Artists honored at Small Stones Festival of the Arts

Small Stones Festival of the Arts announced the winning artists of its fourth annual juried fine art painting and photography exhibition held at the Great Hall of One Grafton Common.

The top $500 first place awards were given to Whitinsville’s Beverly Tinklenberg for her “Berry Bush” oil painting (fine art category) and Jamestown, RI resident Paul M. Murray for his “Enormity” (photography category). 

A member of the Blackstone Valley Art Association, Tinklenberg is a retired art teacher who has taught in the U.S. and internationally. Whether she’s painting plein air or indoors, Tinklenberg tries to capture a moment in time when

light changes the mood of a place or thing. She works in watercolor, pastels and oils, sketching landscapes, still life and portraits. Tinklenberg enjoys spending time creating art and showing her work at art shows and most recently at the Lyme Art Association, Lyme, CT.

Murray, an accomplished photographer won for his awe-inspiring landscape of an enormous sand dune in Sossusvlei, Namibia, Southern Africa. His work often reflects his lifelong interest in art, nature, sports, technology, aviation,

urban life and societal change. Murray travels all over the world to unsafe places like hot sweltering African deserts or the cold Antarctica to photograph images. He believes that he communicates to people in a unique way with his photography.

Second ($250) and third place ($100) awards were given in each category. Winning second place artists included Jeff Iacovelli of Northbridge, who won for his watercolor of “Big Girl,” a large brown cow, and photographer Sara Lyons of

Greenfield for her “Scenic Overlook.” Fall River’s Elizabeth Koah won for a watercolor, “Himba Boy” and Sutton’s Megan Fedigan won for a black and white photograph, “Sunflower.”

Each juror for each category chose their favorite artwork for a juror’s choice award. This year the winners in fine art juror’s choice awards included Susan Hong-Sammons of West Boylston for her oil painting of “Spring” and Grafton residents Jennifer Beyhmer won for a charcoal drawing of her daughter, “Waiting to Dance” and Nastassia Hunt was awarded for an oil painting of her son with his dog, “Pillow for Two.” Natick resident Diane Gray won for her color photograph of “Laced Up,”

James Hunt of Grafton won for his black and white photograph of “Draper Demolition, Hopedale #1 and Colleen Reilly of Cheshire, CT for her color photograph, “Lily of the Pond.”

Apple Tree Arts, the Worcester County Camera Club, the Blackstone Valley Art Association, the Shakespeare Club of Grafton and Claflin Hill Symphony Orchestra joined forces to create a high-quality fine art and photography festival accompanied by music, literature and arts programs.

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