Woo-hoo Jennifer Leighton!

NEWS RELEASE

SAULT AREA ARTS COUNCIL

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In her first appearance in the Sault Summer Arts Festival Jennifer Leighton of the Sault, displaying acrylic paintings, won the $300 Olive Craig Best of Show Award.  

Jeanne Tubman, a festival veteran who took Best of Show last year, won the Painting Award. The Best of Crafts award was won by Jan Barnes of Battle Creek. 

Jan, who crafts beautifully designed, fine leather purses, won Best of Crafts last year as well. Both the Painting and the Best of Crafts Awards are one hundred fifty dollar awards.

The seventy-five dollar Judge’s Choice Award went to David Bigelow of the Sault. Dave paints in watercolor and pastels and works with pen and ink.  He won the Best of Show Award in 2014. 

The following awards are all fifty dollars:

The Aarre Lahti Design Award was won by Sault, Ontario artist, Zoey Wood-Salomon. who paints in the Woodland Indian tradition. Zoey took Best of Show in 2006.

Ann Arbor jewelers Cindy and Jim Pierson won the Jewelry Award. The couple has been in the Sault Summer Arts Festival three years and racked up a Judge’s Choice Award (2014) and two Jewelry Awards (2015 and this year). 

Dafter multi-media artist Renee Hillock won the fiber award. Renee is adept in knitting, weaving, quilting and more, and is a painter as well. 

The Graphics Award went to Nancy and Joseph Grimsley of Canadian Lakes. The Grimsleys work in clay, producing some traditional work but specializing in what they call “3-D Clay”—basically decorative, non-functional designs.

The Photography Award went to Leroy photographer Doug Markusic, who specializes in Michigan scenic photographs. 

Festival veterans Karen Marken and Doug Schmidt (Schmidt-Marken Pottery) of LaPorte, Indiana, won the Pottery Award. The Wood Award was won by Mark Besteman of Rudyard for his rustic furniture. 

The Yvonne Peer Glass Award went to Karen Reece, of Colorado Springs, Colorado. Karen is a jeweler making and using colorful lampwork glass beads in her creations. 

The Award for Best Display was won by Paul Mason of Kimball, who combines recycled metal utensils and vessels with a vivid imagination to create yard art.

Honorable Mention Awards went to Athabaskan jeweler Kyaana Bullard who makes jewelry of sealskin and beadwork; Danielle Lynch who makes jewelry of preserved flowers and seeds and Anthony Strublic, who works in pencil to produce detailed drawings of vessels and lighthouses.

The Festival Judge was Lloyd Eddy, Assistant Professor of Art and Humanities at Lake Superior State University. The Sault Summer Arts Festival was produced as a public service by the Sault Area Arts Council and Lake Superior State University.

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