Two Artists Win People's Choice Award at Thorne Art Gallery

KEENE, N.H., 2/24/11 - Two artists tied for the People’s Choice Award for the first time in the history of the Biennial Regional Jurors’ Choice Competition, which continues through March 10 at the Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery. Mallory Lake of Marlboro, Vt., and Jon McAuliffe of North Walpole, N.H., will each receive a People’s Choice Commendation and a $100 cash prize from the Friends of the Thorne.

Out of 225 votes cast by visitors to the exhibit, Lake and McAuliffe each received the same number of votes. This is the first time a tie has occurred for the People’s Choice award in the juried competition, which has been held every two years since 1993.

Mallory Lake received the award for Night Train, a 2010 pastel painting based on a photograph of a 1950s vintage train from a film clip.

“I’ve long been intrigued by trains because they evoke adventure, travel, and a sense of the unknown,” said Lake. She adds that this mystery is enhanced by the darkness of the image of a train rolling through the night. Her work also can be seen in a solo exhibit of pastels called “Shadows” through March 21 at the Pucker Gallery in Boston.

Opposing this dark imagery is Jon McAuliffe’s bright Sunshine, a 2008 oil painting of a flower he created with encouragement from his fiancée. It is different from the portraits and still lifes he paints as a profession.

“It’s a very graphic, extreme close-up of flowers that look almost design- like,” he explained. McAuliffe’s work was included in juried exhibitions this past summer at the Ava Gallery and Art Center in Lebanon, N.H., and a gallery in Grafton, Vt.

Both artists have entered the Thorne’s regional competition in the past, but this is the first time either has won the People’s Choice award. Their paintings are among the 81 pieces by 74 artists chosen for the regional exhibition by jurors Margaret Burgess, associate curator of Modern and European Art at the Portland (Maine) Museum of Art, and Britta Konau, a writer and independent curator of contemporary art. The works in the exhibit range from traditional landscape paintings and photographs to contemporary sculptures and montages. The regional competition, open to artists who live within 30 miles of Keene, drew 152 artists to submit 340 works of art. The exhibit also features Selections from the Collection, which showcases a sample of works from the Thorne’s permanent collection.

The Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery is located on the Keene State campus on Wyman Way, off Main Street in Keene. Gallery hours are Sunday to Wednesday, noon to 5 p.m.; Thursday and Friday, noon to 7 p.m.; and Saturday, noon to 8 p.m.

The Biennial Regional Jurors’ Choice Exhibition and Selections from the Collection are free and open to the public. For more information, call 603-358-2720 or visit www.keene.edu/tsag.