Art Inter/National Reviews by Year:

This year, Chinese artist Chung (Fanky) Chak received "2010 Best of Show" for his digital collage, "Girls, Hong Kong" and American artist Joan Sowada received First Place for her textile work, "Navigation." Chak's artwork intends to illustrate stereotypes among people as well as to help him understand his new home -- the United States. As a foreigner who came to the United States in his early 20s, Chak became fascinated by imagining what happens behind the beautiful windows of Broadway in New York City. Then while visiting Hong Kong in 2003, Chak began thinking about the nature of life in large cities, particularly in his native city. Looking out his window from the twentieth floor of a high-rise building, Chak began to reflect on the compartmentalization of life in Hong Kong. This idea seemed to be reflected visually as a grid, constructed by hundreds of nearly identical windows in close proximity to each other. For Chak, each window became representative of an individual or family. The visual grid seemed to be echoed in the rectangular shape of televisions, visible through the windows, all broadcasting the same image. Chak's childhood experience in Hong Kong and his admiration for New York City led him to believe that the chaotic and overwhelming, yet glamorous and energetic city life was the ideal lifestyle for everyone.

In 2009, Bulgarian artist Lidia Simeonova received the "2009 Best of Show" award and American artist Charles Caldemeyer received First Place. Artist Lidia Simeonova artwork is a reflection of her life. She has projected frozen moments, good and bad, onto her canvas. As her style and personality matured, she has traveled the world. Simeonova's artwork tells her story, a story of different periods in her personal and creative life. Simeonova attempts to achieve artwork in which life and painting blend in a perfect existential poem. She paints to present the viewer with a harmonious, contemplative image, which speaks to the spiritual complexities of our existence.

In 2008, American artist Erin Treacy was awarded the "2008 Best of Show" award and Vietnamese artist Xuan Anh Nguyen received First Place. Each one of Treacy's paintings is influenced from different times and places in her life, either in the northeast or from her travels around the world. As she continues to vacation or move locations (within cities and within nature), Treacy looks for new inspiration, never leaving behind the memories that have formed her art and her life. The artistic result are paintings that churn through her memory interconnected with new experiences, creating an imaginary abstract land. Yet, though the locations may vary, there remains similarities in her work. The most obvious similarity is her; the constant, the observer.

In 2007, Russia artist Victoria Goro-Rapoport received the "2007 Best of Show" award and national fiber artist Elin Waterston received first place. Growing up admiring the work of early 20th century Russian artists and living in a society that was supposed to be the first utopia in the history of humankind, Goro-Rapoport's etchings are filled with the twisted labyrinths of mind, depicting troubled souls, false vision and the humbuggery of the surrounding world. Although at her age, the horrors of repression was over, the oppression of the freethinking and creativity continued. As a result, the soviet people learned to live in an atmosphere of ultimate hypocrisy, halfheartedly playing the roles assigned to them by the government. The whole country turned into an elaborate stage set, a giant Potiomkin village, where beautifully painted facades were hiding crumbling ruins and excessive make up covered up the pallor of starvation. This explains why the topics of illusion and disillusionment became important themes in her work. Elin Waterston is a quilt artist now living in an area just north of Manhattan. Her work combines images her world that often do not belong together - skyscrapers or stage lights with moths and birds. This combination is indicative of her personality, a combination of qualities that don't quite belong

In 2006, German fiber artist Petra Voegtle received the "2006 Best of Show" award and Norwegian digital artist Reinhardt Sobye received First Place. The vision and goal of Petra Voegtle is to be innovative, narrative and imaginative. Her current works are stitched paintings on silk which depict the magic symbols and secrets of ancient cultures. While the landscapes of the ancient cultures might have changed due to climatic or sociopolitical transformations their heritage has not. Voegtle feels that they have left us with the fundamentals of human civilization and it would be fatal for our modern society to ignore and devalue this. Voegtle's work continues to celebrate the colours and manifestations of nature while demanding contemplation and validation of human behavior. Reinhardt Sobye has always lived in the most remote parts of Norway. In vast, beautiful and silent landscapes, scarcely populated, he has found an eternity. But his eternity is combined with his knowledge of contemporary situations and human history that creates a sorrow in his heart and his art. The sorrow is a measurement of the silence and greatness of our human soul. In his landscape, he hears our innocence and all the insane pain we inflict upon each other. Sobye's work is the silence of his landscapes combined with the chilling notion that we do not comprehend the essence of our own existence.

In 2005, artist Vladimir Zuev of Russia received Box Heart's "Best of Show" Award. Zuev's work is a mysterious contrast of hundreds of sketches, made both from nature and imagination, that combine to construct a certain abstract sign. For Zuev, all the characteristics of the sign are important; it's configuration, structure, force of tone, etc. Zuev aspires to deduce the sign of his figures and attach another unexpected abstract form, a "graphic personage." Zuev has won numerous awards for his etching and wood cuts. He teaches at the Fine Arts Facility in Nizhny Tagil and lectures Classical Drawing and Contemporary Graphic courses. Zuev will begin Box Heart's 2006 Solo Exhibition Schedule.

In 2004, photographer Eric Landes of Columbia, Missouri received Box Heart's "Best of Show" Award. Landes' work not only tells a story of personal discovery but also invites the viewer to explore his or her own world; to seek out the unfamiliar in the familiar so that a greater sense of the whole is achieved. As a photographer, Landes sees aesthetic potential in new experiences. Something as simple as photographing the neighborhood that surrounds his home changes with the seasons and the consequence of changing light. As fall forces its way into position, the world of light with shadow changes for Landes into a world of shadow with light. As a result, his work challenges the viewer's personal geography, and conveys the sense that few people really 'know" where we live, what surrounds us, and what lies even a short distance away. Landes will begin Box Heart's 2005 Solo Exhibition Schedule with his exhibition, "Night Work." The exhibition will feature large format photographs of undifferentiated landscapes. It is in these contested spaces that he finds the most interesting subjects; a laundry line, a tent placed in front of a house, a RV. Streetlights with their orange or blue hues create broad swaths of competing color that casts a mysterious glow into the simple Midwest landscape. In Landes' "Night Work," the familiar architecture of his neighborhood is reduced to dramatic punctuation's of porch lights or an occasional light from a window.

In 2003, painter Lynn Fero received Box Heart's "Best of Show" Award. Fero was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania but currently resides in Sherman Oaks, California. She has spent over 20 years as an executive in the entertainment industry as the Vice President of Business Affairs Administration at Paramount Pictures. As a result, her art work is an escape from "the office... from the neutral carpets that won't show the wear of feet traipsing back and forth to the copy machine." Fero is drawn over and over again to draw fields of grass, and tree lined horizons that meet the sky. She is particularly drawn to landscapes that take her to the edge of a wood next to a grassy meadow or distant tree line. "At this view," Fero states, " it has no end. Space. Just wide open space." Feros' work has been exhibited in over 50 Juried Exhibitions across the United States and was selected by Designer, Linda Sutton to appear in the hospital lobby setting of the 1997 theatrical film "Kiss the Girls," starring Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd. Fero will begin Box Heart's 2004 Solo Exhibition Schedule with her exhibition, "CountryScapes." The exhibition will feature oil paintings and pastel drawings inspired by Fero's relationship with her surroundings of Oregon, California and France.

The Sacred Art Exhibition

Sacred Exhibition Reviews by Year:

Best of Show 2009: Scott Davidson, Photography
Best of Show 2008: Kyle Ethan Fischer, Sculpture
Best of Show 2007: Tony Zinicola, Jr., Mosaic
Best of Show 2006: Stephan Phillips, Painting
Best of Show 2005: Gerard DiFalco, Mixed Media
Best of Show 2004: Tatiana R. Grant, Iconography
Best of Show 2003: Brenda Stumpf, Mixed Media Assemblage
Best of Show 2002: Diane M.T. Jones, Painting
Best of Show 2001: Robert Seeger, Iconography