Valerie Estvan "Whenever I am asked to serve as a juror for an art competition I am honored. It allows me to reach back into my history of art experience and resonate with the artwork I am presented to judge. I come from traditional art school training so my emphasis in judgment is on the basics and specifically on the quality of the creation. From the structure Art Center School of Design gave me, to the expanded ways of expression my studio arts degree in painting from the University of Nevada, Reno gave me, I feel confident in my decision making process. Having been juried in and out of countless art competitions, oftentimes I have wondered, "Just what is the criteria they are basing this judgment on?"
Scott Kirkman, founder of the “Figure Drawing League” is a versatile artist who strives to create fine art so filled with beauty, it stirs the soul of the viewer. "If someone looking at my art can't help but whisper 'Wow', then I've done my job."
Scott works in a multitude of mediums including graphite, charcoal, colored pencils, watercolor, pastels, or oils, with his subject matter ranging from sea and landscapes, to technical drawings, intimate portraits and nudes, calligraphy, and abstracts.
A self-taught artist, Scott's work, Serene, earned Honorable Mention in the worldwide 2004 Domai art competition. As a child, Scott first began rendering portraits of his dogs and family. At age 13, he became a cartoonist for the school newspaper. By 16, he designed a variety of advertising copy recruiting pamphlets for his Civil Air Patrol wing impressing his commanders with his commercial sophistication. Receiving his first formal art training as a university student in the late 1970’s, Scott earned two masters degrees in the 1980s.
Artists Scott admires most are Michelangelo Buonarroti, Peter Paul Rubens, Gianlorenzo Bernini, Antonio Canova, Adolphe-William Bouguereau, John William Waterhouse, Lawrence Alma-Tadema, N.C. Wyeth, and George B. Bridgman.
Richard Scott was born in Stone Mountain, GA. The son of a distracted construction worker and a devoted mother, his unexpected artistic nature emerged early when he began painting at the age of six. His very first painting Circle, Square, and Triangle in Primary Colors won him the first of many awards in art. He painted without formal training until he attended the University of Georgia, where he completed his Bachelor of Fine Art degree in painting. During this time Richard met his muse and model, the writer Memoree Joéllé, and after a romantic courtship they married. They moved to New York, where Richard earned a Master of Fine Art Degree in painting at the New York Academy of Art. He further cultivated his skills by copying paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and produced reproductions for PBS and Off-Broadway theater. His work has been sold at auction at Phillips de Pury and Company, is collected internationally and has premiered in film, television, and theater. Richard currently works and teaches in New York City and is a co-founder of and contributor to Art Babel, the collaborative arts publication and forum.
Richard T. Scott - Statement
For me, the act of painting is a communion with time; a way to fully experience the moment. I hope to capture the essence of that moment to describe a whole way of life, to break the rules of time and place to create an eternal moment.
I do this by revealing its atmosphere: the light and shadow, the spirit of the subject, and my emotion. My view of the world is filtered through my memories and dreams, and my goal is to give poetic form to these dreams. I begin with abstract colors and tones in oil paint, and slowly resolve what I see into an illusion of reality.
Whether I'm painting a portrait, a still life, or a landscape, what I'm painting about is humanity. I feel that my art is a deeper way of connecting with people. I seek to find that intangible chord that binds our souls together, if only to show that we are not alone.
Denise Williams
Artist Statement Genius is not achieved alone; rather it is based upon the wisdom of the masters, for without the greats there is no understanding, only a stagnant pool of unsubstantiated ideas relayed in a meaningless message. I endeavor to achieve insight and relay that message through art as what we see before us is often but an illusion.