2013 Art of the Portrait: Day 2 The Awards Banquet

At 8:30 AM, Saturday's official program commenced when Everett Raymond Kinstler took to the podium for a program called "Pointing the Way II."  Using his well-known, direct and no-nonsense manner, Kinstler used his time to offer interesting and informative critiques of artworks displayed on the grand ballroom's large projection screens.  These paintings upon which Kinstler commented were submitted previously by Portrait Society members for this sole purpose, and this opportunity to have the paintings evaluated by an icon of American portraiture was a rare and valuable lesson, not only for the creators of the displayed works, but for the entire audience as well.

After a short break, Michael Shane Neal climbed the steps to the stage to introduce the demonstration by this year's People's Choice Winner from Thursday night's Face-Off.  This year's winner was Jeffrey Hein, a good-sport who had agreed to be a last-minute substitute for Casey Baugh during the Face-Off, and who then found himself having to take to the stage after wowing the crowds with his opening-night painting.  Though he had never before attended an Art of the Portrait conference, Hein ended up being one of the stars of weekend, and during his portrait demonstration of fellow-finalist Katherine Stone, Hein showed why he is such a popular instructor.  In the fewer than two hours he had to execute his painting, Hein offered many great pieces of advice, including, "Don't treat your paintings too preciously - It is better to wipe out a painting 12 times to get 1 great painting, than to paint 12 bad paintings because of a fear of making corrections."  Everyone appreciated his participation at this year's conference, and are sure to be looking forward to his return in the years to come.

During the lunch break, attendees who had pre-registered for the Faculty Lunch & Learn had the chance to sit down for an hour-long, face-to-face meeting with a faculty member of their choosing.  Depending on the faculty member selected, these sessions ranged from very informal and personal, to structured and scholarly, but although certain meeting rooms may have given the appearance of austere corporate boardrooms, all of these lunch sessions were casual question and answer periods where registrants were afforded the chance to interact directly with the generous professionals involved. 

Throughout the morning, James Gurney had been sitting in the shadows, officially sketching the onstage personalities, but in the afternoon, it was his turn to become the subject of a painting.  In a program originally titled Legacy in Paint, Judy Carducci - standing in for the recovering Daniel Greene - created a pastel portrait of Gurney during this, the last demonstration of the day.  Carducci, a diminutive, grandmotherly figure, had the audience roaring with laughter as she entertained them with semi-bawdy limericks while she worked.  The first of these she recited was:

With all of the laughter and joy that can be created while producing a work of art, it is no wonder that so many non-artists think that what we do is only playtime - but those people would also likely misunderstand the hard work and practice that went into making such a production look so effortless.

Just before 5 o'clock, with the teaching activities done for the day, the attendees returned to their rooms to relax, and perhaps make plans for the rest of their evenings.  Those holding tickets to the gala Awards Banquet that night, however, had little time to rest as they readied themselves for the big event of the weekend.

Wearing their best finery, and looking like works of art themselves, the artists in attendance entered the banquet hall promptly at 7:00 PM to hear who was the winner of this year's William F. Draper Grand Prize.  Before any awards were announced, however, we were all treated to a delicious dinner prepared by the hotel's chef, which included a unique dessert with a Tequila lime-juice syringe, and a chocolate coin stamped with the Society's name.  No sooner had the last dessert fork been placed aside, the award winners' names began to be read, and a parade of talented people began crossing the stage at a whirlwind pace better suited for a relay race than for an awards ceremony (to be fair - there were quite a few award winners to be announced, and still other presentations to go before the end of the evening).  

First came the Portfolio Review Winners - who included Leslie Adams, Casey Childs, and Marina Dieul.  Then came the Certificate of Excellence Winners: Jonathan Ahn, Garin Baker, Antonio Bedolla, Mia Bergeron, Melinda Borysevicz, Gregory Dearth, Lee Hutt, Stanka Kordic, Fongwei Liu, Leah Mantini, Andrea Mosley, Teresa Oaxaca, Katie O'Hagan, Aapo Pukk, Kishor Purekar, D.K. Richardson, John Schaeffer, Sara Sniderhan, Joel Spector, and Terry Strickland - of whom many, but not all, were in attendance.  These were followed by the finalists who had earned an award of Exceptional Merit:  T.J. Cunningham, Marina Dieul, Glenn Harrington, Jeffrey Hein, Alicia Ponzio, Mardie Rees, Mary Sauer, Ardith Starostka, Katherine Stone, and Jennifer Welty.  Next came the Honor Awards recipients, Seth Haverkamp - who also won the People's Choice Award - David Kassan, Cheng Lian, Gregory Mortenson, and Richard Christian Nelson.  Then came Lynn Sanguedolce, who took first honors, followed by Serge Marshennikov and Iliya Mirochnik, who placed Second and First respectively.  Kerry Dunn climbed the stage next to accept his award for Best of Show, and that left only one award yet to bestow - the William F. Draper Grand Prize, which was given to Leslie Adams for her grand-scale, charcoal drawing of her younger self.  After congratulations were passed around, Jack Richeson, who had presented the Grand Prize to Adams, next drew for the winner of the Richeson easel used by the faculty for their main-stage demonstrations;  this year, the easel went to David Kassan, who comically tried to carry the apparatus away with him, and back to his dinner seat.

After the presentation of the individual awards, Michael Shane Neal returned to the podium to announce the institutional winner of the Excellence in Fine Art Education Award.  This year the award was given to New York City's Salmagundi Club, and Claudia Seymour, President of the Club, was there to accept the honors.  Reading aloud from the plaque presented to the club, Neal recited Salmagundi's achievements:

Ms. Seymour graciously received the award, and then briefly spoke of Salmagundi's renaissance in regards to the continuing renovations taking place at the club's historic brownstone mansion in Greenwich Village.

Ray Kinstler next stepped onstage to announce the recipient of the Portrait Society of America's Gold Medal Award, but before presenting that distinction to his long-time friend, Charles Reid, Kinstler had at least one more award to bestow.  Kinstler, a member of The Players club in New York City, was responsible for selecting an artist to paint a posthumous portrait of actor Jimmy Stewart for the club's collection, and he announced at the conference that finalist Lynn Sanguedolce was the person chosen for that prestigious commission.  He then presented an unexpected award to a shocked Evert Ploeg, in recognition of the outstanding portfolio the Australian had also submitted in consideration for the Stewart portrait commission.  With those honors imparted, Kinstler then turned to his main purpose, which was to give Reid his medal honoring the watercolorist's body of work, and for his role as an inspiring teacher.  Reid shared images of several of his paintings, and humbly accepted his accolade from Kinstler and the audience before returning to is seat.

The final presenter to take the stage was James Gurney, the keynote speaker of the 15th Annual Art of the Portrait Conference.  Having already inspired the audience the previous day with a lecture and slide show about sketching portraits in everyday life, the renowned illustrator, artist, and educator motivated the audience anew with an entirely different presentation, this time on the role of imagination in painting.  The applause at the conclusion of Gurney's speech was thunderous, and it took quite some time for the audience to settle, and to prepare to leave the banquet hall.

The Awards Gala had come to an end.

Afterwards, many of the banquet attendees, all dressed-up and too excited to retire for the evening, found their ways to the hotel lounge, to congratulate the night's big winners, and for one last chance to socialize with their friends.