BREMERTON — The Collective Visions Gallery show was competitive. Some 841 pieces in all media were submitted for entry from throughout the state, but only 136 were juried into the show. Thirty-six artists from Kitsap County were represented.
When judging was completed, one Kitsap artist was among the seven winners.
Bainbridge Island photographer Harry Longstreet’s photo, “Counsel at the Barre,” placed third in the Photography/Digital Arts category. The prize came with a $250 award.
More than $8,000 in cash and purchase awards were presented in a reception to honor the artists and event sponsors, Jan. 28 in the Norm Dicks Government Center. More than 250 people attended. Elliott Gregg, president of the Kitsap Credit Union, was master of ceremonies and Bremerton Mayor Patty Lent presented the “Mayor’s Award for Best of Show.”
Lent’s office supports the “Best of Show” award and the Kitsap County Arts Board selects one piece from the two-dimensional category to bolster an active artistic presence throughout Kitsap County.
The complete, 136-item CVG Show is on exhibit through Feb. 25 at Collective Visions Gallery, 331 Pacific Ave., in Bremerton. Images of the award-winning works, a list of all participating artists and a complete schedule of events can found at www.collectivevisions.com.
Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, and 1-5 p.m. on Sundays. Call (360) 377-8327.
What’s next
Art leaders from the West Sound will converge on Collective Visions Gallery to assess “What’s Hot, What’s Not — the State of Art” on Feb. 9 at 7 p.m.Among the leaders will be Greg Robinson, Bainbridge Island Museum of Art executive director; Alan Newberg, artist, CVG founding member and former Olympic College art professor; Maria Weichman, Olympic College art professor; and Amy Burnett, artist and owner of the Amy Burnett Gallery. Each guest will provide a different perspective about the visual arts milieu around the Kitsap Peninsula and surrounding areas.
Port Orchard sculptor and CVG member Karsten Boysen will moderate the panel.
This is the fifth consecutive annual CVG statewide art competition. With the show as a backdrop, the panelists will evaluate the role of the gallery in the contemporary art scene, the influence of art museums in the process, define the role of the artist’s creative act, and may include some prognostications about the future of art in Bremerton, Kitsap and Olympic peninsulas as well as statewide.
“Recent disruptions in the economy have stymied the Bremerton Art Commission, and one of the shows sponsors, the Kitsap County Arts Board, is struggling to build its public art program,” Boysen said. “However, artists make art regardless of the economy, so Collective Visions Gallery and its cooperative stable of artists provide the cultural foundation for the life of this city and far beyond.”
