Local artist takes 'BOS$'

Judges made selection from more than 110 artists, 1,000 pieces of art

Las Vegas resident Mary Warner took home the $1,000 first place prize at this year's Clark County Parks and Community Services Cultural Division "BOS$" Best of Show art competition.

Event organizer Diane Bush said the show's judges had their work cut out for them when they had to narrow the show's field to only 16 works of art.

"More than 110 artists submitted well over 1,000 pieces of work," Bush said.

The works were submitted on slides. From that field the panel selected work by Dawn Anderson, Joseph Cartino, Tara Cuthbert, Stuart Solzberg, Natalie Durante, Chet Eskey, Curtis Fairman, Susanne Forrestieri, Janet Greek, Tom Holder, David Hummer, Hanna Iglikowska, Darius Kuzmickas, Michael Ogilvie, Cristina Natsuko Paulos, Marty Walsh and Mary Warner.

The 16 selected works were installed in a show at the Winchester Community Center. The show will remain on display through May 24. At a March 28 artist reception, Left of Center Gallery owner Vickie Richardson announced the final winners. Joining Warner in the winning circle were second place winner Darius Kuzmickas, third place winner Marty Walsh and honorable mention winners Susanne Forrestieri and David Hummer.

"It was such a pleasure putting this show together. All the work is so fantastic, such a variety," Richardson said.

That variety included everything from giant graphite portraits to oils and photographs.

Warner's "Requiem," a field of plump acrylic roses painted on a curved velvet canvas, is part of a series of work the artist has been exploring.

"When I was young I used to see the big velvet paintings at the state fair," she said. "When I'd sit and stare at the bright paints, it gave me vertigo and made me dizzy. When you paint on black velvet, the image jumps out like a hologram. The light is absorbed into the canvas and all that's reflected is the paint. It gives it a real three dimensional look. When people look at it, there's a psychological reaction. It sticks in your mind."

Warner has a one-woman show in Denver and she's preparing for an October show at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas' Donna Beam Gallery.

Darius Kuzmickas took his inspiration for the black and white lambda photograph "Desert I, Nevada" from the glories of Red Rock Canyon. The pinhole camera photograph was taken across the street from an area where visitors go horseback riding.

"It's part of a series on Nevada landscapes," said Kuzmickas, a Lithuanian immigrant.

Marty Walsh's painting of a nostalgic '50s can opener titled "Swing-A-Way" started with an obsession. For years, Walsh has made a name for herself painting food. Recently, she began collecting classic food preparation devices. The Vegomatic, the Swing-A-Way and other assorted choppers, dicers and slicers began filling the artist's studio.

"I don't know why, but I was attracted to these objects," she said. "I started with three or four and then I had dozens. My husband looked at them and said, 'What are you doing with all this junk?' I just couldn't explain it. Eventually I began drawing these and then painting them."

Walsh reasoned that the old electric kitchen gadgets are unique. The machines came from the beginning of the atomic age, a time when power companies were trying to convince housewives to use more energy.

"It was a sort of propaganda, I guess. They wanted to convince people that atomic energy was good because it liberated the housewife," Walsh said.

Susanne Forrestieri's winning oil painting "Paquita and Donna Backstage" had a less political beginning. When she was young, the artist spent 15 years working as a dancer.

"I gave it up to go into art, but I've always loved it," she said.

The models for the backstage painting came from photographs Forrestieri took of a local Flamenco dance troupe.

"Before I was working on a series of little girls dressing up with friends, then I started with this. Dancers dress up for a living," she said.

The homeless man in David Hummer's untitled graphite on rag drawing has no means to play dress-up, yet Hummer still works to catch his expression down to the reflection in the eyes. The show is a new move for Hummer. The 40-year-old artist has sold work to private collectors around the world since high school, but this is the first time in 20 years he has presented work in a show.

"I've been here in the desert for a while, but I'm just discovering the art scene," he said. "I'm going to try to do a lot more to get my work out."

The Winchester Community Center Gallery, 3130 S. McLeod Drive, is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. and on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The gallery is free and open to the public.


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