PHOTOS: Winners announced at Lewiston Art Festival

Annual event draws thousands to Lewiston

Photos by Joshua Maloni and Wayne Peters

The Lewiston Council on the Arts has revealed the winners of the 2019 Lewiston Art Festival.

Best of Show: Faye Lone, “Constructed Indian,” fiber

Michael McMahon Memorial Award: E. Jane Stoddard, “Picconi I”

Painting:

• First place: Ron Becker, “Still Standing, acrylic
• Second place: Jillian E. Taylor, “Woodlawn with Windmills,” oil on canvas
• Third place: Nikki Milley, “The Storyteller,” watercolor and pastel
• Honorable mention: M. Deborah Hormell,* “Stormy Creek,” acrylic

Photography:

• First place: Phil Pantano, “Dark Alley”
• Second place: Michael R. Weishan, “Wormsloe Avenue of Oaks”
• Third place: Evan Fleming Pierce, “Field of Power”
• Honorable mention: Elaine Kessel, “Looking for Oz”

Graphic Arts & Drawing:

• First place: Kelsey Merkle, “Tell Me More Oil,” gold leaf, resin
• Second place: Lyn Federico, “Gift,” color pencil, chalk, marker
• Third place: Amanda Polanski, “Amelia,” color pencil
• Honorable mention: Joseph A. Necci, “Michelangelo’s Slaves,” charcoal

Sculpture:

• First place: Mark Gaiger, “Music & Vines,” music stand steel and wood
• Second place: Fred W. Janik, “Tulips,” wood
• Third place: Connie Lavelle, “Hold Dear,” porcelain
• Honorable mention: Robert Fragale, “Lobster,” metal

Mixed Media:

• First place: Suzanne Handel Mair, “Great is My Faithfulness,” paper
• Second place: Chris Therrien, Space Between “Black Swirl,” acrylic on foam core
• Third place: Heather Cook, “City of Lanterns,” mixed
• Honorable mention: Joshua Fraass, “Thousand Miles Collage,” vintage paper, acrylic on pallet panel

Artistic Craft: Jewelry

• First place: David Villone, “Earthtoner”
• Second place: Bonnie Hedden, “Vine Heart”
• Third place: Mark Van de Bogart, “Cityscape Sterling”
• Honorable mention: Susan Gillick, “Purple Rain Bead Weaving”

Artistic Craft: Other (glass, wood, fiber, ceramic, etc.):

• First place: Elyse Wall,* “Soldier’s Sequence,” porcelain
• Second place: Daniel Dorociak, “Vase,” limestone, gypsum, clay blend, sand, aggregate
• Third place: Bruce McCausland, “Turkey Feathers,” ceramic
• Honorable mention: Vicki Bellis-Brouk, “Burgundy Diamonds,” block prints on fabric

Best Booth Display: Diana Hydock, Booth 604

*College Alley Student Artist

KeyBank Chalk Walk Competition

First place: Lewiston-Porter High School Team 1 (Taylor Lannon, Bailey Hoplight and Kevin Girasole; instructor Cynthia Sanchez; looking on are emcee Bill Geiben and judge Tod Kniazuk)

Second place: Lewiston-Porter High School Team 2 (Emily Dillon, Gracie Fideli and Ryleigh Houston; instructor Cynthia Sanchez)

Third place: Niagara Falls High School Team 1 (Ariel Joyce and Hayley Rosa; instructor Rob Lynch)

Chairman’s Choice: The Harley School (Shoshana Goldstein and Violet Grills; instructor Rebecca Tracey)

Of note:

•The 53^rd Lewiston Art Festival has more than 200 artists participating.

•Faye Lone, whose “Constructed Indian” (fiber) won Best of Show, has a story posted about her artwork. She shares, “This was a rant. I had applied to be in a small art gallery and the curator looked at my artwork and said, ‘This is all kind of crafty. Do you have any modern art?’ I am in the Smithsonian, an award-winning fabric artist. I was offended. I packed my works and left.

“I went home and was swearing, a rare occasion. My daughter, Naquaqua, was alarmed, and when I told her what happened, she was also angry. We started throwing fabric around in the studio. Grabbing a piece of fake fur, flame fabric, animal batiks, we said, ‘They expect us to dance around the fire! Talk to the animals! Wear fur and leather! Make dreamcatchers!’

“So, we chopped up these elements and my daughter and I made it like a puzzle. I sewed these together roughly, angrily. ‘It is like Frankenstein, just mash up a bunch of “Indian” pieces to make a real Native American!’ Then we decided to cut out the piece to resemble the Indian Head nickel, of course. And we just had to add one of the stupid made-in-China, dreamcatchers we got in the mail and put a tag on it to clearly identify the origin.

“We finished it in two days. Took it back, got in that small exhibit. Then submitted it to the Museum of Modern Art, MoMA. It was on exhibit for over two years, and this story is printed in the book printed for that exhibit.

“Well, yes, I can do modern art, thank you.

•This year’s Chalk Walk theme was “Peace, Love and Chalk,” in honor of the 50th anniversary of Woodstock and the “Summer of Love.”

The Chairman’s Choice award-winning The Harley School is in Rochester. Students Shoshana Goldstein and Violet Grills are both in eighth grade.

Veterans of Foreign Wars Downriver Post 7487 was on site to collect money for the new “Circle of Honor” veterans monument under construction at Academy Park.

Michael Beam of Vagabond Bowties.

The Lewiston Kiwanis Club and members of the Peach Queen court sold peach ice cream while promoting the upcoming Niagara County Peach Festival.

The Lewiston-Niagara on the Lake Rotary Club was grilling up summer favorites.

Lewiston-Porter High School Team 1's first-place mural.

Chalk Walk team photos by Wayne Peters