1st Quarter Journal 2023

WE DID IT! We fully funded our dream of creating a Portrait Society podcast. Funding the arts and staying relevant is challenging and requires a constant vigilance to make sure we are on the forefront of our discipline. Over the last few years, I’ve been thinking a podcast would be a perfect fit to extend our reach globally and continue our mission to educate, inspire and connect artists that share a passion for the portrait. Thank you to the following members that donated to and fully funded the cost of recording equipment, software, music, artwork, and hosting fees. As our way of saying thank you, your name will be listed on our podcast channel as one of our founding funders. Stay tuned – we’re working on a name for the podcast channel, topics, and content, and purchasing the needed hardware and software.

Barb and Todd Albert, Michele Alioto, Lilliam A. Ambroggio, Michelle Andrews, Esther Antler, Cheryl Arnold, Michael F. Barrett, Gwenneth Barth-White, Alan Bell, Janis Casco Blayer, Shay Blum, Tooty Bradford, Sue Braswell, Whitney Brock, Lisa Busby, Kathleen Carroll, William T. Chambers, Linda H. Champanier, Raj Chaudhuri, Helena

M. Chiou, Leo T. Chylack, Jr., MD, Momir Cirovic, Timothy Crisman, Alison Currie, Ray Darnell, Charles Elchoueri, Gail Ferretti, Ronald Franklin, Thomas Frist, Nina Fritz, Sowmya Gade, Deborah Gill, Max Ginsburg, Warren Griffin, Lihuai He, Beverly Heasley, Candy Perque Herlihy, Marjorie S. Hicks, Bunny Homan, Vasudeo Taranath

Kamath, Pam Kampner, Amy Kann, Lisa Kovvuri, Anne Marie Kratz, Alison Landry, Ying-He Liu, Cortney Lunt, Johanne Mangi, Michael Martonick, Nancy Mauck, Dee Ann McIntyre, Loretta McNair, Pushpa Mehta, Suzy Mellott, James R. Michie, Mary A. Muller, Pamela Nichols, Leslie Nordness, Ruth P. Norwood, Beth Norwood, Julie Flom Pizzo, Rosario Ponte, Jennifer Puryear, Robert L. Raab, Terry L. Reimer, Laura Roney, Ed Routon, Jill Rudzik, Miriam Saba-Haber, Elizabeth Salim, Andrea Schneider, Joan Scudder, Maureen Scullin, Carol Sheets, Jaceena Shepard, Nan Frazer Smith, Sandy Smith, Kathleen Sparkman, Mr. and Mrs. James W. Spradley, Jr., Nancy Stember, Terry Jo Tasche, Lark Upson, Karin van Oort, Manjit Vohra, Kathleen Wallace, and Thomas Wharton

Board Members

Michael Shane Neal, Chair, Nashville, Tennessee

Dawn Whitelaw, Vice-Chair, Franklin, Tennessee

Wende Caporale-Greene, Treasurer/Secretary, Woodbury, Connecticut

Quang Ho, Denver, Colorado

Mary Whyte, Charleston, South Carolina

Executive Director

Christine Egnoski

Advisory Board

Sam Adoquei, New York, New York

James Gurney, Rhinebeck, New York

Robert Liberace, Vienna, Virginia

Dean Mitchell, Tampa, Florida

Rhoda Sherbell, N.A., Westbury, New York

Burton Silverman, N. A., New York, New York

Jennifer Welty, Santa Cruz, California

Staff & Newsletter Contributors

Kim Azzarito, Assistant Director

Amanda Oliver, Membership Director

Allison Gilliard, Special Programs and Outreach

Kerry Vosler, Writer, State Ambassador Coordinator

Mailing address:

Portrait Society of America

P.O. Box 11272

Tallahassee, FL 32302

Shipping address: 1109 S. Magnolia Ave. Tallahassee, FL 32301

Toll free Telephone: 1-877-772-4321

Fax: 850-222-7890

Christine Egnoski Executive Director

table of contents

3 New Works: Kevin Chambers, Liz Lindstrom, Luis Alvarez Roure, Sivananda Nyayapathi

4 Cecilia Beaux Forum: Elizabeth Sparhawk-Jones by Rowena Finn

6 Future Generation Winners

9 State Ambassador Report: Kerry Vosler

10 Members Only Competition Winners

16 In Memoriam: John Howard Sanden

18 Signature Status Designees

20 Portrait Society Member News

22 New and Renewing Members: December, January, February

24 2023 Wednesday Webinars

Web: www.portraitsociety.org

The Art of the Portrait® Newsletter is published quarterly by the Portrait Society of America. All contents copyright Portrait Society (unless otherwise noted). No part or whole of this newsletter may be reproduced or transmitted in any form unless prior express consent has been given. Please send submissions to the editor at the Portrait Society.

Design

Charity Myers I THE CREATIVE POOL DESIGN charity@thecreativepooldesign.com

First Place Outside the Box: Dana Hawk, Fighter Oil and copper leaf on panel, 24x18”

new work from members

Luis Alvarez Roure, Portrait of Stanley C K Au., 36x36”, Oil on linen

Kevin Chambers, The Encounter - Simeon and The Christ Child, 58”, Bronze

Sivananda Nyayapathi, Natalie, 24x18”, Oil on Canvas

Liz Lindstrom, Sally Spears, 16x24”, Oil on Canvas

ELIZABETH SPARHAWK-JONES: PAINTING ON THE PULSE

In the first decade of the twentieth century, the New York Times declared her to be the “find of the year.” A critic even suggested that her skills had greatly surpassed those of her teacher, William Merritt Chase. By the time she was 24 years old, she was exhibiting all across the country, had earned an impressive number of accolades and awards, and had sold several paintings for today’s equivalent of $20,000 each; a rarity for any female painter at that time. By all accounts, Elizabeth Sparhawk-Jones was shaping up to be one of the greatest painters of the early twentieth century.

Almost as abruptly as her paintings caught the attention of the art world, she withdrew from it all. Decades later, after grappling with severe depression, she began a second successful art career. Keenly aware of the radically different art scene of the mid-twentieth century, she kept her brushwork as potent as in her earlier light-filled works, but imbued her later works with a strikingly darker tone.

Elizabeth Huntingdon Jones was born on November 8, 1885 in Baltimore, Maryland to the Rev. John Sparhawk Jones, D.D. and Harriet Sterett Winchester. She would later change her name to “Elizabeth Sparhawk-Jones” to honor her father’s mother. She enrolled at the progressive Pennsylvania Academy

By Rowena F. Finn

of the Fine Arts (PAFA), the only art academy in the United States that admitted women at the time, and earned a long list of awards. In 1909, her entry for the Carnegie Institute’s American Salon, In Rittenhouse Square, won Honorable Mention. That notable award made her the only American to earn an Honorable Mention and the only woman to win anything at all in that year’s exhibition.

When she exhibited Shop Girls at the Carnegie Institute’s 1912 American Salon, critic Adele Fay Williams wrote rapturously: “Shop Girls…is a splendidly spontaneous study, easily managed, brilliant in color, modern in treatment. It embodies more than the hint of existing conditions. It is absolutely different in conception from a study of a department store…in last year’s exhibition.”

Williams, a female writer, was clearly attuned to more than Elizabeth’s decisive and confident brushwork. She appreciated the female perspective and unique treatment of Elizabeth’s subjects; the rise of the middle-class and women’s burgeoning independence. The new department stores enabled upperclass women to venture out unaccompanied by men, and for other women to work at a respectable job.

Elizabeth Sparhawk-Jones in her studio c. 1905

Shop Girls, 37.9x47.9”, oil on canvas

Then in 1913, Elizabeth suddenly retreated from public view. After a series of personal tragedies, she succumbed to a debilitating depression and spent the next three years in a mental institution. Elizabeth didn’t fully return to painting until the mid-1920s. Robert Henri and Morton Schamberg (who had also studied under Chase at the same time as Elizabeth) were members of the Ashcan School, which sought to portray everyday urban life in New York. They were instrumental in organizing the infamous 1913 Armory Show, an attempt to show American developments in European art since Romanticism. Although Elizabeth admired the new “urban realism”, she forged her own path, straddling both the old and the new worlds of American art.

When she began painting again, she worked almost exclusively with watercolor on primed linen and turned toward more cerebral and surrealistic subjects. Observers of her newer works insisted she must have added something to her paint, as her brushstrokes looked thick and heavy-bodied, but she always insisted she used nothing but watercolor.

Paintings such as The Generations (c.1940) and The Dreamer (1942) capture Elizabeth’s shift from the visible world to her more dreamy, haunted imagery in a style she liked to call “painting on the pulse.” At this stage in her life, she recognized that even masterful brushwork was not enough. She observed the growing importance of concept over technical skills and embraced it wholeheartedly. Marsden Hartley, a younger painter she mentored, once called her “a thinking painter, with a rare sense of poetic and romantic incident” who had “come out of the fashionable past with a second, fresher and more interesting personality.”

Elizabeth’s watercolors were purchased by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Wichita Art Museum, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, among others. In 1944, American Artist Magazine wrote of her, “Strange, that she is not recognized far and wide as one of the ablest, most distinguished women painters in the United States.”

Adding to her relative anonymity, her body of work is regrettably incomplete. Like Chase, she burned the paintings she deemed unsatisfactory, and although written records and photos exist of some pieces, the whereabouts of many of her works are unknown.

Elizabeth Sparhawk-Jones never married, though she experienced more than one serious romance. The love of her life, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Edwin Arlington Robinson, did reciprocate her feelings, but they both held the conviction that one could never be truly dedicated to one’s art and be married. Just as he penned poems dedicated to her, perhaps she found a way to express such complicated emotions with her brush. Elizabeth passed away December 26, 1968 at the age of 83 and was buried with her parents and sister in a cemetery in Maryland.

In Rittenhouse Square, 32.5x32.3”, oil on canvas

The Generations, 16.75x24”, watercolor and oil on linen

The Dreamer, 24.5x28.5”, watercolor on linen attached to board

INTRODUCING THE 2023 FUTURE GENERATION COMPETITION WINNERS

Earlier this year, the Portrait Society of America hosted our third annual The Future Generation Competition. This competition was created to acknowledge the work of talented, young artists, who are 18 to 25 years old. Different from our annual The International and Members Only Competitions, this competition was created to recognize and celebrate the work of young, talented individuals, who have demonstrated an early degree of skill in the realm of figurative art and portraiture – the future generation of portrait artists. It was our late Chair Edward Jonas’ belief that early recognition in art competitions can have a great impact on a young artist’s career, as it did for John Singer Sargent, who at the age of twenty-three, won Honorable Mention at the Paris Salon for a portrait he painted of his teacher, Carolus-Duran, thus launching his portrait career. This year, the judges were Dawn Whitelaw, Adam Clague and Stephanie Thomson. They viewed 343 entries submitted from artists around the world, including China, Austria, Romania, Canada, Italy, Poland, Netherlands, Norway, Nigeria, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The young artists selected for the top four placements come from different backgrounds and countries, but they all share an early passion for the pursuit of portraiture.

FIRST PLACE WINNER: Jana Büttner (Austria), Burden, 59x51x43”, Clay

First Place was awarded to Austrian artist Jana Büttner for her clay sculpture titled, Burden. As a young child, Jana’s parents always encouraged her to pursue her passion for art. “I come from a family which always encouraged creativity,” said Jana. “I think that’s a huge part of why I was able to find my passion. I played the violin, the piano and danced ballet.” Alongside those early creative pursuits, Jana recalled family trips to France where she and her mother would source materials, such as pigment and clay. “I remember trips to pigment mountains in France where my mother and I were sourcing our own pigments and made paint,” explained Jana. “We harvested our own clay from the riverbeds and sculpted. So, I was always encouraged to express myself creatively, which I am very grateful for.”

Jana first attended an art school at the age of 10. It was a school for all forms of arts, including music, theater, literature, and art. At the age of 14, she changed to a sculpture school in Austria, where she learned how to carve wood, stone, weld and work in clay. “The first time I worked figuratively in clay I knew that I had found my language in art, but it wasn’t until the age of 18 that I was certain to pursue art as a career,” said Jana. “I knew that I wanted to pursue this as a career, the language of expressing yourself with your bare hands showing emotions and creating something from something that hasn’t exist before is fascinating to me. I think everybody finds their own language in the arts where they feel most confident to express themselves and for me it is sculpture.”

After earning her degree at the art school in Austria, Jana applied for the Florence Academy of Art in central Italy. After graduating from the Florence Academy in 2020, Jana received a 4th year teaching position, and the year after, a position as principal instructor. While enjoying teaching, she decided to focus on her career as an artist and left the academy to pursue fulltime work as a sculptor, which she does now.

In her winning work, Burden, Jana was inspired by the different types of “weight” we all carry with us in our day to day lives. “In this sculpture I wanted to depict the same person carrying

himself. The constant weight we put on ourselves, we often carry it around with us for our entire life. Sometimes it can put us down on our knees, and sometimes it is light as a feather so that we don’t feel it. Most of the time it is the balance we are looking for, how to not let the weight push us down. It is a balance between our mind and our body. A never-ending cycle even though our bodies are fading, our soul will still continue to carry on.”

SECOND PLACE WINNER: Phoebe Carter (United Kingdom), Portrait of Hunter Parry, 60x50”, Oil

Our Second Place winner, Phoebe Stewart Carter, currently works from her studio in Gloucestershire, UK. After studying art in high school, Phoebe joined Sarum Studios in Salisbury, England, studying under artist Nicholas Beer and training extensively in the sight-size technique. In 2018, Phoebe travelled to Florence for a more rigorous instruction of the same practice at the Florence Academy of Art. After completing their three-year course, Phoebe was awarded an artist in residence prize. In this role, Phoebe was able to teach both the first-year students and the advanced third year painting groups, an experience that she felt was just as, if not more, educational for her as it was for the students. Returning to England, Phoebe has since exhibited at the Nymans National Trust Property in West Sussex and at the Hampstead Art Society Annual Exhibition.

Her winning work, Portrait of Hunter Parry, was inspired by the sitter’s own unique countenance. “Since I’ve known Hunter, he has always sported an original look that is part 1920s mustachioed gentleman, part 1990s skater,” said Phoebe. “As a huge admirer of 19th and 20th century portraiture, Hunter’s timeless look inspired me to paint him. At the time of the sittings, I was also trying to become more colorful and bolder in my technique, and so I drew a lot of inspiration from the Russian artist Ilya Repin, who happened to paint many mustached men.” In her oil portrait of Hunter, Phoebe captures the sitter’s contemplative downturned gaze through his roundrimmed glasses.

“I have always gravitated towards portraiture,” explained Phoebe. “People are endlessly interesting, and undergoing the task of painting or drawing them is a challenging one. The need for draftsmanship was one of the first things that drew me into painting. I noticed a lack of emphasis on technique, skill, and draftsmanship  in most painting and drawing instruction I had as a teenager, and sought after an education that would teach me this. It was after falling in love with painting as a craft, that I became interested in being exploratory and creative with these skills.”

THIRD PLACE WINNER: Mikayel Harutyunyan (Armenia), Hey How Are You?, 55x35”, Oil

In his winning work, Hey How are You?, Armenian artist Mikayel Harutyunyan painted a portrait of his friend, Gabriel. “In real life, Gabriel, the subject of my painting, and I often get together,” said Mikayel. “Despite a considerable age gap,

future generations

we are good friends, because he has a cheerful, active and energetic personality. And so one day when he came for a customary visit, I decided to paint his portrait.” During the sitting, Mikayel attempted to convey the sense of his everpresent optimism and cheerful disposition. “In the title, too, I tried to make a connection between the subject of my painting

would give me advice, which is something I always welcomed.” Prior to enrolling in art schools, Mikayel took two years of private studio instruction where he received one-on-one instruction in the techniques of traditional art. In 2016, he was admitted to the Armenian National Academy of Fine Arts, from which he graduated in 2020. Since then, Mikayel has begun his career as a commissioned portrait artist and exhibited his work at the Museu Europeu d’Art Modern (MEAM) in Barcelona, Spain.

FOURTH PLACE WINNER: Samuel Hoskins (United States), In Filth It Is Found, 39x47”, Oil on Linen

Hoskin’s winning work, In Filth It Is Found, depicts a threequarter portrait of a young man wearing a monk’s robe and perched on a rock. “The contemplative monk is very much a reflection of my journey as a painter,” Samuel said. “I feel on the fringe of both the journey finished (in my formal academic studies) and the new chapter beginning. The inscription in the stone, “in sterquiliniis invenitur” (in filth it is found), is a hermetic axiom and subtle prayer that I will not shy away from the “filth” or those things that appear difficult or mundane and instead, I will search for meaning.”

Like many of this year’s winners, Samuel learned the fundamental techniques of drawing and painting while studying at The Florence Academy of Art. Since then, he has been studying Carl Jung, Robert Henri, Giordano Bruno, and many other philosophers, thinkers, and painters for insight as to what it means to be a painter.

and the viewer,” he explained, “thereby gifting the viewer with Gabriel’s positive emotions and cheerful attitude. Incidentally, I often get comments from viewers that their spirits are lifted by looking at the painting.”

As a budding young artist, Mikayel began his creative pursuits in music with piano lessons, while his brother focused on painting. As he got older, Mikayel stopped going to piano lessons and told his parents that he would prefer to learn to paint. “Then conversely, my brother decided to fine-tune his skills in the field of music,” Mikayel recalled. “And that is how we ended up switching our specialties. Years have passed by, and he is now a composer, and I am a painter.”

Older mentors and teachers have played a critical role in Mikayel’s development as a young artist. “I have always spent a lot of time with artists of older age,” he said. “Many of them

“I have always seen painting as primarily an exploratory process,” explained Samuel. “In today’s society, artists play the role of the archetypal ‘shaman’ or in my case, the one who, through venturing deep into the mind, attempts to pull novel and necessary information into reality through images.  To me, the development of an internal journey through imagery is what distinguishes the greatest painters from the rest and allows paintings to continue to speak and deliver new insights to people centuries after its inception. It is the feeling that there is something important out there that I am responsible to express that draws me to this field.”

Other finalists this year included, Leo Bignell, Chantal Boso, Danco Duportai, Caden Ferita, Astrid Gaszynski, Shiori Mori, Yizhi Gu, Olivia Miller, Kim-Vi Tran, Hannah Tija, Mattie Neal, and Heidi Yacoubian. Honorable mentions went to Haoran Chang, Rachel Drennen, Lydia Chapman, Tina Figarelli, Noah Klavens, Kayley Jane Dykman, Shivdeep Singh, Yuchen Wu, and Carla Youbi. All of their award-winning works are available to view on our website. Congratulations to all of this year’s entries and winners!

The State Ambassador program is just one of the Portrait Society of America’s many resources available for its members. The goal of the State Ambassadors is to create a greater awareness of portrait and figurative art amongst members and non-members and to inspire interested artists toward consistent improvements in methods and techniques. Currently we have State Ambassadors in 41 states and 3 international regions. The names and email addresses of each ambassador are listed below. If you are interested in serving as an ambassador for your state, please visit www.portraitsociety.org/ state-ambassadors or call 1-877-772-4321 for more information and to receive an application.

UNITED STATES:

ALABAMA

Michael Swann artistmichaelswann@gmail.com

ALASKA

Donna Catotti catotti.alaska@yahoo.com

Nancy Angelini Crawford angelinistudio1@gmail.com

ARIZONA

Jean Turner Smith jeanaes@aol.com

CALIFORNIA

Nancy Van Buskirk vanbuskirkartistry@verizon.net

COLORADO

Crystal Despain crystal@crystaldespain.com

CONNECTICUT

Jeanine Jackson jacksonportraits@aol.com

DELAWARE

Linda Harris Reynolds lhrportraits@aol.com

FLORIDA

Katherine Cook stallionsxisto@me.com

Debby Bird (Greater Jacksonville region) debbybirdpaintings@gmail.com

Elkin Canas (Miami-Dade region) ecanas@mifamiami.com

HAWAII

Janis Casco Blayer art@janisblayer.com

IDAHO

Deborah Gill deborahgillart@gmail.com

ILLINOIS

Kim Abbati kssmyart@aol.com

INDIANA

Dianna Porter dporter46@att.net

KANSAS

Denice Belcher denicebelcher@gmail.com

Cathy Kline info@cathyklineartgallery.com

KENTUCKY

Melanie Harding Bates trportrait@aol.com

LOUISIANA Kim Bernadas kbsclpt@gmail.com

MARYLAND Ann Sharp sharpmayer@gmail.com

MASSACHUSETTS

Mary Lazar maryclazar@gmail.com

MICHIGAN Kathleen Ericson kmpericson@yahoo.com

Robert Scudder robertjscudder@gmail.com

MINNESOTA Suzann Beck suzann_beck@email.com

MISSOURI

Anne Molasky a.molasky.i@gmail.com

Denice Belcher denicebelcher@gmail.com

Cathy Kline info@cathyklineartgallery.com

NEBRASKA

Rachel Mindrup rachelmindrup@creighton.edu

Littleton Alston littletonalston@creighton.edu

NEVADA Ray Freeman vftagnv@charter.net

Linda Smith lsmith.lv@outlook.com

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Mary Lazar maryclazar@gmail.com

Catherine Nunn catnunn@comcast.net

NEW JERSEY

Nanci France-Vaz nancifrance@gmail.com

NEW MEXICO

Carol Fairlie Fairlieh2o@sbcglobal.net

NEW YORK

Patricia Boes memoriesinpastel@gmail.com

NORTH CAROLINA

Luana Luconi Winner portraits@winnerstudios.com

OHIO

Marlene Steele marlenesteele@fuse.net

OKLAHOMA

Dana Cook Lombardo dclfineart@aol.com

Kathryn Walker Richardson kathrynwalkerrichardson@hotmail.com

OREGON Alisha Joy alishajoystudios@gmail.com

PENNSYLVANIA

Nicole Troup nfntroup6@gmail.com

RHODE ISLAND

Len DeAngelis lendeangelis@verizon.net

SOUTH CAROLINA

Jennifer Heyd Wharton jenniferheydwharton@gmail.com

TENNESSEE

Betty Bullen bullenart@aol.com

TEXAS

Nora Dempsey txambassador@noradempsey.com

Mary Hull marykearneyhull@gmail.com

Robin Williamson rgwilliamson@comcast.net

Carol Fairlie fairlieh2o@sbcglobal.net

UTAH

Shari Lyon sharilyon@gmail.com

Rachel Christensen rrchristensenart@gmail.com

VERMONT

Catherine Nunn catnunn@comcast.net

VIRGINIA

Nancy Parsons nancyhparsons@msn.com

WASHINGTON

Scott Jones scottjonesfineart@gmail.com

WEST VIRGINIA

Ann Sharp sharpmayer@gmail.com

WISCONSIN

Ted Coombs tc@tedcoombs.com

INTERNATIONAL:

AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND

Janelle Hatherly janelle.hatherly@bigpond.com

EUROPE & UNITED KINGDOM

Lisa Betteridge lisajbetteridge@aol.com

LATIN AMERICA

Elkin Canas ecanas@mifamiami.com

MEMBERS ONLY COMPETITION WINNERS FOR 2022

For the past 18 years, the Portrait Society has hosted a competition our members only. We received an overwhelming total of 1,165 entries with the quality of works reaching yet another level of excellence. The judges based their selections on a specific set of criteria that included fundamental skill development, technical proficiency within the potential of the meduim, originality and uniqueness in concept and design, and aesthetic sophistication. The following pages feature this year’s award winners. Thank you to all the members that participated and were part of another great collection of creative work.

COMMISSIONED PORTRAIT

1st Place: Ned Bittinger

Judge Thomas Catliota, 40x32”, Oil on Linen

2nd Place: Grace Devito

John, 26x22”, Oil on linen canvas

3rd Place: Oliver Sin

The Legend, 17x14” , Vine Charcoal on Drawing Paper

4th Place: Ellen Cooper

Un Petit-Déjeuner en Famille, 52x68”, Oil on linen canvas

5th Place: Susan Wakeen

Little One, 7.5x7.5”, Hydrocal

6th Place: Joseph Daily

7th Place: Kelly Birkenruth

8th Place: Jennifer Welty

9th Place: Vladimir Zlotskiy

10th Place: Lisa Kovvuri

COMMISSIONED PORTRAIT

1st Place: Ned Bittinger

NON-COMMISSIONED PORTRAIT

1st Place: Carla Paine

OUTSIDE THE BOX

1st Place: Dana Hawk

STILL LIFE

1st Place: Sherrie McGraw

ANIMALS AS THE SUBJECT

1st Place: Richard Jolley

COMMISSIONED PORTRAIT

Finalists (alpha order): Daud Akhriev, Cameron Anderson, Ali Cavanaugh, Gary Cooley, John Darley, Angela De la Vega-Goga, Grace Flott, Thomas Caleb Goggans, Sean Hutton, Jacqueline Jasper, Jingyi Li, Ying-He Liu, Sergey Malina, Susan Patton, Oscar Peterson, Meghan Sours, James Tennison, Terry Ward, Trilby Wood, and Yanqi Zhai

NON-COMMISSIONED PORTRAIT

1st Place: Carla Paine

Girl Seated in a Rocking Chair, 24x34”, Oil on linen

2nd Place: Sherrie McGraw

The Archeologist, 16x12”, Oil

3rd Place: Krista Johnson

Old Friend, 30x40”, Oil

4th Place: Stephanie Deshpande

Portrait of Jamie, 12x9”, Oil on panel

5th Place: LeRoy Transfield

Memory, 16x18x11”, Clay

6th Place: Arina Gordienko

7th Place: Ali Cavanaugh

8th Place: Karen Warshal

9th Place: Bing Lv

10th Place: Jiaxuan Yi

Finalists (alpha order): Daud Akhriev, Matteo Caloiaro, Lauren Carlo, Maddin Corey, Gang Dai, Nicole Finger, Rosanna Gaddoni, David Goatley, Barbara Hack, Carol Kirby, YuQuan Liu, Howard Lyon, Gayle Madeira, Shuchi Muley, Christina Ramos, David Tanner, John Tenney, Susan Wallace, Samuel Walter, and Daniela Werneck

OUTSIDE THE BOX

1st Place: Dana Hawk

Fighter, 24x18”, Oil and copper leaf on panel

2nd Place: Lihuai He Lily, 130x70cm, Oil on linen

3rd Place: Diana Kirkpatrick

The Hive, 40x30”, Charcoal

4th Place: Stephen Mangum

Illusions of My Childhood No. 11, 72x108”, Oil

5th Place: Lib Mason

I’m not the only girl. They’re many girls like me, 36x36”, Oil on panel

6th Place: Shana Levenson

7th Place: Rosanna Gaddoni

8th Place: Nicole Finger

9th Place: Anastasiya Chybireva Fender

10th Place: Mardie Rees

Finalists (alpha order): Heather Brunetti, Esther Candari, Ali Cavanaugh, Chris Clamp, Denise

Dambrackas, Nanci

France-Vaz, Joke Frima, David Goatley, Jessica Lewis, Junyi Liu, Pamela Mack, Mark Miltz, Leah Mitchell, GayLynn

Ribeira, John Rowe, Meghan Sours, Gail

Wegodsky, Louise Weir, Hayley Williams, and Jing Zhao

STILL LIFE

1st Place: Sherrie McGraw

Spanish Santo with Grapes and Leaves, 20x16”, Oil

2nd Place: Diego Glazer

Unwrapped, 30x26”, Oil on canvas

3rd Place: Daud Akhriev

Wrapped, 10.5x8.5”, Oil on panel

4th Place: Stewart White

Shoes for Industry, 9x12”, Egg Tempera

5th Place: Ashley Glazier

Camouflage, 27x30”, Oil on linen

6th Place: Stephanie Deshpande

7th Place: Susan Patton

8th Place: Abigail McBride

9th Place: Brooke Olivares

10th Place: Sally Ryan

Finalists (alpha order): Ashwini Bharathula, Matthew Bird, Kelly

Birkenruth, Sue Braswell, Ellen Buselli, Landon Clay, Joseph Daily, Richard Hall, Melissa Hefferlin, Eric Johnson, Jeanne

Leemon, Shana Levenson, Matt Miller, Aapo

Pukk, GayLynn Ribeira, John Rowe, Deborah Schlossman, John Suh, Jiaxuan Yi, and Yanqi Zhai

Finalists (alpha order): Steve Atkinson, Leticia Bernadac, Deborah Brees, Rachel Durkin

Cachero, Rosanna Gaddoni, Jody Gerber, Dana Hawk, Perry deVick, Cindy Kopenhafer, Janet Maines, Stephen Mangum, Heather Olsen, Susan O’Neill, Patricia Rice, William Rogers, Cindy SorleyKeichinger, Doreen St. John, William Suys, Alexandra Telgmann, and Daniel Wornicov

ANIMALS AS THE SUBJECT

1st Place: Richard Jolley

Camouflage, 27x30”, Oil on linen

2nd Place: Xin Fang

Follow my Heart, 118x160x106’’, Bronze

3rd Place: Doug Levitt

Early Spring, 20x20”, Oil on panel

4th Place: Joseph Daily

Penelope, 14x16”, Oil on linen canvas

5th Place: Kai Lun Qu

Shaggy Dog, 9x12”, Oil

6th Place: Nicole Desmond

7th Place: Johanne Mangi

8th Place: Vicky Gooch

9th Place: Rainny Zhao

10th Place: Mary Ross Buchholz

JOHN HOWARD SANDEN

August 6, 1935 – December 24, 2022

John Howard Sanden had a distinguished career as an artist, author and teacher. He recently passed away at his home in Connecticut. John was the author of seven books on portrait painting, taught portraiture at the Art Students League of New York, and founded The Portrait Institute in 1974 with his wife, Elizabeth. He was 87 years old.

In his career, which spanned across 56 years, he completed more than 450 paintings of American leaders in government, business, and the professions. Two of the many highlights of his carrier was painting a US President and a series of African royalty.

First, the White House Historical Association, who is tasked with contracting with the selected artist to complete official White House Portraits, contact John in 2010. The painting was so well received by the President and his wife, Laura, that John was selected to paint her portrait as well. President George W. Bush is portrayed standing in the center of the Oval Office, his right hand resting on an armchair that was made for the White House in 1818. A corner of the “Resolute desk,” presented to the White House by Queen Victoria in 1880, can be seen behind the chair. Over his right shoulder hangs a 1929 western painting, A Charge to Keep, by William H. D. Koerner. The President, who had used the same title for his 1999 memoir, often called attention to that painting and its significance.

Second, a unique assignment that took place over 27 intermittent years in which John painted portraits of a series of African royalty, including His Majesty the Alaafin of Oyo, His Royal Highness the Emir of Kano, and others. He displayed these paintings and a number of other borrowed commissioned paintings at a solo exhibition at the Salmagundi Club in New York City in 2017.

For more than sixty years, Mr. Sanden was associated with The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, beginning in 1961 as a professional staff member and throughout later decades providing portraits, magazine cover illustrations, and other art. As recently as 2021, he created a large painting of The Empty Tomb for The Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, North Carolina. His final painting was a large family portrait with five family members for a client in McLean, Virginia.

President George Walker Bush, 49 ¾ x 40 1/8”, oil

In all of his professional endeavors, his wife of 49 years, Elizabeth was a vital part of his success. An artist herself, she uniquely understood what is required for a career in the fine arts and was a great asset to John. At the 2010 conference, John was presented with the Portrait Society’s highest honor, the Gold Medal, in recognition of his pursuit of excellence in his art and his educational contributions to fine art portraiture. In addition to many other awards, he received an honorary Fine Arts doctorate degree from Houghton College. In addition to being survived by his wife Elizabeth, he is also survived by his daughter, Pamela Brooke Sanden, his son, Jonathan Bryant Sanden and five grandchildren.

His Majesty the Alafin of Oyo, Oyo, Nigeria, Oil on canvas, 92x60”

C. Thomas Keegel, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Oil on canvas, 48 x 38”

Terence Cavanaugh, CEO, Erie Insurance Company, oil

SIGNATURE STATUS 2023

This year marks the tenth year the Portrait Society has inducted a class of Signature Members. We are honored to recognize such accomplished artists who are dedicated to the educational mission and high aesthetic standards of the Portrait Society of America. This honorary status grants the right to use the initials of the organization (PSS- Portrait Society Signature) on all personally created works as an indication of our harmonious high standards and goals: to create, to advance and to share. Congratulations to the eleven artists who were selected this year and who join a growing list of exceptional artists who share the Signature Status designation.

1. Jing An, Man of Great Erudition, 47x36’’, oil on linen

2. Ned Bittinger, Tom Meeker, CEO Churchill Downs, 40x32”, oil on linen

3. Louis Carr, Sunday Shoes, 33x24”, oil on panel

4. Kerry Dunn, Robin Ashford, oil on linen

5. Barbara Hack, A Life’s Collage, 36x18”, oil on panel

6. Dana Hawk, Archer and the Plea, 24x18”, Oil and copper leaf on panel

7. Lisa Kovvuri, The Conversation, 34x24”, oil on linen

8. Shuang Liu, Father, 24x36’’, oil on linen

9. Kevin Macpherson, Bai Hai Fish Sellers, 39x51”, oil

10. Judy Takács, The Activist, 20x24”, oil on canvas

11. Vladimir Zlotskiy, Crystal, 16x12”, pastel

SIGNATURE STATUS RECIPIENTS

Leslie Adams, Harry Ahn, Daud Akhriev, Jing An, Anna Rose Bain, Robert Barrett, Gwenneth Barth-White, Margaret Baumgaertner, Michael Bergt, Suchitra Bhosle, Ned Bittinger, Mary Buckman, Elena Burykina, Judith Carducci, Louis Carr, Casey Childs, Robin Cole, Ellen Cooper, Joseph Daily, Robin Damore, Gabriela Delosso, Stephanie Deshpande, Grace Devito, Kexin Di, Qiyu Dong, Kerry Dunn, Katherine Galbraith, Romulo Galicano, David Goatley, Kristy Gordon, Barbara Hack, Ben Hammond, Joanna Harmon, Liz Harris, Dana Hawk, Lihuai He, Jeff Hein, Garth Herrick, David Hettinger, Primary Hughes, Natalie Italiano, Jacqueline Jasper, Fengshi Jin, Vasudeo Kamath, Sam Knecht, Linda Kollacks, Lisa Kovvuri, Olga Krimon, Pramod Kurlekar, Shana Levenson, Chin-Hsien Lin, Jun Liu, Shuang Liu, Ying-He Liu, Yu Liu, Howard Lyon, Kevin Macpherson, Iliya Mirochnik, Kathy Morris, Gregory Mortenson, Ricky Mujica, Mary Muller, Annie Murphy-Robinson, Richard C. Nelson, Paul Newton, Olga Nielsen, Carol Peebles, Evert Ploeg, Alicia Ponzio, Aapo Pukk, Kishor Purekar, Ted Reed, Mardie Rees, Tim Rees, Sally Ryan, Patrick Saunders, Oliver Sin, Nathaniel Skousen, Peter Smeeth, Sharon Sprung, Ardith Starostka, William Suys, Judy Takács, Jianwu Tan, James Tennison, Hsin-Yao Tseng, Susan Wakeen, John Seibels Walker, Patricia Watwood, Jennifer Welty, Amy Werntz, Thomas Wharton, Ernest Wood, Wesley Wofford, Ming Yu, Elizabeth Zanzinger, Stephen Zhang and Vladimir Zlotskiy

Robin

Shahnaz Alqassab participated in the “Gulf Art Forum” held in Bahrain in February 2023. More than 50 academic and professional artists participated in this forum.

Damore was selected to paint the official portrait of the retiring Governor of Oregon, Kate Brown. The painting will hang in the Oregon State Capitol.

1. Nanci France-Vaz won a Purchase Award for her painting Emergence, A Story of Spring in the 16th International ARC Salon competition.

Tricia Kaman is honored to win the 2023 Governor’s Awards for the Arts in the “Individual Artist Category.” She will be presented with the award during a ceremony on May 17, 2023.

2. Dyan Law’s portrait, Street Dreams, 16x20”, oil on canvas, was juried into the 26th National Conference of Artists/Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Art Exhibition in New Orleans, LA, January 14 to February 28, 2023.

3. Patty McGeeney’s six-page article entitled “A Dream Come True” was featured in the January/February 2023 issue of Art of the West magazine.

4. Alexandrea Nicholas-Jennings was interviewed by and published in American Art Collector (March 2023 issue) regarding the exhibit at Dacia Gallery in NYC in the Women Artists Group Exhibition with thirteen other female artists.

5. Mark Pugh was awarded Best in Show ($25,000 Cash Award) in the 16th International ARC Salon competition for his painting An Unsatisfying Ending, 36x24”, oil and ink on linen mounted panel.

6. Patrick Saunders was awarded the status of Master Signature Member from the Oil Painters of America.

7. Nicole Troup’s portrait of Leah won Best of Show in the FCAA Annual 2022 Show.

exhibitions

1. Mika Denny’s mixed media drawing Ella the Fierce was juried into the prestigious American Women Artists Annual Museum Exhibition “Pushing Forward Reaching Back.” The show runs May 13-July 23, 2023, at Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina.

2. The twelve paintings from Stephen Mangum’s four-year social justice project “Illusions of My Childhood” will be presented in a solo exhibition at the Rosa Parks Museum in Montgomery, Alabama, May through July 2023.

workshops

4. Mary Ross Buchholz is teaching a three-day Tonal Expression workshop, June 22-24, 2023, at The Museum of Western Art in Kerrville, Texas. In this workshop, students will explore charcoal and graphite and will examine thoughts on design and composition. Learn more at www. museumofwesternart.com.

5. Casey Childs is hosting a workshop in his studio in Salem, Utah, September 7-9, 2023. This 3-day workshop will be a comprehensive study into painting portraits in oils. Learn more at caseychilds.com/ workshops.

6. Join Tina Garrett for her 5-Day Painting the Figure in Landscape Workshop in Portugal, September 18-22, 2023. Artists will learn Tina’s complete approach to creating a figure in the landscape including composition and design. Learn more at artisttinagarrett.com/workshop.

7. Daniel Gerhartz is teaching two “Training the Eye to See” workshops at his studio in Kewaskum, Wisconsin, June 19-22, 2023, and September 11-14, 2023. The focus of this workshop is on training yourself to see accurate relationships and to record them in the process of painting across all subject matter. Learn more at danielgerhartz. com/workshops.

8. Barbara Hack will explore some of the fundamentals of portrait painting in oils, working with the live model during her 10-day workshop retreat in Tuscany, Italy, September 3-13, 2023. During each painting session, Barbara will begin with a demo and then assist students with their paintings and provide any advice. Learn more at followtuscany.com/ courses.

3. Laura Schuler has been accepted into the #ArtFields2023 competition, on display at the festival in Lake City, South Carolina, April 19-29, 2023.

9. Robert Liberace is teaching an Intensive Figure and Portrait workshop in Essex, England, August 14-25, 2023. The classes will be inspired by the area’s rich artistic heritage in addition to the centuries of classical instruction, supported by the great Royal Academy in London, which helped shape and fuel these great English artists. Learn more at

biggest concepts and exercises behind learning to see and think as an artist. Learn more at mattiereeneal.com.

robertliberace.com/england.

10. Mattie Ree Neal is teaching a Fundamentals of Oil Painting workshop, May 31-June 2, 2023, at the Easton, Connecticut country home and studio of legendary artist Everett Raymond Kinstler. No prior experience is required as Mattie will cover everything from the most basic uses of materials and paint handling to the

11. Oliver Sin is teaching an Expressive Portrait Drawing workshop at Gage Academy of Art, June 19-23, 2023. This fiveday workshop will help you make competent drawings of portraits. You will draw from the live models and learn the techniques of mastering expressive portraiture with different dry media. Learn more at gageacademy.org.

The Portrait Society of America

P.O. Box 11272

Tallahassee, FL 32302

WEDNESDAY WEBINARS

Connect – Inspire – Educate

It’s three words that define the Portrait Society’s public purpose. In keeping with that mission, we are excited to unveil our Wednesday Webinars for 2023. All formats include a live Question-and-Answer session with the artist. Cost is only $49 and includes a link to view the webinar for 30 days. For more information and to register, please visit www. portraitsociety.org or call toll-free 1-877-772-4321.

Festival Pink, 12x9”, pastel

Susan Lyon

JULY 12, 2023

The Relationship Between Pastel and Oil

My Boy, 16x12”, oil

Jeff Hein

AUGUST 23, 2023

Painting the Portrait in Layers

Taking Flight, 30x24”, oil

Anna Rose Bain

NOVEMBER 8, 2023

Beyond the Cute Face: Children as Timeless Painting Subjects

1.877.772.4321 • info@portraitsociety.org • www.portraitsociety.org

Sunflower, 12x9”, oil on linen

Casey Childs

SEPTEMBER 13, 2023

Changing Your Perspective – A Critique Session

History, 48 x 36”, oil on linen

Rose Frantzen

OCTOBER 18, 2023

Bringing a Contemporary Perspective

Luminous, 19 x 12”, oil on linen

Michelle Dunaway

DECEMBER 6, 2023

Beyond A Likeness - What Elevates a Portrait Above the Average