Area artists take top honors in watercolorists exhibition

Karlyn Holloway of Austin won first place and the Gold Award of $1,000 in the Mid-Southern Watercolorists 45th annual Juried Exhibition. She won with this painting, Sometimes It Happens.
Karlyn Holloway of Austin won first place and the Gold Award of $1,000 in the Mid-Southern Watercolorists 45th annual Juried Exhibition. She won with this painting, Sometimes It Happens.

LITTLE ROCK — Two artists in the Three Rivers Edition coverage area have won awards in the Mid-Southern Watercolorists 45th annual juried exhibition. Two other artists had their works accepted as well.

The exhibition is on display in the Samuel Strauss Sr. Gallery at the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock. There is no charge to view the show, which will continue through April 12.

Karlyn Holloway of Austin won first place and the Gold Award of $1,000 for her painting Sometimes It Happens. She also attained signature status in the arts organization; an artist has to have been accepted into five juried shows to receive signature status.

“I am so honored and excited to have won the gold award,” Holloway said following the opening reception for the show on Feb. 27. “There are such great artists in the Mid-Southern Watercolorists organization; just being in the show is wonderful.

“It was a big night, winning the award and receiving signature status. This is the first time I have had work at the Arkansas Arts Center.”

Holloway said she painted Sometimes It Happens from a photograph she took during a trip to Italy.

“This man was walking through a village, and he came and sat down on this bench, looking like this,” she said. “I looked at him and thought, ‘Oh my gosh; this is a gift.’

“I took his photo, and he looked up at me, as if to say, ‘Tourists!’ I knew I had to paint him.”

Holloway said February was an exceptional month for her, quite overwhelming, actually.

“I do these shows as a challenge to myself, and it’s hard for me to put these accomplishments out in the world. Promoting myself has never been one of my strong traits,” Holloway said.

“Since I’m putting it out there, I thought I might as well have it all out. I also was among those juried into the Arkansas Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts’ online registry, where my work will be online for two years,” she said. (The National Museum of Women in the Arts is in Washington, D.C.)

“I have also been given a special recognition award by the Light Space & Time online gallery in its All Women Art Exhibition 2015,” Holloway said. “This was an international juried show with 1,154 entries.

“Plus I have been accepted into the Texas and Neighbors regional juried show in Irving, Texas. The reception will be held April 19 at the Irving Art Center.”

Holloway said she is a “full-time” artist. She has an associate degree in fine arts from Arkansas State University at Beebe. She has also taken art classes at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.

She is a member of the Arkansas League of Artists and the Women Painters of the Southeast.

Luanne Stone of the Gepp community in Fulton County won second place and the Silver Award of $800 for her painting Too Many Stripes.

“I am thrilled and honored to have received the silver award,” Stone said. “It is an honor just to have a painting accepted in the MSW show, and all the paintings there could have been winners. I hope people will go and enjoy the wonderful art in the show.”

Stone said she has enjoyed drawing and painting since she was young, and she majored in art at the University of Illinois.

“But after college, I put it aside for a career and a family,” she said. “After I retired, I thought it would be a fun hobby, but it has become way more than a hobby to me … more of a passion.

“Painting is something I work very hard at. Watercolor is my first love, and I never seem to run out of ideas to try with it. Lately I am enjoying painting the reflections and the shadows you see in shiny objects.”

Prior to moving to Arkansas, Stone was a dental technician.

“I made porcelain crowns and bridges,” she said. “I am originally from Chicago and owned a dental lab there, but I have been here over 25 years. My husband and I had always wanted to live in the ‘country’ and just wanted a better place to raise our daughter. This area of Arkansas is a wonderful place to live.”

Stone also does “a little taxidermy here and there, mostly for friends and neighbors.”

“We didn’t have anyone around here doing it, and a lot of people wanted things mounted, so I went to school and learned how. It can be fun.”

Other local artists from the Three Rivers Edition coverage area with works in the Mid-Southern Watercolorists exhibition include B. Jeannie Fry of Cabot with her painting What a Cluck! and Margaret Harrell of Mountain View with her painting A Win and a Loss.

This is the first year in a three-year partnership between the Mid-Southern Watercolorists and the Arkansas Arts Center.

“We are thrilled to have the exhibition return to the Arts Center,” said Fry, president of the Mid-Southern Watercolorists. “This juried exhibition and its prestigious location help fulfill the MSW’s mission of enriching the stature and encouraging the recognition of water media.” Fry said the exhibition received 149 entries by 81 artists. Guest juror Linda Baker of Charleston, South Carolina, narrowed the entries down to the 30 works selected for the exhibition. Baker is a signature member of the American Watercolor Society and the National Watercolor Society.

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 its website at arkarts.com.

For more information on the Mid-Southern Watercolorists, visit the website www.midsouthernwatercolorists.com.

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