Monday, June 9, 2025

Post 578: A PWAS Art Reception at the ARTfactory for BoR Part 2

A PWAS Art Reception at the ARTfactory for BoR Part 2

Saturday, June 7, 2025 At the ARTfactory in Manassas, VA. The Prince William Art Society (PWAS) art reception took place for the Best of the Region Fine Art Show and Sale (BoR) that opened June 3 and will run until June 15. The winners were crowned with beautiful ribbons and the artists were presented with their prizes. Everyone enjoyed the evening of art, artists, friends, family, art enthusiasts, food and beverages.

Let's Visit the Gallery

Be sure and see A PWAS Art Reception at the ARTfactory for BoR Part 1 which includes the winners! And Part 3 is out as well - find yourself in the pictures!

Check out Historic Manassas for a bit on the history of the ARTfactory located at 9419 Battle Street, Manassas, VA

Let's head back into the ARTfactory and enjoy the art reception! See if you can find yourself in the photos.

In the creation of the series of Art Reception photos of the Prince William Art Society / ARTfactory Art Reception on Saturday, May 7, 2025, I'm reminded of past visits to horse racing venues around Central Virginia. (May sound weird to include this, but go with the story...)

A big group of friends would get together and go to the horse races and of course you had to tailgate with all that entails. There was so much fun going on with enjoying the people, laughing, and enjoying the food and beverages. Occasionally you would forget that you were in the middle of a field and the horses were racing around the course until you heard the thundering hooves come around. So you'd have to push through the crowd and get to the rail to actually see the horses flying by.

Thanks to Otis Stanley for all of these great photos: I love seeing all the people all over the gallery, enjoying themselves and each other. As most artists know, art receptions are GREAT places for building artistic relationships with the folks in the area. With all of the artists in one room, its great to get to know each other, members of local art groups and art organizations. That's why the story of the horses racing by...we're all there to see the art AND the people that created it. So occasionally, we'll raise our heads and look over at the walls. So between the photos of the art reception attendees, I will insert the artwork so we don't miss them too! Alright, let's get into the gallery again...

There are elevators around the corner from the stairs, thankfully. Pretty convenient when bringing in/out those artworks and easier on the knees too!

Donna Liguria and Tom Payne

Name Tags for all the artists, for PWAS Board members, and guests had the sticker ones to create their own too! Great way to mingle when you know everyone's names!

Anticipation for the artists that soon would be there!

Those cookies don't stand a chance... the shrimp certainly didn't

Bettie Sperty's "The Garden"

Janet Hansen Martinet's "Life on Assateague"

Jordan Exum and Tom Payne - busy bees

John Haneklau (Mr. Kelly), Anna Gatling, and Kelly Haneklau

Anna Gatling's "Tulip"

Emily Thomson's "Yellow Company"

Suzanne Yurdin's "Land Narration (warm)" above and below is "Delta"

Sandra McClelland Lewin's "Virginia Natives"

Mike Flynn's "Along the Blueridge"

Artist Stephanie McGee - I need to point out that Stephanie does quilling, also known as paper filligree. Exquisite work!

Stephanie McGee's "Michelle"

Debra Keirce's "Charcuterie"

Christine Raymond's "As the Waters Fill the Sea"

Artist Kelly Haneklau

Mr.Tom Payne

Daughter of Anna Gatling, the artist of the painting

"Hydra" by Emily Thomson

Marina Olchevskaia and her artwork "Paleing Peonies" above and below is her "Wildflowers on the Window Sill"

Artist Sheri Herrick and her "Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany" (below)

Artist Bettie Sperty and her artwork, "Peaceful Reflections" (below)

Sandra McClelland Lewin's artwork "Iris Moon"

PWAS Member Mark Murphy's artwork "Worth the Hike"

Artist Asia Anderson - I have to commend Asia. On Drop-off Art Day we had another artist that came in just ahead of Asia that actually needed help with how her artwork was wired. Asia had an "Emergency Art Kit" in her car that she said she had learned to carry all the time. Her having that kit in hand allowed the unfortunate artist's artwork be remedied and allowed to be shown in the BoR show. Well done, Asia! - Now there is a great ART TIP if I ever saw one, fellow artists! Asia's artwork here is "Flower Girl"

Artist Zee Berrios with his artwork "Aftro Jazz" (above)

Zee's artwork "¡Olé!"

Anna Gatling's "Sing Joy"

Artist Maria "Tes' Sain and her artwork "Kuang Si Waterfalls"

Artist Lisa Stewart and her artwork "Twilight (Great Falls, Va)"

Artist Jaclyn Del Vacchio and her artwork "Twin Lights"

PWAS Member Tom Payne (left)

Artist Nicki Mulligan and her artwork "Wings of Heaven"

Andreia Gliga's "Background Journey"

Artist Sandra McClelland Lewin - PWAS Interim President

Artist Adreia Gliga and her artwork "Finding Direction"

Artist Corban Hubner

Artist Halle Strosser and her artwork "Toshiko"

Artist Mary Reilly

Mary Reilly's "Caitlyn" and "Wonderment" below

Artist Mark Clifton with his "In the Forest"

Artist Absku (right)

Voting for People's Choice is ongoing until end of show

Asia Anderson (left)

And we are going for a Part 3 Best of the Region (the final part) tomorrow, so watch for it.

Bet you're sorry now if you missed the reception! The show is up until June 15th so go see it!

And see this post too! Winner of the People's Choice

Author: Donna Liguria
Artistry Spin Blogmaster and an artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA, specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com, her Donna's Esty site and her Blog at Donna’s Cave Paintings.

Photography/Video Credits: Otis Stanley

Local Art: The Prince William Art Society is a 50+-year-old non-profit art group in PWC for the appreciation of fine art throughout the county and Northern Virginia. Visit us at any of our local art shows or join us for our monthly meetings - held on the 4th Monday of the month at the Tall Oaks Community Center at 12298 Cotton Mill Dr, Woodbridge, VA at 7:30pm

Want to join PWAS? Go to https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/membership

Have an idea for a blog post? Are you a writer and want to help with the blog? Let me know! Thank you for visiting, and remember to Share, Follow, and Comment (below)! ...Remember, comments are monitored so they will not show up immediately.

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Sunday, June 8, 2025

Post 577: A PWAS Art Reception at the ARTfactory for BoR Part 1

A PWAS Art Reception at the ARTfactory for BoR - Part 1

Saturday, June 7, 2025 At the ARTfactory in Manassas, VA. The art reception took place for the Prince William Art Society sponsored Best of the Region Fine Art Show and Sale (BoR) that opened June 3 and will run until June 15. The winners were crowned with beautiful ribbons and the artists were presented with their prizes. Everyone enjoyed the evening of art, artists, friends, family, art enthusiasts, food and beverages.

The historic ARTfactory at 9419 Battle Street, Manassas, VA

It Takes a Village To Do an Art Show

The Prince William Art Society (PWAS) is the main sponsors and creators of this art show. Having a Best of the Region art show has been on the back burner for a core group of PWAS members for several years. The core group even held a few meetings and planning sessions on how to proceed; alas, the Best of Show went into hibernation for a period of time. The opportunity presented itself to go on with the show in early 2025 - thus the concept of the show was ON!

Best of the Region Fine Art Show and Sale at the ARTfactory June 3-15, 2025

The PWAS Board BoR Committee met at several locations and on Zoom to build the plan and goals, the budget, and a rather large "To-Do List". We gathered other sponsors to help offset some of the costs and a huge thank you to the following organizations and individuals:

The ARTfactory - Manassas, VA with a HUGE THANK YOU to Jordan Exum (the ARTfactory Gallery Director), Teresa Lopez, and to the entire Staff!!!
Creative Brush Studios - Manassas, VA - Mary Reilly (Founder, Owner, Artist)
Manassas Art Guild (MAG) - Manassas, VA - Laura Lavarnway (MAG President)
Wegmans - Woodbridge, VA
Jason D Brandt, DDS - Woodbridge, VA
Prince William County Arts Council (PWCAC)

And we had many PWAS members that helped in so many ways...we have so much appreciation and love for each and every one:

Sandra McClelland Lewin - Interim PWAS President, and her husband John Lewin
Tom Payne - PWAS Member-at-large, and his wife, Becky Payne
Bettie Sperty - PWAS Secretary, and her husband, Brian Sperty
Staci Blanchard - PWAS PWCAC Representative
Eric Ndofor - PWAS Treasurer
Otis Stanley - our art reception photographer
Mark Clifton
Mark Murphy
Evelyn Chatters
Anna Gatling
Maria Briganti
Tes Sain
Kelly Haneklau
Sheri Herrick and her husband, Mike Herrick

On With the Show

The ever important Art Drop Off dates worked out over May 31 and June 1 at the ARTfactory. The show opened on June 3 and our juror, Catherine Hillis made an early incognito visit to the gallery to see the artwork in person. It's that final "see the art in person" that sealed her choices for the best works.

Unfortunately, our juror could not attend the art reception but she sent along the speech she had planned to give along with the reasons why she selected the BoR award winners, which Tom Payne so wonderfully read to the reception attendees.

Catherine Hillis

Our BoR artists were nearly all in attendance! We missed you if you couldn't make it!

I would like to note here that the Prince William Art Society used the ARTCALL.org application for this art show. We set up the jurying process as totally a blind jury which means that NO artist data was available for the juror to see.

Participating Artists

We had an exceptional turn out - not only in most of the artists for the Best of the Region, but visitors to the art reception! Only a few of the artists couldn't be there, but here is the entire list of the 40 artists that had at least one piece in the show:

Absku, Asia Anderson, Danielle Bancroft, Zee Berrios, Erik Bohn, Jill Brabant, Mark Clifton, Jaclyn Del Vacchio, Scott Elliott, Mike Flynn, Michele Frantz, Anna Gatling, Andreia Gliga, Kelly Haneklau, Janet Hansen Martinet, John Hartt, Sheri Herrick, Corban Hubler, Rebekah Keener, Debra Keirce, Donna Liguria, Russ Mardon, Ann McCarty, Sandra McClelland-Lewin, Stephanie McGee, Nicki Mulligan, Mark Murphy, Eric Ndofor, Marina Olchevskaia, Anna Polanco, Aurea, Christine Raymond, Mary Reilly, Carol Rusaw, Maria Theresa “Tes” Sain, Bettie Sperty, Lisa Stewart, Halle Strosser, Emily Thomson, Suzanne Yurdin

We had a total of 66 artists enter 177 artworks of which 63 were chosen by our juror to show at the ARTfactory. The artists came from almost every nook and cranny, many studios and art spaces from all around the Northern Virginia areas.

Photos from the art reception and show were taken by PWAS Member Otis Stanley. This single blog post could not hold them all so I'll have at least a Part 2...maybe a Part 3 over the next day or so, but I'll link them together. (Verified: 3 Parts to this blog post)

Let us begin with the Best of the Region Winners

First Place Winner - Mike Flynn of Gainsville, VA with his watercolor painting "Bull Run"

Second Place Winner - Absku AKA Kwaku Oforit-Yirenkyi of Dumfries, VA with his mixed media (acrylic, fabric and oil) painting "Eternal Reflections"