Galleries to give art awards
Artists will have another reason to show their skills this year at the North Idaho Fair with the advent of a new gallery’s choice award.
Owners of the Frame of Mind, the Painter’s Chair and the Art Spirit gallery in Coeur d’Alene, will walk through after fair judges give their ratings and pick one piece of art to award an oversized rosette ribbon.
Each gallery will display their pick for the month.
“There should be a good interest in this extra award because people will be honored and excited to have their picture hang in a real gallery for a month,” said Louise Sims, superintendent for the fine arts department at the fair.
Sims said the new award will likely attract more artwork and she jokes with fellow department superintendent, Peg Booth, that they’ve “created a monster” by bringing in the new award.
“We jokingly say maybe next year we’ll have our own building because it would be so popular,” she said.
Booth discovered a similar award while visiting a fair in Southern California earlier this year.
The award started with three galleries and has grown to a point where galleries are chosen at random to give the awards. In addition, more people entered artwork because of the ribbon’s perks.
She hopes the award will generate the same interest here. She said some people aren’t familiar with the fine arts portion of the fair and many don’t discover it until they walk through the arts and crafts barn during the fair.
“I hope it’s going to improve the art and bring more artists,” she said.
She said the galleries were excited to start the ribbon program this year.
Sharon Berger, who co-owns Frame of Mind with her husband, Merlin, said the award is helping perpetuate an already growing arts presence in the area.
She added the award is good for the community, the fair and the new talent presented at the fair.
“It’s just a chance for an unknown to have a starting point and I just thought it was an excellent idea for the children,” she said.
Each gallery sponsored the oversized ribbons and the winners will be displayed during September.