Chez Cheryl

Fifth Annual Door Prize for Portraiture Opens to a large and enthusiastic crowd.

The Best in Show for Door Prize for Portraiture was chosen along with three honorable mentions, by guest juror Kat Murrell, an Art historian, lecturer and writer from Milwaukee, WI. Twenty-four artists participated in the annual event which was inspired by a visit to the famed Archibald Prize exhibit years ago in Sydney Australia. Steve and I talked about the impression of a rooms full of exquisitely executed portraits, and wondered how it would play in Door Co on a smaller scale. We invited a handful the first year, and it has grown each year, with a few new names added, some old ones dropped off, and ultimately we have a collection of incredible interpretaions of the portrait genre. This year Door Prize went to Mary Ulm Mayhew, who unfortunately could not be at the party when awards were passed out.She was busy painting en plein air at the plein air festival in Cedarburg WI. Mary is however a strong presence in Door county, with her work featured at Edgewood Orchard each summer, and she has taught countless workshops in the area. Her work will also be included in ON THE ROAD, Artists who Travel, at the Miller Art Museum the end of July. I am also in that show, and its fun to think back now on my first trip abroad. It was with Mary, for two week trek in Scotland, a week on an artist retreat on the Isle of Skye. The painting that Mary submitted is Dos Amigas, a portrait of close buddies, Pam Flanders and Marcia Boyd, both of whom are also accomplished painters. I have also traveled with these two as well, and the experiences we shared one Labor Day week, in the water off the coast of Seattle, traveling around in a boat with Mary and Charlie and another couple who owned the boat, linger to this day as some of the best vacation time ever. But I digress, back to the Door PRize.

Honorable Mentions went to Toler Wolfe, who just got his BFA in art from UW MAdison, Toler was unable to attend the party but his parents were there to accept for him. Toler will be on his way in the fall to Chicago, to do stand up comedy. Stephanie Trenchard won for her glass piece, a self portrait in cast glass, painted on an amphora shape and embedded in a gothic arch of solid clear glass. It is stunning as she is... the third winner this year is Bonnie Paruch, another former West Bend friend who settled in Door Co about the same time I came here to work at the Fairfield Public Gallery, Bonnie established a studio and gallery space at her home over the last decade and is a strong presence in workshops, she teaches throughout the region. What a great show. Diverse, eclectic, yet all of it addressing the single topic, the portrait.