Local Artists Earn Awards in 'Confluence' Exhibition

Peter Frank, a Los Angeles-based art critic, handed cash awards to local artists at a public reception for “Confluence” on May 16 in the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art. Xarene Eskandar, whose single-channel video, “Salton Sea Revisited,” won Best in Show.

“People have been enjoying the wide variety of works, including prints, drawings, paintings, conceptual, sculpture and new media,” says Judy L. Larson, director of the museum. “Many thought it was great that a new media

piece won the top prize.”

The annual juried art exhibition, which features works created by Tri-County artists, is on display through June 22. All works in the exhibition will be for sale with proceeds benefiting the artists and museum.

Frank, who juried the show, told the crowd of more than 350 people that he was pleased to have encountered many wonderful artists who were new to him and encouraged additional local artists to submit works next year. The show features the works of 43 local artists from more than 350 submissions.

Westmont senior Casey Underwood’s “Sought VI,” a photo emulsion , chine colle on paper earned Honorable Mention as did Peter Zaleski’s “Stepladder 2,” a mixed media on panel. The Westmont Art Council also honored Jim McAninch’s “Heaven and Earthmover: Cast of Last Polystyrene McDonalds Container, Luis Velazquez’s “Seedpod,” a piece of wood, chicken wire, ceramic plates, synthetic fur, moss and seaweed, and  Dorothy Churchill-Johnson’s oil on canvas, “Suits: David No. 1.”

Larson says local artists can start planning ahead for what to submit to next year’s juried show, which will be “Made You Look!”