Art Exhibition 2014
“It was at Phillips’ Mill that art first became real to me, where I came to understand that paintings were not just decorative objects hung on walls but the work of flesh-and-blood people who transmitted what they saw into their own visions.” –James A. Michener (1907-1997)
The Phillips’ Mill Art Exhibition has been the premier art show in the Delaware Valley since 1929. Founded by the legendary greats, William Lathrop, Edward Redfield, Daniel Garber and William Taylor, among others, the early shows were intended to display work for friends. Famous artists from the New Hope School and beyond soon began to exhibit on a regular basis. Today more than 350 painters and sculptors submit over 500 works of which about 95 framed pieces are juried into the exhibit. The exhibition has grown steadily in prestige and attracts thousands of visitors each year.
This major exhibition invites artists who live within a 25-mile radius of the Mill to enter work for the show. In 2012 the jurors awarded 20 prizes, totaling $11,000.
“Late Summer at Phillips’ Mill” by John C. Mertz
was selected by the 2014 Art Committee as this year’s image piece.
Accepted Artists and Sculptors Announced
Artist Awards
See the list of award recipients here.
“Parisian Blue” Oil
of Yardley, PA ” Curled Bark” Graphite on Paper
The Phillips’ Mill Art Committee has chosen Mavis Smith as the “Honored Artist” for the 2014, 85th Juried Art Exhibition.
Mavis lives and works in Solebury, PA. She studied at The Pratt Institute in NYC from 1974 through 1977. Since then, she has exhibited in many solo and group shows, including a 2012 solo exhibition at the Michener Art Museum, and in galleries and shows in New York, Santa Fe, Amsterdam and Basel, Switzerland. She currently has a solo exhibition, Mavis Smith / Think Again at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, NJ.
Mavis works primarily in egg tempera, an ancient and time-consuming technique. She builds up hundreds of layers of paint, thick and thin, to create luminous, ethereal images.
Her painting, “Prairie” will be on display in the Exhibition.
Jurors Selected
The Phillips’ Mill Art Exhibition Committee has announced the distinguished group of art experts who have been selected to jury this year’s show. The team of selected jurors will have the difficult task of choosing the art to be exhibited in this prestigious annual show and also deciding upon the various cash awards to be presented. The jurors this year will include:
Jurors for Painting and Graphics:
Pipersville, PA artist Glenn Harrington is an internationally known oil painter. His paintings have been featured in American Arts Quarterly, American Art Collector, International Artists Magazine, The New York Times, GQ Japan and the Philadelphia Inquirer. He has had many solo exhibitions in New York, Japan and London.
Harrington’s works have been published on over 600 book covers including Room with a View, Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights and Dangerous Liaisons. He created 50 original oils for Disney’s children’s book “Tarzan” and recently his painting in on the republished cover of Carl Sandburg’s book “Abe Lincoln Grows Up”. His portrait work is highly regarded and has received the Portrait Society of America’s Draper Grand Prize in 2007, Honor Award in 2008 and 2005 and Certificate Awards in 2009 and 2004 during its international juried exhibitions. Glenn has been a finalist in the Art Renewal Center’s annual juried show for the last 3 years and he has received awards consistently from the Oil Painters of America national and regional juried exhibitions.
Richard Ressel of Lancaster, PA is a speaker, teacher and artist. He graduated from Millersville University and did his graduate studies at Alfred University. He has exhibited and received recognition for both ceramics and painting in regional, national and international exhibitions. His works have been featured in regional and national publications including, Best of Watercolor Painting Light and Shadow, Best of Watercolor Painting Texture and the Very Best of Watercolor. Ressel is a member of the National Watercolor Society and the Pennsylvania Watercolor Society for which he was the juror for their 2013 online members show. He is also a member of the Philadelphia Watercolor Society, American Artists Professional League, NY,NY and Echo Valley Art Group. Ressel currently is the Art Department Chair at Lancaster Catholic High School.
Artist Merle Spandorfer’s new work consists of mixed media monotypes combining her handmade paper pieces with painting, drawing, collage and laser printing. Her paintings, prints and artist’s books are in the permanent collections of over 100 museums and corporations including the Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Israel Museum, The Baltimore Museum and the Library of Congress.
Her new work consists of mixed media monotypes combining her handmade paper pieces with painting, drawing, collage and laser printing.
Spandorfer has exhibited in 30 one person shows and more than 200 group exhibitions in museums, universities and galleries in Europe, Asia and major US Cities. She has taught at the Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science, Pratt Institute, Cheltenham Center for the Arts and has lectured at various institutions including the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in China
Spandorfer lives in Cheltenham, PA and studied at Syracuse University and University of Maryland.
Jurors for Sculpture
Sculptor Jonathan Hertzel of Chalfont, PA works largely in bronze making abstract sculptures that relate to the structures and process of life. “My work has a spiral sort of motion,” he says, “things turning within themselves and back out again” Among his major influences was the Swiss Surrealist Sculptor Alberto Giacometti.
Hertzel was trained at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and at Alfred University. His work has been exhibited at the Woodmere Art Museum, the State Museum of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. As part of its ongoing Outdoor Sculpture Program, the James A. Michener Art Museum presented an installation of sculpture by Hertzel called “The Gathering” in 2005.
Rory Mahon grew up in New York City and attended Cooper Union, NYC. He worked at Johnson Atelier at Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ where he helped to develop and run the Sand Casting department. He was also responsible for teaching apprentices these skills and other sculpture disciplines. While there he made the bronze castings for many of the major sculptors working in metal today. Mahon has also taught and given workshops at the New Jersey Governors School, the University of the Arts Sculpture Department in Philadelphia and at many International Sculpture Center Conferences as well as many workshops throughout the US, Canada and Europe.
Mahon runs his own sculpture studio in Hopewell, NJ where he produces new work and shows in area galleries and museums. He also continues to teach and conduct workshops.
