Two artists from the Tri-Lakes Edition coverage area have won awards in the Mid-Southern Watercolorists’ 45th annual juried exhibition currently on display in the Samuel Strauss Sr. Gallery of the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock.
Richard Stephens of Hot Springs won the MSW Bronze Award and $675 for his painting Majestic Side Door.
Marlene Gremillion of Hot Springs Village won the Arkansas Artist’s Materials Award, valued this year at $442 and donated by Art Outfitters of Little Rock; Cheap Joe’s Art Stuff of Boone, North Carolina; Golden Artists Colors of New Berlin, New York; and International Artist magazine. She received the award, which is an honorable-mention award to an Arkansas artist, for her painting The Dominant One.
“I am honored to be selected for an award,” said Stephens, who was unable to attend the opening reception and awards ceremony on Feb. 27.
“The Mid-Southern Watercolorists’ annual juried show has become one of the top watercolor shows, certainly in the South, if not the country,” he said. “The fact that [my work] was a painting of the Majestic Hotel, lost to fire about a year ago, made it more poignant to me personally.”
In an artist’s statement about his painting, Stephens said, “I painted this sitting in the back of my old Jeep SUV, seeking some shelter from a steady rain on a very cold and windy day in Hot Springs. I was participating in a plein air event, and this was my first painting on the first day. Raindrops actually helped create some of the foreground texture.
“My subject was a section of the famous Majestic Hotel, one of the Grand Old Ladies of the South. The hotel had sat empty for several years and was in a state of decay inside and out. I think this watercolor captures a suggestion of that decay. Unfortunately, a few months after I did this painting, the Majestic was lost to a tragic fire. I’m so glad I recorded this moment.”
Stephens said he has other paintings of the Majestic Hotel on display at the Fine Arts Center of Hot Springs.
Stephens graduated from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway in 1969 with a degree in art. He served as an illustrator in the Army and began his commercial art career in 1971. He is now retired from his commercial art business, and his main focus is his artwork and his workshops.
He is a signature member of the Mid-Southern Watercolorists, earning that status in the first five years. An artist must be accepted into five juried exhibitions before he or she is awarded the signature status. He won the MSW Silver Award in 2014.
Gremillion said she was “most excited to win the award since the painting touched my heart and has such memories in it.”
“The award, honorable mention to an Arkansas artist, was quite a generous award for materials,” she said. “I appreciate all their donations because I definitely like materials so I can continue to create.”
Gremillion said her winning painting “started as just an exciting grouping of flowers to paint as a demonstration for a workshop.”
“Then it sat in my studio for completion,” she said, noting that she had taken the photo of the Shasta daisy on a trip to Michigan. “When a student friend called wanting to paint because she just was not motivated, we painted flowers and had a lovely visit. It was so wonderful seeing her leave happy, although neither of us totally finished our pieces.
“The next day she called me to say her son just loved her piece, saying, ‘It is your best ever, Mom,’ but she also let me know later that evening that her son left and committed suicide,” Gremillion said. “So heartbreaking for this elderly lady.
“Due to these memories, I was unable to complete the flower painting for almost a year,” Gremillion said. “When I finally returned to painting, it had so much more meaning and thought put into each stroke. I really should have titled it something different, like maybe the ‘Strong Lady.’”
Gremillion is a graduate of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and is a registered nurse. She is now retired and devotes most of her time to painting and teaching workshops.
She is a signature member of the Mid-Southern Watercolorists and the Louisiana Watercolor Society and a member of the Arkansas Pastel Society, Brush Strokes in Hot Springs Village and the Ouachita River Art Guild in West Monroe, Louisiana.
Works by four other artists in the Tri-Lakes Edition coverage area are included in the Mid-Southern Watercolorists’ exhibit, which will remain on display through April 12.
They include the following:
• Freda Angeletti of Benton with her painting My Sister’s Jars;
• Annette Garner of Benton with her painting Ashlyn;
• Margaret Hoffman of Hot Springs Village with her painting I Love Sunflowers; and
• Lawrence McElroy of Alexander with his painting Waiting for Meursault.
There is no admission charge to view the Mid-Southern Watercolorists’ exhibit, which features 30 watercolors from Arkansas, Texas, Colorado and Florida.
The Arkansas Arts Center is at 509 E. Ninth St. in Little Rock. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and 1-5 p.m. Sunday. The museum is closed on Mondays.
For more information on the exhibit, call the Arkansas Arts Center at (501) 372-4000 or visit arkarts.com.
More information on the Mid-Southern Watercolorists is available at www.midsouthernwatercolorists.com.