Tony Armendariz received the show's top prize, the Lester J. Norris award, for his watercolor, RIPLEY. Scroll down for more art from the show...
“Vicinity 2022” juried show at Norris Gallery in the Norris Cultural Arts Center, 1040 Dunham Road in St. Charles features 47 stunning pieces across several mediums from artists living within a 50-mile radius from the gallery.
The “Lester J. Norris” award, the show’s top prize, went to watercolorist Tony Armendariz of Palatine, IL for his “Ripley” piece. Tony’s preferred subject matter is figurative/portraiture, not photo realistic, he points out, but what he sees. He also accepts commissions.
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“Yes, “Ripley” is a real person I spotted in a parking lot, but not anyone I know personally,” Tony explains. “I just happened to admire the jacket he was wearing and asked if I could take a photograph. I knew that the whole outfit he was in would make good subject matter. He gave me his “OK” to use his image and later I sent him a 16 x 20 print. I took poetic license with the photograph by putting his face in shadow, adding sunglasses and Sigourney Weaver as the Ellen Ripley character from the second ALIEN movie, and making his torso the focus.”
Tony teaches watercolor three days a week at the Oak Park Art League where he stresses to his students that learning how to draw is their best foundation.
Recently he wrote an article for PLEIN AIR magazine’s June/July 2022 issue titled, “Keep it Classy” about developing good networking relationships with judges when entering juried shows. The article also appeared in the July 2022 online edition of AMERICAN WATERCOLOR magazine. Read it here: Keep It Classy - American Watercolor
He holds an associates arts degree in graphic art from the American Academy of Art and until 2007 worked as a graphic designer. He has since become a full-time artist painting, teaching and exhibiting throughout the Chicagoland area. Tony's work can be found at www.thebluemoongallery.com in Grayslake, IL and www.hilliardgallery.com in Kansas City, MO. Learn more about Tony here:
Additional VICINITY 2022 winners pictured here L to R: Kevin Hunter, Nancy S. Rosenburg, Kenneth Kemp, Tony Armendariz, Daniel Wroblewski, Heather Burval (who is standing in for her mother, Carol Burval), and Joan Bredendick.
Joan Bredendick's watercolor KOI DANCERS, Award of Excellence
Honorable Mention: Kenneth Kemp's photograph, UNTITLED showing morning fog on a lake in Northern Ontario.
ACROSS THE VALLEY, Gary Bredendick; OIl
FLYING SOLO by Mary Ellen Segraves; watercolor
TWO BLOOMS by Pat van Dusen; oil pastel
