eat 2022
Art Exhibition Winners
Below are the biographies and/or artist's statements along with the artist's websites or emails.
Please visit the EAT exhibition page and contact the artists directly for purchase inquiries or to see more of their work.
Congratulations again to all the winners and thank you for sharing your talent with us.
Caked Up
Acrylic on Panel with Collage and Resin
Diane Gelman
First Place Winner
Diane Gelman is a mixed media artist. Her artworks are a celebration of food, interesting people, and the beauty of nature. Diane earned a Certificate in Fine Art from The Glassell School of Art, Houston in 2012. She also has a Master’s Degree in Nutrition and is a Registered Dietitian. Diane had a long career in food, transitioning to becoming an artist, specializing in Food-based artwork. Much of Diane’s artworks are hyper-realistic food sculptures and paintings. Many paintings have an exciting 3 dimensional aspect with collage, adding depth and interest. Diane wants her art to look so real and delicious, that the viewer feels tempted to pick a treat right off of the artwork to eat.
Refreshing
Scratchboard
Lynne Kibbe
Second Place
Nature and animal artist, Lynn Kibbe, grew up in the hills of Cogan Station, PA, and it is there that she began her love of animals. Drawing inspiration from her own backyard and from the captivating areas of travel throughout the nation, she began to create dramatic animal art. She currently lives in Trout Run, PA and continues to create scratchboards capturing unique characteristics of wildlife, many of which have originated using reference work from her own property. Lynn’s main focus is on horses, North American birds and mammals with an occasional still life. After having worked in other art media, she now works exclusively in fine art scratchboard. Her scratchboard drawings are representational, many times without flamboyance and flair in order to present peacefulness. She observes and interprets what she sees in her own way through her work. Scratchboard is a very tedious medium which takes many weeks to complete just one. It is created by removing the black ink layer (revealing the clay below), then repeating it again and again to build depth and values. Everything in the image is made of a scratch of some kind. If in color, I paint those colors in after the black is removed, then the process begins all over again with layers of scratching that are interwoven with layers of coloring to build up depth and values. Lynn has no formal art training and began with an interest in oil and watercolor painting. Since early 2009, she has created representational wildlife art with a focus on particularity and dramatic light. She is inspired by close-up views and has still lifes as well as nature and animals in her portfolio. She continues to participate in several important art competitions. Lynn is a Signature member of the International Society of Scratchboard Artists. She donates regularly to many not-for-profit charities such as the SPCA, Beckoning Cat Project (Williamsport) and Appalachian Horse Help & Rescue (Linden). Lynn has demonstrated her approach to scratching at many venues throughout north central Pennsylvania.
Giant peh
Oil
Stephanie arn
Third Place
Stephanie Arn is a realist painter born and raised in Toronto, where she currently works out of her backyard studio. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Queen's University. “I create oil paintings in a realist style, primarily focused on fruits. I think I would liken my fixation with fruits to the way people feel about flowers. Something about the aesthetic and the qualities of fruits – the essence – just cheers me up. Words like FRESH, TANGY, BRIGHT, CRISP, JUICY, BOLD, BOUNCY come to mind. In this series, I want to encapsulate the freshness, juiciness, lustre and all of the qualities of fruit that I love so much.”
Sandra Belitza-Vazquez
Honorable Mention
Sandra Belitza-Vazquez's spirit of adventure and curiosity about the world has taken her on a lifelong journey exploring the human condition, discovering the endless beauty of nature, and understanding the awesome constructs of man that define the world we inhabit. While pursuing her Master's degree in Anthropology at the University of the Americas in Puebla, Mexico, she began documenting life in indigenous communities. Her exploration of nature and wildlife and her continued interest in the world's cultures has taken her on travels through Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Europe, in addition to her travels throughout the United States. She has participated in over 50 solo and juried group art exhibits in Mexico and the U.S., winning awards of excellence and having her images printed as greeting cards by the National Wildlife Federation. Through the medium of scanner photography, she has recently found a way to extend her curiosity and artistic sensitivity by creating new worlds using this mechanical process to obtain creations full of life and beauty. You can see her work on her websites sbvaz.com and sandyscan.com, and follow at www.facebook.com/sbvazquezphotographicartist; and www.instagram.com/sbelitzavazquez.
Michael Preski
Honorable Mention
I am an artist who works with mixed media. I paint, collage, draw, ink and combine various mediums to create my desired images. I frequent subjects in the surrealistic and musical realms. I have studied art education, am a former art instructor, and stay involved in art with being in an area art guild and on social media. In May of 2021 I had my artwork in "Locking Down/Opening Up" at the Lemont Center for the Arts, Lemont, IL and also in an exhibit called "Best of the Best" that was at DuPage Art League Gallery, in Wheaton, IL. The two pieces I am entering are in collaboration with my girlfriend, Gina Rende. (I was not sure how to recognize us both as the form just asks for one artist name). Gina is an amazing person and artist. She is a stroke victim and while her dexterity for drawing was compromised from her strokes, she has become very good at the adult coloring book pictures. She also likes photography. I created these original line drawings during the Pandemic so that she would be able to partake in an original piece of art. During the Pandemic we started weekly dinners and it was our way of sharing time together with our "bubble" of family members (her Mom, sister, her, and myself, and sometimes Gina's niece). I am still working on the other "table settings" but these two are finished and represent Gina and her sister, Lizzy. Mealtime and "Eating" together helped give us a sense of community and it bonded us as we sheltered at home during the pandemic. We enjoyed wonderful homemade meals and shared stories and laughter together. These dinners certainly gave us hope during such unprecedented times!
Regina Roland
Honorable Mention
After a career spent in the art of teaching, I decided to dabble in the art of watercolor. That dabble became a passion. A lover of nature, I draw peace and inspiration from all it has to offer. Many of my pieces transport me to sunny meadows or wooded realms where my spirit soars. Whether my work is realistic or abstract my wish is that this spirit has wended its way to my paintings. . My work has been exhibited in both local and national galleries where it has won many awards.
Natalie Wetzel
Honorable Mention
Natalie Wetzel is a professional, international award winning artist, who lives in Normal, Il with her husband of nearly 30 years. They have four children together. Natalie holds a bachelor’s degree in fine art from Illinois State University. She is primarily a mixed media artist. She enjoys working from a smooth surface, like claybord, and prefers to work with encaustics, acrylics, and ink. Although Natalie considers herself to be an abstract artist, she also enjoys incorporating identifiable subject matter into her work. She has found by doing so, more people can relate to and connect with her paintings. Currently, Woodwalk Gallery in Egg Harbor, WI, 3 Square Art located in Fort Collins, CO, and Main Gallery 404 in Bloomington, Il represent her work. Natalie has had several of her images published in a Chicago based magazine and her work chosen for the cover of a local government planning publication. Most recently, she was selected to be one of Mixtiles newest artists. Natalie finds great inspiration to create by observing the beauty found throughout all creation. Her work is process oriented. It involves layering materials in a way that causes colors to pop and adds depth and interest to each painting. She is most known the the vivid colors that immediately capture the attention of her viewers.