Competition Judges
The art competition judging occurs Thursday, September 25, 10 am – noon.
Hope Ricciardi and Jim Wodark will judge all competition entries, with the exception of the Abstract Challenge and Fundraiser; Sue Martin is the sole judge for that category.
A selection of the judges’ artwork will be on display (and for sale) in the Escalante Town Park Exhibit Tent.
The Judges’ Talk will be held on Friday, September 26th at 9 am, outside the exhibition tent.
Hope Ricciardi works with oil paints, but has experience in water mixable oils and acrylics.
Hope’s current plein air work is inspired by Southwest landscapes. Her impressionist style is in oils on canvas or panels with an emphasis on the extraordinary energy and light of the Red Rocks, Grand Canyon and Utah. In 2023, Hope participated in the Escalante Canyons Art Festival, winning the Plein Air Purchase Award for her painting First Impression. After 40+ years of teaching in Boston, Hope is now settled in Sedona, AZ.
Jim Wodark has won many awards at the local and national level, one of the most prestigious being the Grand Prize Winner of the 7th Annual Plein Air Salon yearlong competition.
He belongs to several painting groups: the California Art Club “Artist Member,” the Laguna Plein Air Painters Association “Signature Member,” The Oil Painters of America and the American Impressionist Society. Jim paints both “En Plein Air” (on location from life) and in the studio.
Sue Martin is an intuitive artist who takes inspiration from nature and interprets it through a painterly lens.
Working in water media or oils, her paintings lean toward abstraction by exaggerating one or more of the elements of design (color, shape, line, texture, value). Sue is a signature member of Utah Watercolor Society and Western Federation of Watercolor Societies. She holds a BFA degree from the University of Utah. She works in a home studio as well as a shared studio in downtown Salt Lake City.