64th annual art show grows with new talent

By TOM LAVENTURE

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Ironwood - Range Art Association members said this year's 64th annual Art Show had an increase in entries, more new artists, high quality and a diversity of styles.

"I thought the event went wonderfully," said Nancy Korpela, president. "There were a lot of new items and new techniques that the artists are using."

In the Master Art Show category, Ken Drawz won Best of Show. Connie Greany won the Melba Rigoni Technical Award.

The Award of Excellence was presented to artists Arlene Sarkela and Gerry Traczyk. Honorable Mention awards were presented to Sarkela, and Gail Kniska.

Drawz, of Mercer, Wisconsin, said he is proud of his "Leader of Men" acrylic painting that won the masters work category. The work to re-create the original Howard Terpning painting of the First Nation chief was a departure from his wildlife and landscape work.

"He's a superb artist," Drawz said. "I just liked it and I thought it was something that I could hang in my house and enjoy it."

His second submission was a scratchboard work with wolves as the subject. Scratchboard is a form of engraving that creates images by scraping at a dark coating over a white panel using fine tools.

Drawz said he has submitted work for the Art Show for a decade. He is pleased to see more artists submitting work.

"I think this show is getting better every year," Drawz said. "We've seen a number of new artists this year and the quality is certainly very good."

In the Art Show category, Mary Staeben was Best of Show. The Melba Rigoni Technical Award was presented to Sandy Stella.

Staeben also won the Dorothy Silkworth Kuula Award of Excellence. Lawrence Smith won the Phyllis Leinonon Award of Excellence.

The Honorable Mention awards were presented to Michelle Pozzani, Julann Grebbie and Susan Landsdown.

Staeben, of Hazelhurst, Wisconsin, said this was her first visit to the Art Show and to Ironwood. She was pleased to see her burrow wood carving, "Stormy Lake," so well received and winning Best of Show.

"This was wood right off of our property," Staeben said of the decayed, knotted wood from a fallen poplar tree that she shaped into a water scene. After cleaning out all the inward decay she envisioned a stormy lake with fish under waves and a frog and duck on top.

"Sometimes you can see a piece and you just know what it is," Staeben said. "Sometimes you start working on one area and the rest just comes and it just keeps growing."

Staeben's Award of Excellence piece was of a girls face carved into a piece of drift wood.

Staeben is a retired professional artist who made a living carving mantels for homeowners. She has worked with other mediums including lace draping and porcelain. Her father was a woodworker and so is her brother, according to her husband, Butch Staeben.

In the Youth Art Show category, the Melba Rigoni Technical Award was presented to Rebecca Perhalla. The Paul Castagna Award of Excellence was presented to Xandra Brozzo. The Honorable Mention awards were presented to Cameron Riedl and Aaron Folsom.

Perhalla also won the Peoples' Choice Award for her graphite drawing of singer Taylor Swift. The 18-year-old Bessemer woman just graduated from high school and is looking forward to starting school at Gogebic Community College in the fall and wants to pursue an art-related career.

"I have been doing art forever," Perhalla said.

Perhalla said she learned portrait drawing in a freshman art class. She also enjoys watercolor and some of those works have won in past art shows.

Perhalla said she's self-taught but also credits her art teachers, Jen Werner in high school and Olive Niemi in elementary school, with helping her learn and appreciate art. Her circle of artist friends may be the future of the Range Art Association, she said.

"I just like the community aspect of it," Perhalla said. "Its just nice to get to know all the other artists in the Ironwood area and that's my favorite thing."

Artists can look forward to the call for submissions next spring between March and April, Korpela said. The Art Show will be held again the weekend of the Festival Ironwood at the Historical Ironwood Memorial Building Auditorium.