Interest was high in the 34th annual James Weir People’s Choice competition with a record number of ballots cast, a large crowd heard at the unveiling of the contest winners on Thursday evening at the Allie Griffin Art Gallery.
There were a total of 37 works of art available to be voted on from the beginning of January until voting closed on Feb. 16, with 1,280 ballots cast, which is the most ever, said Regan Lanning, curator of the Weyburn Arts Council and contest organizer, who noted there were 743 ballots cast last year.
“This exhibition of talent and inspiration brings the art community together like no other show, and every year I’m amazed at the talent we have in this area,” said Lanning, who noted that of the artists who took part, 14 were first-time entrants to the James Weir competition.
Lanning took a total of 854 students from Weyburn area schools through the exhibition, talking with them about the themes shown and the wide variety of mediums used in the art works.
“I have such a great respect for all the artists who are showing here, to have such a wonderful talent,” said Mayor Marcel Roy in bringing greetings from city council, adding that he believes “art is part of what defines the culture of a community.”
The top winners in the People’s Choice voting was Jaren Bell in first, for her metal work of a sunset in a guitar shape; Logan Patrick was second for his oil painting of the Beatles, and Lauren Daae was third for her digital painting, Deer in the Mist.
Honourable mentions went to Christopher Borshowa, Heather van der Breggen, Elisa Fawcett, Kayla Zaharia and Carley Istace
First-place winner Bell said she had the idea of the guitar shape to frame a sunset, and ended up including an ocean view with the scene with the range of warm colours in her metal work.
Mayor Roy bought the work, using his own funds, and said he will display it in his office at City Hall.
Patrick is a musician and is a big fan of the Beatles, so the subject for his painting suggested itself from the album cover for “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” with its bright colours.
Both he and third-place winner Daae were first-time entrants to the People’s Choice competition, and Patrick had always been interested in art, but only began to get serious with it after he graduated from high school.
For Daae, she got her start in traditional painting, but had put art away as she is a mom to small children. She regained her interest in art when she discovered a tablet that could be used to do paintings digitally.
She used photo reference for the image of the deer, and created the painting on her computer using her tablet.
“I didn’t know these tablets existed, and they’ve really come down in price, so I dove back into creating art,” said Daae, who has other examples of the painting she’s done on her website, littledoe.ca.
