Vernon artist Melissa Dinwoodie has received two special recognition awards at the 16th annual painting, drawing, photography and print juried online international art exhibition hosted by Upstream People Gallery.
This international exhibition received approximately 90 art entries from around the world and 18 artists were selected by juror Laurence Bradshaw, professor of art at the University of Nebraska in Omaha.
“Melissa Dinwoodie of Vernon, B.C., Canada shows a boldness while at the same time a fine sensitivity. Her work Hand, with its simplicity of composition, shows a nice delicacy with the red giving it a sense of strength. And in her Pink portraiture, the more gestural brushwork works well with the fine smaller detailing. This is also true in her piece Red,” said Bradshaw in his critique.
Dinwoodie’s Pink and Red were part of a series she did exploring people’s natural instincts to create stories for one another based on their first look at someone.
“We all do it, people watch, but how far do we take our imagination into actually judging someone before talking to them and getting to know them,” said Dinwoodie.
In turn, Hand was an experiment in trying to achieve as much emotion in hands as Dinwoodie was able to get in a portrait.
“ I think that these hands are very expressive and give off a strong emotional message to the viewer,” said Dinwoodie, adding, “My painting has always been as much about the process and individual brush strokes as it is about connecting to the audience. If a viewer looks past the image as a whole and takes a closer look at the texture and shapes created, this is initially why I paint.”
The exhibition will be featured online during December at www.upstreampeoplegallery.com and continues indefinitely in the archives section of the website.
