NEW PALESTINE — Swirls and masses of pink and white peony flowers surrounded by thick daubs of acrylic paint took first prize in the Indiana Heritage Arts 40th Annual Heritage Arts Exhibition and Sale recently at the Brown County Art Gallery in Nashville.
Beth Clary Schwier, New Palestine, won the gold prize and picked up her $5,000 award from John and Sarah Lechleiter, in memory of John R. Rardon, at the exhibition where some $30,000 in total prize money was awarded.
Schwier, a long-time local artist, won the award for her acrylic painting titled “Rainy Day Peonies.”
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The award was her first grand prize from the Indiana Heritage Art in Nashville, according to a press release.
The second place prize at the Indiana Heritage Art exhibition, of $3,000, was awarded to C. W. Mundy of Indianapolis for an oil painting of a ship scene titled “The Angelique, Nocturne.” The Indiana Heritage Art Board of Directors awarded the prize.
Mundy, who has had great success in the past, was the 2016 Indiana Heritage Art Gold Award winner with a portrait titled “Old Fisherman.”
A landscape in oil of a farm amidst fall colors won a $2,000 third place prize for Jerry Smith, Crawfordsville. The Indiana Heritage Art Bronze award was given by the Howard E. Hughes Trust. Hughes was a patron of art in Brown County. Smith’s painting is titled “Basic Ingredients.”
The free art show with 100 pictures by 64 artists is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. The Gallery is at Artist Drive and Main Street. All paintings are for sale.
Show visitors will also be able to cast a vote for their favorite picture. The People’s Choice Award prize with a $500 check will be awarded at the end of the show on Saturday, June 30.
The Indiana Heritage Art organization purchased an oil painting by Libby Whipple, Avon of a mother and daughter seated at a table. The title is “Hoosier Lesson.” Whipple’s picture won the Ada Shulz Memorial Award of $500 presented by Randall Tucker of Columbus.
The mission of the show, Jim Ross, IHA show chairman said in a press release is to keep alive the rich artistic tradition of Indiana art.
The show was juried by Stapleton Kearns, a New England landscape painter. He was recently awarded the top prize in a show of the Guild of Boston Artists, one of the oldest art associations in the United States.
For more information on the art show call 812-988-4609 or visit, www.IndianaHeritageArts.org.
More of Schwier’s work can be seen by visiting an exhibition titled “Beauty in Bloom” Two Women Artists, at Home and Away with Schwier and Diane Lyon at The Hoosier Salon Gallery, 22 North Rangeline Rd. Carmel, from now through Saturday, June 30.
