron sculpture called “Whimsy,” which seems to toss brightly glazed ceramic globes in the air.
The Own an Original Exhibit was conceived soon after Littleton’s volunteer Fine Arts Committee was formed in the 1960s. Recognizing the pool of talent available nearby (which has grown and grown), early committee members developed a way for area artists to display their work, with the hope that some viewers might become buyers of local original art over the years.
Sharp complimented the committee on “creating a beautiful show, celebrating art in Littleton.”
He has been a Littleton resident for the past seven years and visited the local museum frequently. He has overseen the DAM extension into the beautiful and complicated Hamilton Building, designed by architect Daniel Libeskind, and the exhibition and installation of new galleries. Prior to arriving in Denver, he was administrator of the American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. He has announced his retirement at the end of December.
If you go
The 44th Annual Own an Original Arts Exhibition will continue through Jan. 3 at the Littleton Museum, 6028 S. Gallup St., Littleton. Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays; 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays. (Closed Mondays and major holidays). 303-795-3950.
“It’s always very subjective. I want to see a competence in handling the medium, in composition...”
He first looked at the 232 entries from 82 artists in Power Point format and selected which would be exhibited. While it’s a convenient way to sort, a juror doesn’t get a good idea of the size and strength of each work. A limitation was the size of the gallery at the Littleton Museum and 70 works of art were chosen for this regional show. He made sure three-dimensional works were included, explaining that his early expertise was in 19th century American sculpture.
Sharp, director of the Denver Art Museum, commented that while he chose Lisa Calzavara’s large oil, ”Country Meal,” for inclusion via Power Point, he was much more impressed when he saw it actually on the wall, noting it’s impressive scale.
“Black is difficult,” he commented about the large, horizontal canvas in blacks, whites, tans. “ This artist was able to hold the composition together. It’s bold, striking, by a painter who has full command of her medium.”
After he made his choice of “Country Meal” as Best of Show, he said he learned that Calzavara had also won this award in 2008, which proved to him that arts professionals will agree on good work. Calzavera, who works full time on her painting, won an invitation to present a one-person show next year and a check for $1,000.
Three additional awards were given.
While Sharp was debating about a first-place winner, he narrowed down to two, both located in the center gallery, and both it turned out, painted by Jeff Velarde. He finally chose “Haitian Dream“ over “Beneath the Neon,” but spoke of the painterly skill involved with both. Velarde’s strong, photorealistic oil has a “wonderful sense of composition, complexity and technical ability.” It was a bold decision to place a group of glass soda bottles center front, with figures behind them.
Spontaneity was a quality Sharp admired in his second-place selection: “Hidden Image,” a watercolor by Chuck Danford. The juror noted the use of white paper, clear color and again technical command of what he described as “one of the most difficult mediums.”
Visitors should spend time looking for an image in the landscape with waterfall.
“Delightful, playful... I could live with that every day,” he said of Jutta’s ceramic and iron sculpture called “Whimsy,” which seems to toss brightly glazed ceramic globes in the air.
The Own an Original Exhibit was conceived soon after Littleton’s volunteer Fine Arts Committee was formed in the 1960s. Recognizing the pool of talent available nearby (which has grown and grown), early committee members developed a way for area artists to display their work, with the hope that some viewers might become buyers of local original art over the years.
Sharp complimented the committee on “creating a beautiful show, celebrating art in Littleton.”
He has been a Littleton resident for the past seven years and visited the local museum frequently. He has overseen the DAM extension into the beautiful and complicated Hamilton Building, designed by architect Daniel Libeskind, and the exhibition and installation of new galleries. Prior to arriving in Denver, he was administrator of the American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. He has announced his retirement at the end of December.
If you go
The 44th Annual Own an Original Arts Exhibition will continue through Jan. 3 at the Littleton Museum, 6028 S. Gallup St., Littleton. Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays; 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays. (Closed Mondays and major holidays). 303-795-3950.
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