http://www.arnoldsportsfestival.com/home/sports-and-events/artatthearnold.htmlhttp://www.thisweeknews.com/live/content/dublin/stories/2010/03/17/0318duart-arnold_ln.html?type=rss&cat=&sid=104Three Central Ohio artists took top honors at the first Art at the Arnold drawing and painting competition as part of the Arnold Sports Festival.
First place went to Debra Joyce Dawson of Pataskala for her “Ballroom Dancing to the Matrix” a dance competition couple using the Matrix movie motif. The second place winner was Mary Newman of Delaware for “Proud Stance” a fencer’s portrait. Third place went to Fran Mangino of Westerville for “Anticipation,” a painting of a young gymnast waiting to perform.
Juror of the event was Julie Taggart, Dean of Fine Arts, Columbus College of Art and Design. Winners were awarded cash prizes.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was to pick his favorite from among the entries but couldn’t decide on only one. Actor Sylvester Stallone who also attended, helped with the selections which were: “Barbie Barbell, Arnold Expo Powerflifter” by Laura Worley of Powell, “Dancer in Red” by Mark Gingerich of West Jefferson, and “Bodybuilder” by Daryl Urig of Harrison, OH. The two celebrities then purchased the paintings along with the first place painting by Dawson.
The three-day competition consisted of a half day of figure drawing and painting using athletes as models followed by an afternoon of sketching and reference gathering throughout the Arnold Sports Festival sports competitions at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. The second day artists spent in a studio work session using material gathered the day before. The final day artists selected one piece to submit for judging.
Event director, Kevin Buckland, said, “The idea of using artists to capture the beauty of the human form and combine it with the drama of sports competition worked extremely well.”
