Art Contest Winners Announced

May 18

Congratulations to the awardees of the 2024 Annual Art Contest!

In May, our members gathered for our monthly Members’ Gathering at the beautiful Bristol Art Museum to view the entries and learn the winners from our 2024 Annual Art Contest. This annual juried contest is an exciting component of our annual Tours where we invite artists who are registered for the 2024 Open Studio Tour to submit their best work surrounding a certain theme. This year, we invited Tour artists to submit work that captured the essence of water.

Leonardo da Vinci believed water was the driving force of all nature. For centuries, water has captivated the imagination of artists as a fascinating and dynamic element, be it in its solid, liquid, or vaporous form. Maybe they are drawn to its serenity, its mesmerizing movements, its destructive power, its different forms - ice, rain, snow, fog, steam, etc., or its symbolic meanings, we encouraged artists to create artwork that flows with imagination.

*Mary Dondero, 2024 Annual Art Contest Juror*

This year’s juror was Mary Dondero, an artist and educator living in Massachusetts. Her artwork has been exhibited nationally and internationally. In 2011 she was the recipient of an artist residency at Zion National Park, Utah. Dondero has served on the panel of jurors for the Rhode Island State Council of the Arts and is currently serving as Exhibition Curator at Bristol Art Museum, Bristol, RI and a Board member for Imago Foundation for the Arts in Warren, RI. Dondero is a full-time tenured faculty member in the Department Art and Art History at Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, MA. Her studio is in Warren, RI and she lives in Rehoboth, MA.

Congratulations to the awardees! Please visit our website to view the full gallery of entries and the juror’s comments on the winners. Our artists created a lovely collection of works that captured the essence of water. We hope that you will be inspired by water as you visit studios during this summers’ 21st Open Studio Tour, July 20-21 and August 17-18 in the coastal towns of Tiverton & Little Compton, RI and Westport & Dartmouth, MA.