The Overall Winning Artists Category consists of the 10 Best Entries received from the 2 media categories of the Painting & Other Category and the Photography & Digital Category.
The winning artists will now be featured on the Light Space & Time website for the month of November 2016 and thereafter, the artworks and links to the artist’s websites will remain online in the Light Space & Time Archives.
Congratulations to our artists who made our 6th Annual “SeaScapes” Art Exhibition so successful this month. At any time, we invite our winners and other interested visitors to link their websites to the Gallery’s Archive section for further ongoing promotion.
The Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery will have digital “SeaScapes” Award Certificates, Event Postcard, and Press Releases sent to the winning artists within the next week or so. Thank you to all of the artists who participated and for being a part of the gallery. To return to the SeaScapes Home Page here.
1st Place – Mo Wassell – “Port A #2”
Mo Wassell believes that being an artist is not something she “does”… it’s part of who she is. Her journey has souvenirs from pastels, pencil drawing, watercolors, jewelry, assemblage, and therapeutic visual journaling.
The technical answer to the question “what do you do?” would be mixed media. But in fact she is a visual storyteller. Each canvas or assemblage has some element to it that speaks to her and has a story that is meant to be shared. Sometimes it might be just one word… sometimes it’s a memory, or a visual expression of a meaningful emotion. She loves using unusual elements – old book covers become “canvas”, worn papers have incredible beauty; she gravitates to the flotsam and jetsam that some consider destined for the trash.
Often amazed at the journey as a piece develops, it’s not uncommon for Mo to stand back when it’s finished and say, “Wow! So THAT’s what you were trying to say!” She claims to work best when she just allows that voice, wherever it comes from, to speak in its own time and its own way.
“What I know is this… I have to create; there is no longer a choice, it’s only a matter of when and for how long each time. I was once told that as artists ‘we are changing the world’. At first I thought that was a terribly grandiose sentiment to claim. But I’ve come to believe the truth of it. If only for a moment my art can remind someone of a special time when they laughed … or loved… or were loved… or just enjoyed being, then I’ve been part of something wonderful and powerful.”
She has had her art exhibited in various shows, and has been published in Incite 3, Incite 4, and various publications. She is a member of Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition, National Collage Society, and Arts Alliance of Perkins.
When not creating (and even while she is!) Mo is a wife, mother, dreamer, travel camper, cancer survivor, and cuddlier of 5 fur-babies (3 dogs and 2 cats). “My art adds meaning to my life… and I hope it does that for others as well.” www.mowassellart.weebly.com
2nd Place – Peter Alessandria – “Belmar Moon”
Peter was born and raised in New York City and Long Island. After attending law school, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career as an entertainment attorney. Today he is an award-winning, fine art, portrait and commercial photographer based in the New York City area.
Peter spent the first part of his work life as an entertainment and intellectual property attorney in Los Angeles. Working in the film and television industries sparked his own interest in creativity and in the early 2000’s he began experimenting with digital video and became an amateur filmmaker. But it wasn’t until he picked up a digital SLR still camera for the first time in 2004 that his full creative passion for image-making came into being.
Like many people, things changed dramatically for Peter in 2008. That year, as a result of the Global Financial Crisis, he lost his law practice. In the days and weeks that followed he struggled with the question of what to do with the rest of his life. It was only after much deliberation that he decided to follow his passion for photography, and in late 2009, he began pursuing photography full-time.
As a fine art photographer, Peter has created numerous collections of landscape, seascape, cityscape and still life images. His work has been featured in dozens of solo and group photography and art exhibitions. His photos have garnered popular and critical acclaim: he has won thirty five (35) awards in the past few years and his work has been the subject of newspaper, radio, Internet and television interviews. His fine art photos have been published both nationally and internationally.
Peter finds inspiration mostly in the work of other photographers – and not necessarily the famous ones. Rather, it is his peers, many of whom he connects with on social media, that inspire Peter to go out and try new things or shoot in new locations. This connecting with others has helped fuel his creativity greatly over the last several years.
As a both a photographer and filmmaker Peter’s intent is simple: create compelling images that appeal to his own sense of beauty and aesthetics. His goal is to use his art – and his life – to inspire others. He shares his photos in the hopes of touching people’s hearts and minds in positive and uplifting ways. www.peteralessandriaphotography.com
3rd Place – Jane Baldridge-Fisher – “The Wave”
Jane grew up sailing on the coast of Texas. She studied art at High School for Performing and Visual Arts (Houston, TX), California Institute of Art (Valencia, CA) and the Alfred G. Glassel Museum School (Houston, TX). Her artwork has been exhibited in numerous solo and juried exhibitions. She has exhibited art in Times Square, The Musée du Louvre, Lincoln Center and elsewhere around the globe. She has won competitions at both local and international levels. She has been published and also has a print of “We the People,” her 911 tribute, in the Library of Congress. Individuals, institutions and corporations have collected her work.
All About Art, Bald Head Island, NC and River to Sea Gallery, Wilmington, NC, currently represent Jane. She is hoping to expand her representation now that she has moved to Florida.
Often Jane’s work tells a story, sometimes historical but also recent experiences can trigger the need for expression. She has created social commentary works and autobiographical work. Jane has worked in traditional media both drawing and painting her whole career. She also broke new ground in the early 1990s in the digital art world and received accolades from the Museum of Computer Art, NYC and many other competitions and venues internationally. She currently incorporates all her creative experiences into mixed media works. One of her favorite professors, Arthur Turner, encouraged working in more than one medium on multiple pieces at a time, to prevent artist block. Jane still paints in watercolor as well as experimenting with just about anything.
She has a deep respect for the ocean, tides, currents and wind. Sometimes you may not know if she is offering those up in her images as literal or metaphorical forces. When asked why there is so much blue in her works she explained, “when you are offshore out of sight of land, you spends days if not weeks looking at blue sky and blue water. I am not sure why it is not everyone’s favorite color.”
Jane has spent her whole life at sea level and is currently living on a boat in Fort Lauderdale, FL with her husband and their dog. She spends her time doing design work, moving boats, racing sailboats and painting in her studio. www.comspeaks.com
4th Place – Eliza McNally – “Zig Zag Beach Shadows”
Shooting 35mm photographs with a borrowed Nikon F analog camera, during a trip to France at age 17, photography became a thrill for Eliza that surpassed, by far, previous forms of two dimensional experimentation.
Battling learning disabilities, and graduating from Fordham University in 1986 with a degree in Humanities, Studio art and Photography, Eliza went on to study drawing periodically at the Art Students League in New York City. The process of making art was key to the recognition, interpretation and expression of form and content in the physical world. Getting a camera in hand once again was a joyful way to connect with the world around her. Feeling liberated from the boundaries of making traditional art, the capturing of light, form, mood, texture and emotion through the camera lens became the means to finding a deep and lasting passion. The darkroom was always a magical place where subjects that came to light in the developing tray brought focused attention to these worldly elements, anticipating a bond with viewers through the sharing of black and white images.
The immediacy and versatility of digital photography has introduced a new dimension to Eliza’s work. A limitless platform of possibility has opened up through the spontaneity of digital technology. With the addition of color to her work she shares her visual truths by using the camera as an editing tool as well as a vessel for representation. Her slow and thoughtful observation combined with the speed of digital editing presents a rich opportunity for story-telling, unlike the guesswork involved with the film medium. Her goal is to reveal the richness of everyday life; to point out the beauty found in the simplest of objects and settings, and the importance of the common individual.
Always pushing to gain further discovery and new experiences in the digital universe, Eliza has embarked upon a rich and satisfying journey in the world of fine art. Amid the clamor of twenty first century expression and celebrity culture it is her hope that her images will find their way to her audience in a quiet, lasting and meaningful manner. www.esmdigitalart.com
5th Place – Murray Ince – “Newtown, February”
I was born in Newport in 1957, on the whole I enjoyed school and of course my favourite subject was always art. I became a furniture maker and gradually moved into designing and manufacturing so I was always drawing and painting furniture designs. I took up painting seriously, though not full time in the early 1990’s, in 1996 I decided to do an A level Art and Design at the local college to get a taste of structured art learning and in 1997 did a teaching qualification.
I love to teach people to draw and paint and have tutored classes at the Isle of Wight College. I take students for private tuition in my home studio, demonstrate for art groups and have run painting experiences for Warner Leisure and currently tutor The 5 Bells Art Group that meets in Brighstone on a Tuesday afternoon. I am a ‘Leader’ for HF Holidays, running painting and drawing holidays all over Britain as well as other painting holidays in Britain, France, Italy and Greece.
My first love is Landscape painting and Winsor and Newton’s ‘Artisan’ oils; I have written a book titled ‘Landscape Painting In ‘Artisan’ Water-Mixable Oils’ and am a featured artist and product ambassador for Winsor and Newton. I received a Highly Commended award in the 2012 Patchings competition in ‘The Artist’ professional category for which I was delighted and in 2015 had a painting accepted for the final exhibition at The Patchings. I am a regular entrant to the Light, Space and Time art competitions and have been lucky enough to have had a degree of success.
I exhibit on the Island regularly and have always got a painting on the go, I get a buzz every time I pick up a pencil or my brushes, I am never stuck for ideas or inspiration and always have at least a dozen paintings waiting to be done, the next painting is always just around the corner and who knows, maybe one day a masterpiece! Most of all though I enjoy teaching and showing students that painting can be a lot less daunting than they imagine, to witness the enthusiasm in creating a piece of art that they are proud of is simply magical! www.murrayince.com
6th Place – Karen Sirnick – “3 Boats”
Karen Sirnick is predominantly a self-taught photographer who lives and creates in Wellington, FL. She shares her home with her husband and 2 beloved rescue dogs, Andy & Misty. As a child growing up in a family of 13, their vacations were mainly centered on camping and other outdoor activities. As a newlywed, Karen and her husband, Paul, spent many of their vacations backpacking and camping in West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. She continues to possess a deep love of nature and this subject has been a major influence in her photographic choices. Karen is currently retired and, although no longer backpacking, continues her passion for travel and photographing her journey.
In an effort to enhance her photographic skills Karen continues to take online classes, attend photography workshops, and submit her work into juried exhibits and contests both locally and internationally. The continuing education has provided a variety of assignments, introduction to new software, exposure to a diversity of professional photographers, and invaluable photographic critique.
Karen continues to explore new ideas and techniques in pursuit of creating beautiful and interesting images. Her work has been accepted and shown in a number of juried exhibitions in the Southeast Florida area. She has received a number of awards for her work including Light, Space, & Time’s Online Gallery. Additional images can be seen on her photography website at www.ktsirnick.smugmug.com
7th Place – Diane Geach – “Rockpool Dreaming”
My name is Diane. I live on the east coast of Australia. With no formal art training, I began my journey into the world of art by exploring different mediums through workshops, discovering along the way, that I had an affinity with watercolour. I find the alchemy of the watercolour medium fascinating and love exploring how soft colours transform through the painting techniques I have gathered such as glazing, washes, tones and undertones. I enjoy the ephemeral glowing transparency of watercolour and how colours shimmer and morph on the paper.
I have been surprised that my work has also attracted some attention. I have participated in group exhibitions, sold some of my artworks and recently have won two highly commended art prizes at an established and prestigious art festival.
With this encouragement, my art making will continue and hopefully flourish and I will keep absorbing all of what this wonderful medium has to offer. chat2di@gmail.com
8th Place – Danielle Austen – “Evening Mist”
Danielle Austen is an award-winning fine art photographer specializing in intimate portraits of the environment. She was trained in the traditional fine arts of painting, sculpture, drawing and photography where she received her BFA from Cornell University. She worked as a graphic designer before attending the master’s program at the Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, in photojournalism.
Working for newspapers and magazines, her editorial work has been published locally, regionally and nationally, including “Life’s, The Year in Pictures.” Returning to her fine art roots, she has combined her skills and training and has participated in over three dozen national and international juried exhibits, two group shows and three solo exhibits, including most recently at the Monmouth Museum in March 2016.
She has attended six Artist-in-Residency programs; the Rocky Mountain National Park, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, twice at Acadia National Park. Everglades National Park and was a Fellowship recipient at the Vermont Studio Center.
Danielle has won many awards, both in her photojournalism and fine art work. In 2013, Danielle was a national winner of Canon’s “Project Imaginat10n” photo competition with Director Ron Howard. Celebrity director, Biz Stone, the co-founder of Twitter, chose her winning image to help inspire his short film, “Evermore” which premiered October 2013 in NYC.
“Art is everywhere, waiting to be revealed. My nature photography reflects a desire to capture the many tranquil aspects of my journeys that are often missed by the casual observer. As an artist trained both in photojournalism and the fine arts, I focus on documenting intimate portraits of the environment with the intent to communicate to the viewer the spirituality I envision in each moment. I search for what many may see as ordinary and discover the extraordinary.” www.danielleausten.com
9th Place – David Phillips – “Worm’s Head”
David was born in Merthyr Tydfil in the summer 1961. He is a child of the sixties and the third in a family of six. He grew up in Mountain Ash, South Wales. His father was a Veterinary Surgeon and his mother a Teacher. She, rather than he endured the ordeal of his education often with embarrassment asking his class mates “Where’s David? Does anyone know?”
Childhood was spent in an exuberant and chaotic family of eight. There were many beloved pets including cats, dogs, and sometimes exotic additions such as when his father brought work home or when David tried to rescue waifs and strays. There were chickens, so many (expletive deleted) chickens. There was also a horse won in a raffle named without any real imagination Raffalo. David’s family have surreal idiosyncrasies when it comes to names.
State educated and like many, a reluctant participant in the comprehensive school experiment practiced in the United Kingdom in the 1970’s. He could say the experience scarred with opportunities denied but won’t because it is nonsense. David didn’t like school because he had to get up in the morning.
After A-levels David went to University gaining a BSc in Ecology with Honours. At the time of completing his education, Britain was in the grip of severe recession. This devastated his family and the local community ripping the heart out of his home town. Resilient, his ability to draw helped him switch careers becoming a cartographer before moving on to estate management and with postgraduate education achieving the honour of becoming a Chartered Surveyor.
David has had no formal training as an artist but a lot of practice. There were vague attempts while young to gain an education in art. Parental pressure put a stop to such a silly notion despite attempts at intervention by teachers. A typical example of the Father/Son conflict you may say …well… in this case it was more a father/brothers and sister conflict. A bit melodramatic but aren’t artist always? Frankly, David was indifferent. He was going to draw or paint regardless of circumstance. If there is one thing it is hoped you will take from his work is that talent is a gift even a force. It will express itself regardless of impediment. Training, if it does anything is to help with focus and discipline.
During early adulthood there was limited success in Eisteddfodau, (Welsh cultural festivals) local art competitions and culminating in minor national recognition as a finalist in a Laing exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London.
Ever a cliché, he married a local girl in the eighties and raised a family. He lived the Cyril Connolly’s quotation – There is no more sombre enemy of good art than the pram in the hall. It wasn’t really much of a sacrifice. He was blessed with a healthy family of three boys, a daughter, dogs, cats, even tropical fish but thankfully no (expletive deleted) chickens!
David has recently recovered from serious health problems forcing him to take stock of many things. Now with his children adults and independent he returns to his first love painting. Minor success in local competitions has again been achieved and a new audience for his work is he hopes starting to develop. Indeed, recently this success seems to have escalated with a short listing of a painting with the Royal Scottish Academy.
It is doubtful that you could attribute any particular influences to David. His family and friends would describe him as happy go lucky. He will plough his own furrow indifferent or just ignorant of the furrow’s direction or the gentle advice of others. If asked to be specific baffled, David would probably try to explain the mechanism of Brownian motion. When this misunderstanding is explained to him. Apologetically, he would tell you the works of artists such as Dali, Escher, Bosch and Van Gogh are important to him, as are the writers such as Philip Dick, Henry Williamson and Ray Bradbury. There are many musicians and lyricist also that he finds a rich source of inspiration. He is however just as likely to tell you Scooby Doo, the programme “Vision On” and the Discovery Channel are important. David’s interests are eclectic. All of this however pales into insignificance to the effect of people which for David are an important and rich source of ideas. Try catching a bus home from the hospital and being part of an audience to a couple looking for a snake that has escaped its cage while they try not to alert other passengers. There can be no more divine a comedy/tragedy than the human condition and this David tries to emulate in his work. David is a fan of the absurd.
Artists are whether they like it or not show offs. They are nothing more nor less and that is fine. It is motivation; but there are dues to be paid. Audiences must always be respected. This requires effort. David is baffled by the need only to produce “nice” or “disneyesque” work. Why? Is this the way to demonstrate? There is a rich and vast range of emotions and ideas to explore, so why choose what is easy? And that includes technique! There is no need to shock or pamper just to conceal laziness. There are such things as manners!
How can this artist best be described? David wants to be considered as dashing and eloquent. He is however unable to debunk his late mother’s opinion of him as a blithering idiot. http://paintingsbydavidphillips.com
10th Place – Anita Marci – “Aunty Turtle”
Anita Marci is an Award-Winning professional fine artist who began her illustrious career at the age of ten when she won her first Art Award and became a published artist. Originally from Pennsylvania, Anita Marci graduated Summa Cum Laude in 1982 with a Bachelor of Fine Art in Communication Design. After graduation, she immediately took her new position as an illustrator and designer in a high profile New York City design firm after a whirlwind trip to Europe visiting seven countries in three weeks.
In 1985, upon receiving a painting commission of sixty watercolors for “Everlastings – The Complete Book of Wildflowers,” the artist left the design firm and Anita Marci Studios was established. The successful Park Avenue Art Studio specialized in Commercial Product and Package Design for the Cosmetics, Fragrance, Publishing and Textile Industries. Clientele included Celebrities and the world’s largest Corporations such as Calvin Klein, Karl Lagerfeld, Elizabeth Taylor, Estee Lauder, Elizabeth Arden, Halston-Borghese, Revlon, Lancome, Unilever, Nine West, and Springmaid. June of 2015 marked thirty exciting years in business for this dynamic art studio.
In New York, in 1998, Anita Marci became a Fine Arts Instructor and an active art exhibitor showing her Award-Winning Watercolor paintings. By January 2003, when she relocated to Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, she was a nationally known and respected Art Workshop Instructor. On Maui, she taught privately and at the Hui No’eau Art Center, the Art School at Kapalua, the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua, and the Maui Marriott- where she was the artist-in-residence. Her commission work soon flourished while exhibiting her fine art at four of Lahaina’s top galleries.
Realizing the importance of the perfect art for the completion of any home or office and the challenge of finding it, Anita Marci began creating Custom Fine Art. Marci’s mission statement is to create beautiful Fine Art that enhances and unifies the environment to make a comfortable and inviting atmosphere. In 2007, her images landed a major commission of over twenty original paintings for ESPN Television Celebrity Chris Berman and his wife Katherine. These loyal collectors now own more than forty Marci originals in their three homes.
In 2010, Anita Marci’s Watercolors and Acrylics, as well as her Art Studio, were featured in “Studios” which is a Special Annual Edition of American Artist Magazine. In December 2012, Marci was a TV guest on “Life on Maui.” In 2013, 2014 and 2015, twenty-five top galleries across the Nation awarded a total of eight American Art Awards to Marci. Art Business News named her as a Top Emerging Artist in 2014 and featured her in their International Magazine. This artist earned twenty International Art Awards in 2015. She has enjoyed her position as Artist-in-Residence at the exclusive Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua and at the iconic Ka’anapali Beach Hotel.
American Art Collector – Juried Competition of New Work has featured Anita’s art in their 2014, 2015, and 2016 publications. Anita Marci’s paintings are also included in the beautiful 2014 juried edition of International Contemporary Masters. Her work is represented in the 2015 inaugural edition of the Blink Art Resource Book. Art Business News magazine presented the artist in their Spring and Fall issues of 2014.
Anita Marci was accepted and exhibited as an individual artist at the prestigious Art Expo New York Show in April, 2014. Artblend Gallery began representing Marci’s acrylic on canvas paintings in June of 2014 in their Fort Lauderdale, Florida Gallery. In December of 2014, she exhibited her work in the dynamic Spectrum Miami show to great acclaim. In November of 2015, Anita showed in the Joshua Tree National Park Juried Exhibition at the 29 Palms Gallery. This was her first California showing. In 2016, she has earned fourteen International art awards including a first and a third place in the prestigious American Art Awards. www.anitatheartist.com
