Judith Peck of Great Falls, Virginia, received the First Place Juror’s Award in the artists category
in the 2023 Cumberland Valley Artists and Photographers Exhibitions

Washington County Museum of Fine Arts Announces Winners of Cumberland Valley Artists and Photographers Exhibitions

HAGERSTOWN, Maryland – Washington County Museum of Fine Arts marks the 90th year of the Cumberland Valley Artists and Photographers Exhibitions with an array of new works by Quad-State creators.

An annual tradition since 1933, the Cumberland Valley Artists and Photographers Exhibitions showcase, celebrate, and support artists of the Cumberland Valley region. This juried exhibition accepts work from Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D.C. The exhibitions will be on view from February 11 to April 23, 2023.

This year’s jurors were Dr. Mary Morton, curator and head of the French paintings department at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and Dr. Leo Hsu, interim executive director of Silver Eye Center for Photography in Pittsburgh and an instructor in the photography program at Carnegie Mellon University.

A total of 65 art entries from 61 artists were accepted from the 320 works entered by 127 artists. While a total of 30 photography entries from 25 photographers were accepted from a total of 223 pieces from 77 photographers.

This event distributes nearly $5,200 in cash awards to artists and photographers. Support for this exhibition has been provided by Conservit Inc., Hugh and Marty Talton, Delaplaine Foundation, Sherry Cramer, and Youngblood Studios. Some of the awards have been provided by other funders, acknowledged below.

A Cumberland Valley Artists and Photographers opening event including a panel discussion with the award-winning artists and the exhibition jurors will take place Saturday, February 11, from 2 to 4 p.m. Admission is free.

First Place Juror’s Award in the photography exhibition went to Jillian Abir MacMaster of Frederick for “Evening Ritual.”

Washington County Museum of Fine Arts is proud to announce this year’s winners:

CUMBERLAND VALLEY ARTIST WINNERS

• First Place Juror’s Award, $1,000– Judith Peck of Great Falls, Virginia, for “Forager”
• Second Place Juror’s Award, $500 – Susan Shalowitz of Rockville, Maryland, for “Why the Long Face”
• Third place Juror’s Award, $250– Jayne Gaskins of Reston, Virginia, for “Seduced by a Digital World of My Own Making”
• Washington County Arts Council Inc. Award, $250 – Hunt Prothro of Keedysville, Maryland, for “Anatolian Jar”
• The Valley Art Association Award, $250. Given to honor present and previous members whose love of art and whose contributions to the Association have enriched the organization and the community: Virginia Hair and Carol B. Lovell – Colette Barnett of Hagerstown for “Room with a View”
• Lee Weaver Memorial Award, $250, sponsored by Kevin D. Murray, M.D. – Sara Swacina of Williamsport for “Another View from Grace.”
• Clyde H. Roberts Memorial Award for Best Watercolor, $250, sponsored by the children of Clyde H. Roberts – Nancy Kautz of Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, for “Emril and the Girls”
• Director’s Award Given in Memory of Lee Weaver, $250 – Will be announced at a later date.

CUMBERLAND VALLEY PHOTOGRAPHERS WINNERS

• First Place Juror’s Award, $1,000 – Jillian Abir MacMaster of Frederick for “Evening Ritual”
• Second Place Juror’s Award, $500 – Gary Bergel of Kearneysville, West Virginia, for “Summer Stillness – Along the Shenandoah”
• Third Place Juror’s Award, $250 – Susan R. Webber of Ellicott City, Maryland, for “Blemished”
• Washington County Arts Council Inc. Award, $250 – Douglas Zaruba of Hagerstown for “Four Red Dots”
People’s Choice Awards, sponsored by WCMFA, of $100 for an artist and photographer will be announced at the end of the exhibition. Visitors to the exhibitions may vote for their favorite during the run of the show.

MEET THE JURORS

This year’s jurors are Mary Morton for CVA and Leo Hsu for CVP.
Dr. Mary Morton is curator and head of the French paintings department at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. She received her bachelor’s degree from Stanford University in history, and her doctorate from Brown University, concentrating on 19th- and early 20th-century European painting. Morton began her curatorial career in the European art department at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and then as associate curator of paintings at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. Her exhibition projects before arriving at the NGA include Courbet and the Modern Landscape (2006), Oudry’s Painted Menagerie (2007), and The Spectacular Art of Jean-Léon Gérôme (2010). At the National Gallery, she organized the presentation of Gauguin: Maker of Myth (2011), a reinstallation of the Gallery’s renowned 19th-century collection (2012); Gustave Caillebotte: The Painter’s Eye (2015), Cézanne Portraits (2017-18), Corot Women (2018) and True to Nature: Open-Air Painting in Europe, 1780-1870 (2020). In 2018, the French government awarded her the Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters.
Dr. Leo Hsu has spent most of his life pursuing photography. He is the interim executive director of Silver Eye Center for Photography in Pittsburgh and is an instructor in the photography program at Carnegie Mellon University. He is a managing editor for the online photography resource Fraction Magazine and was the director of online development for the photojournalism/documentary photography magazine and website Foto8. Hsu holds a doctorate in anthropology from New York University and a certificate in the program in Culture and Media (New York). He has written extensively about photography and worked as a newspaper photographer.

ADDITIONAL WINNERS

All artists are included on the following lists.

Artists:
Colette Barnett of Hagerstown
Melanie Berry of Parkton, Maryland
Tracy Blood of Keedysville, Maryland
David Bottini of Hagerstown
Rick Clement of Sterling, Virginia
Lesa Cook of Burkittsville Maryland
Thom Davis of Keedysville, Maryland
Steven Dobbin of Mt. Airy, Maryland
Lauren Doyle Vaccari of Hagerstown
Dean Taylor Drewyer of Leesburg, Virginia
Andrea Finch of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania
Anne Finucane of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania
Jean Frey of Fayetteville, Pennsylvania
Paul Gallo of Middletown Pennsylvania
Jane Gaskis, Reston, Virginia
Annette Gloomis of Shepherdstown
Phillip Grove of Hagerstown
Jamie Hardges of Hagerstown
Arthur Hayes of Dickerson, Maryland
Kathleen Howsare of Lovettsville, Virginia
June Jarkey of Middletown, Maryland
Jerry Johnson of Frederick, Maryland
Nancy Kautz of Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
Eleanor Lakin of Boonsboro, Maryland
Amelie Lavenant-Wink of Hagerstown
Melissa Libertini of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Philip Lindsey of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania
Alton Marsh of Frederick, Maryland
SteviAnn Matijevic of Emmitsburg, Maryland
Joyce Mayer of Knoxville, Maryland
Julie Maynard of Middletown, Maryland
Abigail McBride of Chesapeake City, Maryland
Sharon Pierce McCullough of Biglerville, Pennsylvania
Michelle Moats of Shippensburg, Pennsylvania
Lee Newman of Adamstown, Maryland
Judith Peck of Vienna, Virginia
Hunt Protho of Keedysville, Maryland
Thomas Renner of Smithsburg, Maryland
Teresa Roberts of Hagerstown
Linda Constant Robinson of Frederick, Maryland
Eric Rottcher of Waynesboro, Pennsylvania
Elizabeth Ann Ruppert and Robert Stabler, both of of Fairfield, Pennsylvania,
Paula Saneaux of Hagerstown
Katherine Santucci of Hedgesville, West Virginia
Susan Shalowitz of Rockville, Maryland
Jeffrey Shoaf of Hagerstown
Karen Smith of Hedgesville, West Virginia
Rhonda Smith of Keedysville, West Virginia
Ray Snouffer of Hagerstown
Elisabet Stacy-Hurley of Hagerstown
Timothy Stephens of Frederick, Maryland
Sara Swacina of Williamsport, Maryland
Rebecca Tai of Silver Spring, Maryland
Nicole Troup of Greencastle, Pennsylvania
Annette Verna of Charles Town, West Virginia
Dmitrii Volkov of Hagerstown
Pattricia Whittle of Leesburg, Virginia
Cathy Wilkin of Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
Carol Wilks Boonsboro, Maryland
Paul Wilson of Frederick, Maryland
Elaine Wolfe of Hedgesville, West Virginia

Photographers:
Gary Bergel of Kearneysville, West Virginia
Mary Eileen Carson of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Lillian Chun of Ellicott City, Maryland
Thom Davis of Keedysville, Maryland
Jennifer Eddins of Mt. Airy, Maryland
Christine Eliff of Frederick, Maryland
Peter Foiles of Frederick, Maryland
Michael Fulcher of Frederick, Maryland
Martin Heavner of Ijamsville, Maryland
Catherine Holmes of Cavetown, Maryland
June Jarkey of Middletown, Maryland
Leslie Landerkin of Alexandria, Virginia
Jillian Abir MacMaster of Frederick, Maryland
Mark Moessinger of Cumberland, Maryland
Elaine Schuch of Etters, Pennsylvania
Catherine Seibert of Frederick, Maryland
Timothy Stephens of Frederick, Maryland
Paula Tremba of Shepherdstown, West Virginia
Bob Webber of Ellicott City, Maryland
Susan R. Webber of Ellicott City, Maryland
Richard Weiblinger of Frederick, Maryland
Sandra Weinstein of McLean, Virginia
Beamie Young of Dickerson, Maryland
Douglas Zaruba of Hagerstown
Anthony Zaza of Silver Spring, Maryland