Some really nice award money was passed out this past weekend at the Mainsail Arts Festival. 
Congratulations to the winners!
Best of Mainsail Award – $10,000
John Mascoll of Safety Harbor, Wood
Award of Excellence – $1,500
Holly Hambrick, Mixed Media
William Kwamena-Poh, Watercolors
Laurie Coppedge, Photography
Mary McFarland, Fibers
Renee Dinauer, Sculpture
Jean Yao, Fibers
Duncan McClellan, Glass - "Life is a Vase Full of Cherries"
Nicario Jiminez, Mixed Media
Peggy Furlin, Watercolors
Marlene Rose, Sculpture
Award of Distinction – $1000
Anna Shapiro, Fibers
Greg Thomas-Moore, Wood
Pam Fox, Jewelry
Scott Hartley, Watercolors
Mina Heuslein, Ceramics
Charles Hazelaar, Sculpture
Chuck Boux, Glass
Z. L. Feng, Watercolors
Mark Wagner, Jewelry
Vonnie Whitworth, Watercolors
Jon Smith, Oil/Acrylic
Nancy Cervenka, Sculpture
David McKirdy, Mixed Media
Erica Hall, Mixed Media
Christian Nevin, Jewelry
Award of Merit – $500
Sue Archer, Watercolors
Jennifer Ardolino, Watercolors
Minh Martin, Glass
Debra Blazer, Jewelry
Ummarid Eitharong, Mixed Media
Vicki Tindal,l Ceramics
Jeff League Mixed Media
Richard Auger, Photography
Dianne Caton, Ceramics
Jeff Eckert, Graphics
Thomas Sullivan, Wood
Lynn Ferris, Watercolors
Bill Sargent, Photography
Lorri Honeycutt, Photography
Katherine Linn, Graphics
Gael & Howard Silverblatt, Jewelry
Joyce Nelson, Jewelry
Richard Currier, Oil/Acrylic
Harry Welsch, Ceramics
Georgia & Byron Knight, Ceramics
Purchase Awards – $200
Ellie Diez-Massaro, Mixed Media Interior Motives – Leslie Curran
Renee Dinauer Sculpture, The Mahaffey Company
Jean Yao, Fibers Anthony J. LaSpada, P.A.
Cesar Nogueira, Sculpture Douglas C. Buchan & Associates
Martin Taber, Jewelry Mary Beth Morrow, Unique Art
Keith Kinney, Wood William & Sally Snyder
Hua Tung, Watercolors Fred & Monika MacFawn
George Bragg, Metals Wells, Houser & Schatzel, P.A.
Rocky Bridges, Mixed Media Eric Lang Peterson/Art Appraiser
Jim Holehouse, Watercolors Cadillac
This is a long list of artists. I'm pretty surprised how few of them are members here. Congratulations to our group though -- some impressive people.
Comments
Well run show ,great show personally ,it inspires me to be even better for next year
I agree with you, Geoff! Extremely well run show and outstanding communications. I don't read email when I'm at shows and so I appreciated the extra mile they went to with the phone call about the judging. Load in/out couldn't be any easier and the close in parking was much appreciated. I ended up with a killer location with lots of sun and once I figured out how to stabilize my work from the wind (lots of clamps), all I had to do was sell... I was in the black before they closed the show early on Saturday and it just got better on Sunday.
This was my best show ever and validation that I do have market potential in Florida. All of my customers were from the St. Pete/Tampa/Clearwater area with one exception from Sarasota who came to get a piece that she had seen when I did a show there in February. I'll go back in a heartbeat if they'll have me again...
My booth was right next to the Best of Mainsail winner, John Mascoll. It's the hallmark of a great show that as soon as the ribbon went up on his booth at around 1:30 Sunday, he was MOBBED with customers, and it didn't let up until 5 PM. I didn't have a chance to congratulate him until we were both tearing down.
That was due, in part, to the fact I was writing so much business myself. This was my best show of the season. In Florida, in April, long after the snowbirds have left!
Mainsail was the best run show I've done in my five years in the business, from the moment I got there until I drove off Sunday night. Incredibly well organized, exceptional communications. Case in point: After the storms blew through beginning about 1:30 Saturday, everyone battened down and left. That night, the show sent emails to everyone to let them know that as a result, the judging was behind schedule, and that awards would NOT be presented at the artist breakfast Sunday morning; that judging would re-start at 10 AM so that storm-stressed artists who hadn't yet been judged wouldn't need to come in early to set up for that; and finally, that all artists not judged would get a personal phone call Saturday night to make sure they had gotten the word.
I'd had dozens of customers tell me over the last 4 years that I should do this show. I owe a lot of thank-you notes. Top of the rankings in sales, communication, staff organization, and layout.