Marilyn Hughey Phillis, AWS, NWS, Artworks Around Town and Studio Gallery Director has been elected by the American Watercolor Society to Jury their 145th International Exhibition held at the Salmagundi Club on Fifth Avenue. She is chairman of a three man jury consisting of herself, Henry Casselli, AWS-D.F. internationally known portrait painter; George James, AWS-D.F, Professor Emeritus from California State University and innovative contemporary painter.
A Jury of Selection chose from over 1200 international entries approximately 120 works for this long time exhibition. In the past AWS has included such renowned names as John James Audubon, George Innes, James Whistler, Winslow Homer, Thomas Moran, John Singer Sargeant, Maurice Prendergast, John Marin, Arthur Dove, Mary Cassatt, Edward Hopper, Georgia O’Keeffe, Mark Tobey, Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollack, Helen Frankenthaler, Adolph Dehn, Barse Miller, Milford Zornes, Ogden Pleissner, Chen Chi, Mario Cooper, Robert Laessig, Edward Betts, Andrew Wyeth, and many other notables respected in the use of watermedia painting. Starting as a society for painters of watercolor, and progressing as advancements in materials were made, the society expanded its accepted media to include gouache, inks, egg tempera, casein, and acrylics. The 100th Anniversary Exhibition of the American Watercolor Society was held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1966.
Marilyn Hughey Phillis, recipient of many national and state awards, has served as an AWS Board of Directors member as well as on previous AWS selection and awards juries along with juries of other major national and regional exhibitions. This year she will be co-juror of the West Virginia Allied Artists Exhibition. She received her art training from The Ohio State University, The Toledo Museum of Art, and under a series of master watermedia teachers. Phillis is listed in Who’s Who of American Art, Who’s Who in America, and was elected to the Wheeling Hall of Fame and the Kent, Ohio Hall of Fame in 2000.
She states, “As a Juror, one has a tremendous responsibility to choose award winners that depict the high points of creativity and artistic excellence along with memorable expressions of personal input. Works must go beyond technical excellence to profound statements of the soul of the artist. AWS awards range from nearly $4000 for the top award to $500 for the lowest. The Exhibition is open to the public at 47 Fifth Avenue, NY, NY daily at 1:00 to 5:00 PM except on Monday’s. Two Demonstrations will be held Tuesday evenings at 6:00 to 8:00 PM on April 10, with nationally known artists , Professor Lilit K. Masih, AWS, landscape, and on April 17 with Roberta Carter Clark, AWS, portrait.