Grafton artist places third at Small Stones Festival of the Arts

Grafton resident Nastissia Hunt won third place in fine art for her oil portrait “Past Bedtime,” at the Small Stones Festival of the Arts.

Small Stones Festival of the Arts – COVID-19 edition, announced the winning artists at its virtual live awards ceremony Friday evening, Oct. 23. The top award of $500 for first place was given to Worcester’s Jo Ellen Reinhardt for her “Dance in Charcoal” drawing in the fine art category; and to Plymouth resident Matt Reynolds for his “Edge of the Earth” in the photography category. View the awards ceremony at https://smallstonesfestival.org.

Apple Tree Arts, the Worcester County Camera Club and the Blackstone Valley Art Association — three regional art associations — created the newly envisioned virtual fine art and photography exhibit and music festival to comply with pandemic safety requirements. The first festival was held in 2018.

A classically trained modern realist and co-founder of the New England School of Fine Art, Reinhardt’s work has been shown in many museums, galleries and exhibitions in the Northeast. Best known for her still life and portrait painting, she enjoys other genres such as plein air landscape and figurative works. A signature member of the renowned Pennsylvania Watercolor Society, Academic Artists Association and the Copley Society of Art, Reinhardt is an adjunct professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Reynolds, an award-winning photographer said, “My goal is to capture a location in the best light possible. This may involve many visits to the same location, extensive planning and often requires multiple exposures which I may blend using post processing methods. I strive for an artistic, but still realistic result with each image. I do edit my photos to try and convey the emotion of the moment I experienced at that location and time.”

Awards were given for each category in second place of $250 and third place of $100. Second place winners included Marsha Gleason of Northborough for her oil painting “What to Wear” and Natick’s Diane Gray for her photograph of “Ice Flowers.” Grafton’s Nastassia Hunt won third place for her oil painting “Past Bedtime” and Lucas Fenton was awarded third place for his photograph “Essential Escape.”

A commissioned painter, Hunt enjoys painting with oil.

“There is something about capturing a moment, scene or feeling with paint that is so invigorating! My favorite things currently to paint are people, animals and landscapes,” she said.

A Pensacola Christian College graduate, Hunt has a Bachelor’s degree in studio art. She has worked as an illustrator at publisher Abeka. After moving back to New England, Hunt started a family and taught art classes at Young Champions of America and designed her own original greeting cards.

Each of the three jurors for each category chose their favorite pieces from the festival. Fine art juror’s choice awards were given to Susan Hong-Sammons of West Boylston for her oil painting of “The Graduate,” Jo Ellen Reinhardt for “Dance in Charcoal” and Marsha Gleason’s “What to Wear” painting. Photography juror’s choice winners included Gordon Sapiera of Weston for “HaveYouSeenMe,” Matt Reynolds for “Edge of the Earth” and Diane Gray for “Ice Flowers.”

More than 700 participants voted in the people’s choice categories for the work they liked the best in each category. Robert Demetrio of Stoneham won with his watercolor “Trattoria Sempione” and Jonathan Klinker of , was chosen the winner for his photograph “Winter Ice.”

Ken Crater, chair of the festival, hosted the evening and introduced the keynote speaker, Executive Director of Arts Worcester Juliet Feibel, who gave an insightful and inspiring speech about how the pandemic has affected the arts in the local community.

The festival’s distinguished panel of independent jurors assisted Crater in announcing the winners. Fine art jurors assisting included Jim Welu, director emeritus of the Worcester Art Museum (WAM), and Michael Graves, a nationally award winning plein-air artist. Photography jurors, Nancy Burns, associate curator of prints, drawings and paintings for WAM; Ron Rosenstock, internationally-renowned photographer; and Stephen DiRado, Clark University professor with over 40 years’ experience in photography, also assisted. Fine art juror Charlotte Wharton, a highly-accomplished, prominent portrait and landscape artist participated in the festival, but unfortunately, was not available for the awards ceremony.

Earlier in October, the festival hosted talks featuring fine art and photography artists discussing their exhibited works and a “basics of marketing for artists” workshop presented by Donna Dufault of Erb/Dufault Photography. These popular events were well-attended.

The public enjoyed juror talks led by Jim Welu and Ron Rosenstock in late October. The jurors provided their insights and perspectives on several of their favorite pieces of artwork from the exhibit.

The festival concluded Sunday evening with a spectacular virtual concert featuring world-renowned pianist Stephen Drury performing the powerful masterpiece “The People United Will Never Be Defeated” by Frederick Rzewski. The concert opened with Drury performing the world premiere of “Apology” composed by Anthony R. Green, a social justice advocate, composer and performer. The concert was organized under the aegis of Apple Tree Arts, a nonprofit community school of the arts providing high-quality performing arts education and experiences for all ages, identities and abilities. The concert was recorded at Apple Tree Arts’ performance venue, The Great Hall in Grafton and was streamed free to all attendees.

The festival’s hardback printed exhibition catalog features 144 pieces of artwork of 90 artists and is for sale online at https://smallstonesfestival.org. The artists reside in different communities in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. Prior year catalogs are also available for purchase.

Planning for the 2021 Small Stones Festival of the Arts will start early next year. The organizing committee announced Aug. 15, 2021, as the art call date. Email Ken Crater at info@smallstonesfestival.org if interested in participating in the festival or for sponsorship details.

For more information, visit https://smallstonesfestival.org.

Prize Winners

Painting Category

First Prize:                           Dance in Charcoal                                       Jo Ellen Reinhardt

Second Prize:                      What To Wear                                              Marsha Gleason

Third Prize:                         Past Bedtime                                                     Nastassia Hunt

Jurors’ Choice Awards:       What To Wear                                                Marsha Gleason

                                           Dance in Charcoal                                          Jo Ellen Reinhardt

                                            The Graduate                                        Susan Hong-Sammons

People’s Choice Award:      Trattoria Sempione                                            Robert Demetrio

Photography Category

First Prize:                           Edge of the Earth                                                Matt Reynolds

Second Prize:                      Ice Flowers                                                               Diane Gray

Third Prize:                         Essential Escape                                                    Lucas Fenton

Jurors’ Choice Awards:       Ice Flowers                                                            Diane Gray

                                            Edge of the Earth                                                 Matt Reynolds

                                            HaveYouSeenMe                                             Gordon Saperia

People’s Choice Award:      Winter Ice                                                         Jonathan Klinker