Frequently marking the commencement of The Art of the Portrait: National Portrait & Figurative Artist's Conference is the Face-Off, an event in which several small groups of artists simultaneously paint from models for a short, prescribed amount of time in front of a live audience. The finished products are then sold during a silent auction later in the weekend, with the proceeds of that sale benefitting the Portrait Society of America for such things as scholarships and tuition aid for upcoming conferences.
This year 15 artists were split into five groups of three painters, with each group being assigned a single model. The artists were then given 2 ½ hours (including model breaks) to paint a portrait of their subject. In previous years, attendees at the conference voted on the finished Face-Off paintings, and the winner of that contest was tasked with giving a demonstration on the main stage on Saturday, but this year, rather than adding a last-minute responsibility to the already busy faculty, Saturday's pre-scheduled demonstration was presented by crowd-favorite, Daniel Greene.
The participants in this year's Face-Off were: Quang Ho, David Kassan, Paul Newton, Robert Liberace, Alexey Steele, Scott Burdick, Juliette Aristides, Daniel Sprick, Ellen Cooper, Jennifer Welty, Jeffrey Hein, Ryan S. Brown, Anthony Ryder, Tony Pro, and Wendy Caporale.
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| Jeffrey Hein |
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| Jennifer Welty |
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| Ryan S. Brown |
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| Tony Pro |
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| Wendy Caporale |
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| Anthony J. Ryder |
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| Paul Newton |
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| Quang Ho |
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| David Jon Kassan |
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| Daniel Sprick |
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| Ellen Cooper |
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| Juliette Aristides |
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| Alexey Steele |
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| Scott Burdick |
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| Robert Liberace |
