Dalton Art Guild announces award winners

PITTSFIELD – Jo-Anne Irwin, a Lenox folk artist, won “best of show” at the annual membership show of the Dalton Art Guild.

[/media-credit] Jo-Anne Irwin, of Lenox, stands near her painting which won “Best of Show.”

Her intricate and picturesque Early American primitive style paintings depict scenes from a simpler time and are filled with hundreds of minute details.

The show, hosted annually by Stephen Miller of Miller Supply Company, 205 West St.,  ends Saturday.

Mrs. Irwin’s paintings had been displayed for 18 years at the former Lenox Gallery of Fine Art, which closed last December.

[/media-credit] Jo-Anne Irwin’s paintings are detailed and painstakingly done.

Marcia Anderson and Leo Mazzeo judged paintings in four categories: mixed media, oils and acrylics, pastels and watercolor.

Mary Ryer won first place in the mixed media category and Sharon Carlo, second place.

[/media-credit] This little girl in a puddle is depicted in one of Sharon Carlo’s paintings.

In the oils and acrylics, first-place winner was Marsha Karlson; second, Sharyl Noroian and third, Violet Wilcox.

Michelle Sylvester won first place in pastels; Pat Most, second; and Dorothy Danyln, third place.

In the watercolor category, first place went to Teresa Vidmosko; second, Elizabeth Lusignan; and third, Victoria Johnson.

The show’s honorable mention designation went to Beatrice Benavides.

The “best of show” artist, Mrs. Irwin, is a newcomer to the Dalton Art Guild. She is re-entering the art world after three difficult years. She lost her husband and two other family members, her mother had to go into a nursing home and she broke her foot, she said.

[/media-credit] Shown here, within one of Mrs. Irwin’s paintings, is a horse, mane flying in the wind, pulling a flower wagon.

Joining the guild and participating in the membership show helped her go back to her love of folk art.

Mrs. Irwin has lived in Lenox since she was two years old. She started out doing folk art on wood, but people responded more to paintings like those she entered in the show, she said. 

[/media-credit] All of Jo-Anne Irwin’s paintings have dozens of little scenes which make seeing her paintings a real joy.

She’s done commissions for people from photos and explanations of children, pets and other personal life details. 

A self-taught artist, Mrs. Irwin’s paintings are vibrantly colorful and reminiscent of rural village life.

An observer can look into one of her paintings for a long time and still have plenty to see.  There are dozens of little scenes to observe such as a horse pulling a flower wagon, his mane flying back in the wind as he gallops along. 

There’s a silver-haired couple in lawn chairs with a kitty nearby, pumpkins and a cat on a stone wall, and a little boy presenting a bouquet of flowers to a woman in front of a blue shuttered house, the flower boxes of which overflow with more colorful blooms.

Mrs. Irwin said her parents, grandmother, aunts, uncles and neighbors used to reminisce about their early lives. Descriptions of those very stories often show up in her delightful and detailed paintings.

[/media-credit] All in a summer’s day…

A skilled artist, Mrs. Irwin has done commissions for tourists who wanted her to capture slices of New England life in paintings so they could remember their visits to this area.

Mrs. Irwin said three artists who have inspired her include Grandma Moses (1860-1961), renowned American folk artist; Rufus Porter (1792-1884), America’s foremost early wall muralist; and Grant Wood (1891-1942), an American regionalist painter.

[/media-credit] A small boy presents a bouquet of flowers in this cheerful scene, within one of Mrs. Irwin’s paintings.

Members of the Dalton Art Guild include beginning as well as professional artists who come from throughout Berkshire County. They meet monthly and give each other feedback on paintings.

Committee members who planned the annual art show include Rosemary Daly, Dorothy Danylin, Pat Most, Dorothy Needham, Eileen Riello, Mary Ryder, Sandy Turner, Teresa Vidmosko and Violet Wilcox.

Posted by Susan M. Wicker Guerrero on June 27, 2013. Filed under Arts and Entertainment,Community News,News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry