Paige Whitcomb - who is a young photographer using a very old photographic technique called wet collodion or tin type - was named as Best Overall Artist in the 54th edition of the Park City Arts Festival. She uses a camera built in the 19th century that requires a chemical process similar to film development but on a piece of tin (there are no negatives) to create one-of-a-kind images.
“It's one of the earliest forms of photography that was commercially used. So, it was originally used in the 1860s and then it died out in the 1870s because you can't make prints from it. So today, that's novel, because we have digital photography, and just living in this digital age, we can make endless editions of things. So, I wanted to work with a process that took it back to where it was more tactile, and hands on where I was in the dark room working and there was just that singular edition of the images.”
She was thrilled to be honored with the Best Overall Artist award.
“I'm very honored,” Whitcomb said. “This is a very high caliber show. And there are a lot of extremely talented artists. So yeah, shocked is an understatement.”
Kati Gyulassy lives in Park City and is both a ceramicist and painter. She was named as Best Local Artist and says she too was very surprised and honored. She enjoys both techniques, saying they have different qualities but are very complementary.
“The style is similar,” Gyulassy said. “It looks like the same artist made both. So, I think it works together.”
Gyulassy makes her ceramics at the Kimball Art Center and in her free time teaches classes there.
“The Kimball Art Center is amazing,” she said. “It's such a great community of artists and students and I teach oil painting as well as hand building (ceramics). I'm teaching a team class in the fall as well. So, it's just a very vibrant community and very supportive - lots of creativity. I get inspired by students and then vice versa. It's a great, great place to make art.”
Kristen Ross of Boulder, Colorado, was named as Best Emerging Artist. She says she committed to her art just five years ago. She paints vibrant colored landscapes of places she’s hiked.
“I love experimenting with color,” Ross said. “I use pretty much all acrylics and I do lots of layering. So, I’ll do like a brightly colored, usually fluorescent under-painting and then I just layer colors over that.”
Many of her paintings are based on photographs she’s taken while hiking in national parks, like Rocky Mountain and Arches. Ross donates a part of her proceeds to the National Park Foundation saying she thinks it’s important to support public places that everyone can go and experience nature.
As for the winning Best Emerging Artist, she says she’s flattered.
“I'm absolutely honored to have received it. This is my first year as a full-time artist, and my first year doing shows like this. So, I haven't traveled around much like selling my work. But I've been painting for about five years. And I've kind of developed my style over the past few years. But I haven't really shown or sold my work much until this past year.”
All three artists reported robust sales and were thankful for the weekend’s perfect weather.
The Best in Show award winners:
PHOTOGRAPHY - Cali Hobgood
FIBER - Sharon Tesser
DRAWING - Nha Vuu
PAINTING - Taman VanScoy
MIXED MEDIA - Ezra Siegel
WOOD - Steve Henneford
CERAMICS - Michael Schwegmann
JEWELRY - Katzie Hughes
SCULPTURE - Yves Goyatton
PRINTMAKING - Jennifer Worsley
METALWORK - Laura Baring-Gould
DIGITAL ART - Lily McAlpin
GLASS - Nick Leonoff
