2010 Fountain Square ArtWorks’ Festival

Saturday, July 24th 1:00 pm - 7:00 pm
This event was fun, fun, fun, with all kinds of art from all kinds of artists displayed on a sunny day in downtown Bowling Green, Kentucky.

And the booth winners are... 
1st place..Mitch Rickman
Runner up...Phil Aleci
Runner up...Jill Gentry

ArtWorks festival draws eclectic mix
By JENNA MINK, The Daily News
Saturday, July 24, 2010 10:43 PM CDT

For Jay Dougherty, Fountain Square Park is more than just a community hang-out spot. It’s his inspiration. It’s also part of his job.

Dougherty is an arborist for the city of Bowling Green by day and a watercolor painter in his spare time, painting still-life portraits of landscapes. His work was on display Saturday at the Fountain Square ArtWorks Festival.

“This is one of my favorites because I can sit here all day and meet people and actually paint,” Dougherty said as he dabbed his brush in a pool of paint. “I can actually work while I’m here.”

ArtWorks, a local coalition of visual artists and art supporters, has unofficially held the festival for the past three years. This year, the group made the festival an official event. A portion of proceeds for art sales will benefit the ArtWorks’ Young Artists Grant Program, which allows high school art teachers to have art shows.

“The last two years we played around,” said Misha Ambrosia, festival chairwoman. “We’ve had a steady flow of people all day. We’ve had a steady flow of people since we opened.”

Ambrosia said she was happy with the crowd, which came out despite sweltering temperatures. Most of the 27 artists who participated set up booths and tables under trees, which provided much-needed shade and breezes. The Capitol Arts Youth Theatre was also on hand to sell lemonade and water.

“I told everybody to go underneath a tree, and I think everybody pretty much did that,” Ambrosia said.

ArtWorks has boomed over the years - it now boasts about 97 members.

“We started three years ago, and we had about 30 people,” she said. “There are a lot of artists here, a lot of artists.”

A variety of artists took part in Saturday’s festival. People dropped by booths that featured pieces from paintings to woodwork to jewelry.

Carla and Phil Aleci moved to the area from Florida in January and started peddling their homemade jewelry locally. The couple cut silver, polish and set the stones and create several items, from earrings to necklaces.

“We kind of fly by the seat of our pants,” Phil Aleci said.

They began making jewelry a few years ago after Carla Aleci had been collecting stones she found on the beach for about three years. After building a big supply of unique stones, she decided to take a jewelry-making class and asked Phil to join her.

At first, they began making jewelry as a hobby and, before long, they had 50 pieces of jewelry on their hands. That’s when they started selling their creations to friends.

“It kind of happened by accident,” Phil said. “Down there, it took a couple of years, but we had a good customer base.”

The Alecis said they were impressed by the local festival, and happy with the number of people who ventured to Fountain Square Park.

Charles French, of Russellville, accidentally stumbled upon the festival when he was looking for something to do while having his car serviced nearby. Coincidentally, both French and his wife are interested in the arts - she was an art major in college and he’s a former band director.

“We’re really into the arts,” he said. “And she’s into the arts heavy. It’s pretty neat.”

3rd Annual ArtWorks' Fine Art Exhibition

February 12th - March 5, 2010
The Members 3rd-Annual Fine Art Exhibition, hosted by The Gallery at 916 in Bowling Green, KY was

the perfect opportunity to view a collection of original art from the members of ArtWorks.  The juror for the show was Amanda Dillingham, from the Renaissance Center in Dickson, TN. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the ArtWorks Young Artist Grant Program.This program is designed to train junior and senior high school students, under the guidance of the school’s art teacher, to help educate the students about the process of creating a visual arts exhibition while developing skills in decision making, problem solving, and creative thinking as the students produce a professional-style visual arts exhibition.

And the winners are...
Best of Show Mark Whitley  (pictured right) • 2nd - 2d  Alice Gatewood Waddell • 2nd - 3d  Bob Brigl • 3rd - 2d Kim Jones • 3rd - 3d  Jerry Lyons • WGST Award - 2d  Steve Clay • WGST Award - 3d Bill Van Tassel • Juror's Award Monica Crawford • Merit #1 Misha Ambrosia • Merit #2  Michael Steele • Honorary #1 David Jones • Honorary #2 Kim Soule • PTK Award Shanna Paul • Best Amateur Craig Losekamp • Amateur Merit Emmet Roche • Amateur Honorary Julie Roche

Duncan Hines Art Exhibition 2009

1st place David Jones (not shown); 2nd place Wesley Page; 3rd place Lynette Frey Haggbloom; Merit Winners - Kim Jones and Jared Weaver.

Lost River Art Festival 2009

October 2009 at Lost River Cave, Bowling Green, Kentucky
1st place: Staci McKnight • 2nd place: Marian Pascuta • 3rd place: Laura Bain-Selbo

May 2009 Houchens Gallery ArtWorks Exhibition Winners

The 2009 ArtWorks Juried Fine Art Exhibition was held May 1-20, 2009 in the Houchens Gallery at the Capitol Arts Alliance.  Best of Show Winner: Steve Clay.  1st  place in 2d: Angela Kuprion.  2nd  Place in 2d: Yvonne Petkus.    3rd Place in 2d:  Jason Childress.  1st  Place in 3d:  Bob Brigl.  2nd Place in 3d:  Donald Sterchi.  3rd Place in 3d:  Alice Gatewood Waddell.  World’s Greatest Studio Tour Awards: Pamm Douglas; Jay Dougherty; Neli Ouzounova.  Honorable Mention Awards:  Lynn Robertson; Faye Phillips Christian; Heath Seymour; C. David Jones.  Thirteen of the 14 awards were presented to the talented members of ArtWorks!  Congratulations to all.