The Foster Tanner Fine Arts Gallery held the opening reception for the third annual PINNACLE National Juried Art Exhibition on Friday, Sept. 2.
Harris Wiltsher, director of the Foster Tanner Fine Arts Gallery and member of the Mary Brogan Museum’s art Exhibition Committee, invited Chucha Barbra, CEO of the Mary Brogan Museum, to be the juror of the third annual PINNACLE exhibit.
Fine Arts Professor Aja Roache was responsible for organizing all the work for the show. Roache said he first announced the competition and began receiving submissions in January.
Barbra was sent 150 art pieces as computer images with directions to choose 40 objects to be showcased in the gallery.
“To be perfectly candid, I couldn’t do 40, so there ended up being 42,” Barbra said. “I had a really hard time cutting some out.”
The exhibit features an array of art mediums. Sculptures, oil paintings, graphic art, glass and metal pieces are submitted annually from artists around the country to be considered for the competition. This year, there are first, second, third places, best in show and a few honorable mentions.
Jeff Whipple’s piece “Seizing the Day” won “best in show” at this year’s opening reception. Whipple explains his painting is about seizing moments in time. He says,
“It’s a play on carpe diem; the seize the day phrase,” Whipple said. “Just going out and seizing the moment where I can have some imagination time, which you need as an artist.”
Whipple has a studio in Rail Road Square. The studio features work he created for a library under renovation in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
Art lovers can view the exhibition Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. in the Foster Tanner Fine Arts Gallery until Sept. 30, 2011.