I got a phone call from our friend Garr Crookston yesterday. He called to tell me that he and Nancy (his wife, our friend, an accomplished painter, famous and successful artist, and all-around neat lady) were in Scottsdale at the Oil Painters of America National Juried Exhibition...an annual exhibit and competition where Nancy is THE judge (juror of awards) for the event. He said he called to tell me that he was standing in the Legacy Gallery in Scottsdale, looking at a painting of our daughter Becky that Nancy had painted and exhibited.Here is what the website says about the event: "A number of educational events will be held in conjunction with the opening weekend of the exhibition, April 30 - May 2, 2010. Headlining this year’s program will be this year’s Juror of Awards, Master Signature member and internationally acclaimed artist Nancy S. Crookston OPAM. In addition to judging, Ms. Crookston will provide a 3-hour painting demonstration on Friday morning, April 30."
Nancy is a OPA Master Signature Artist, an elite status that very few artists attain. Notice this paragraph from the website - and notice how FEW women are in the list: "The success of this year’s exhibition is further bolstered by a strong contingency of OPA Master Signature members including: Thomas S. Buechner, William T. Chambers, Nancy S. Crookston, Dan Gerhartz, Albert Handell, David Hettinger, Doug Higgins, Quang Ho, Ramon Kelley, Steven Lang, David Leffel, Jeff Legg, Ruo Li, Huihan Liu, Calvin Liang, Paul Mullally, Neil Patterson, Joyce Pike, Zhiwei Tu, Jeffrey Watts and William Whitaker. Joining this illustrious group are new Master Signature artists: Kenn Backhaus, Michael Mao and Warren Chang." As you can tell, I'm really proud of Nancy!
After talking to Garr, I immediately went to my computer and googled the Oil Painters of America website and quickly realized that I should have rounded up everyone Nancy knows, and we should have traveled to Scottsdale to cheer for Nancy. I definitely wish I had taken my daughters Suzie and Becky, because they have both been models for Nancy. And also Dorothy, Bonnie, Shari, Marty, etc. etc. And for sure Scott - Nancy was the first painting teacher he had! I now realize what a BIG deal this is for her. This is really huge in the oil-painting and art world.
Nancy is THE judge - just her - the one judge. She told me about this unbelievable honor a long time ago, but I didn't realize that it would include an exhibit and other events that the public could participate in. Nancy has three painings in the exhibit, and one of those paintings is on the Legacy Gallery website, and is a painting of Becky. It's a beautiful painting that Nancy painted from a photograph that she took of Becky about three years ago.
Garr said that Nancy is also teaching some classes during the week, and that her daughter and granddaughters will be there to model for the paintings. I'm glad they're going to be there. Here is the link to the Legacy Gallery's gallery so you can see all the paintings, and here is the painting of Becky.
