This year the American Art Awards (www.AmericanArtAwards.com), scored by the 25 Best Galleries In America, had winners from 40 countries including Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, England, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, UK, USA, and Wales.
In CATEGORY 27, NAIVE - OTHER - NOT HUMAN FIGURE, galleries awarded American Debi Pickler 7 awards this year, and she comes in 1st here with 'Welcome To The Jungle' which won in 3 categories, like her MASTERPIECE winner, 'Character.' South Korea's Rhee Hyun Kim, a multi-winner as well, took 2nd. Americans Winston Harrell and Andrea Jones not only tied for 3rd, Jones also took 6th and Harrell 5th. Lithuania's Loreta Mickiene was awarded 6th.
2016 AMERICAN ART AWARDS WINNING ARTISTS FOR CATEGORY 27. NAIVE ART – OTHER:
1ST PLACE: DEBI PICKLER, USA, www.debi-studios.com, "Welcome To The Jungle" 12.25 x 9.25" Digital.
2ND PLACE: RHEE HYUN KIM, SOUTH KOREA, www.wowjee1.wix.com/fullmoon, "Constellation_Virgo" 800 x 1000mm Pen on canvas.
3RD – TIE: WINSTON HARRELL, USA, winston.harrell@gmail.com, "The Power Of Arizona" 11 x 17" Acrylic, colored marker, watercolor.
3RD – TIE: ANDREA JONES, USA, www.Adka.com, “Golden Prague” 24 x 30” Acrylic on canvas.
4TH PLACE: LORETA MICKIENE, LITHUANIA, http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/loreta-mickiene.html, "Goddess Of Earth" 16 x 20" Oil on canvas.
5TH PLACE: WINSTON HARRELL, USA, winston.harrell@gmail.com, "Moon Over Mesa" 11 x 17" Acrylic, marker, watercolor.
6TH PLACE: ANDREA JONES, USA, www.Adka.com, “Parrofly With Me!” 18 x 24” Acrylic on canvas.
BIO ON 1ST PLACE WINNER DEBI PICKLER, “MASTERPIECE”:
Debi Pickler knows exactly who to thank for her successful career as an artist. “My Mom was a tremendously gifted artist,” Debi says. “I remember watching her paint and draw when I was a little girl, wishing I could be that good at creating art. She made it look so simple. I was truly fascinated by how she selected what to draw or paint and how she made them come to life.”
Inspired by her mother’s art, Debi began drawing and painting when she was in kindergarten. She became completely immersed in art, and before long had a collection of work in a variety of media. “I had so many drawings and paintings that I decided to have an art show in our back yard. My dad worked with me to make a sign for our mailbox announcing the show, and I hung up all of my art on our back yard fence.” But before the show saw its first visitor, a sudden downpour from a rainstorm ruined all of her work. “Dad came to the rescue though, and bought the whole collection for 2 dollars. And that, was the beginning, of my artistic career.”
Debi continued to develop her skills, becoming adept in a variety of different media such as pencil, oil, acrylic, watercolor, pastel, clay, wool sculpting, airbrushing, digital art and wood working and steadily becoming more proficient. After earning a BFA, emphasis in illustration from Kansas University, she ventured into the world of commercial art. Now, after more than 20 years as a graphic designer, she has worked for many different organizations such as a major university creating medical illustrations, several consumer products companies creating marketing pieces, trade show booths, and packaging and large companies who are in the business of selling their services to their clients. “Sometimes I think I’d like to focus on just one media, but I just wouldn’t be happy,” she says. “It’s just how my mind works. It seems like I’m always thinking about art, about new ways to do things. I’ll have dreams about creating art and I’ll wake up at 3 a.m. with a new ideas that I just have to try. My mind just never stops.”
Regardless of the media, there are common threads that run through nearly all of her work. First, Debi is obsessive about detail and loves putting extremely fine detail into her work. “I like for people to be able to really look at my art, to spend time with it and be rewarded by finding some new, tiny detail that maybe no one else had noticed,” she says. “That drives me.” And, as with the viewers of her art, she is passionate about her clients. “I like challenges” says Debi, a dedicated runner/cyclist who has completed several marathons and bike tours. “And walking into a new situation with a client, learning about their communication, marketing, branding, advertising or fine art needs and coming up with something that ‘wows’ that client is tremendously rewarding and inspiring to me!”
That inspiration seems to be a constant for Debi, whose greatest attribute may well be that she sees the world as her canvas, a place full of art and the potential for new, more intriguing works of art. “Art is everywhere … it’s all around us and I believe the inspiration I find in the world and the talent to create art comes from God,” she says. “Of course, it’s up to me to see what’s out there, dare to live outside the box, work extremely hard developing my talent and the ability share it with others.”
While Debi’s path has taken many twists and turns throughout her artistic life, she still looks back to where that path began, at a backyard art show in New Jersey, where a dad and his little girl turned a rain-out into a life.
Debi Pickler is a member of SCBWI (Society of Children Book Writers and Illustrators), BOMH (Best of Missouri Hands), St. Louis Artist Guild and IGOR (International Guild of Realism). Having studied at the University of Kansas obtaining a BFA in Illustration, she has won countless awards for her art, including:
2001- Won the SCBWI Mentorship for Illustrators Program and studied under illustrator Phyillis Harris for one year
2002 - Second Place in the SCBWI Conference Illustrator Show with "Let it Snow" pen and ink stippling
2003 - Second Place in the St. Peter's, Missouri Cultural Art Show with pen and ink stipplings
2004 - Second Place in the SCBWI Conference Illustrator Show with "Linkee the Caterpillar from the Ifits®" -- as well as -- Won the SCBWI Mentorship for Illustrators Program and studied under illustrator Richard Bernal for one year.
2005 - First Place in the SCBWI Conference Illustrator Show with "Kokee® the Cheetah from the Ifits®"
2006 - Won the Portfolio competition at the SCBWI Fall Conference.
2008 - Won the SCBWI Mentorship for Illustrators Program and studied under illustrator Todd Smith for one year
2009 - Honorable Mention for the Race Judicata t-shirt design contest, Thompson Coburn LLP.
2010 - Third Place in the Race Judicata t-shirt design contest, Thompson Coburn, LLP.
2011 - Honorable mention for the Race Judicata t-shirt design contest, Thompson Coburn LLP
2012 - First Place in the Legal Marketing Association's (LMA) Your Honor Wards in the Practice Development category.
2013 - Finalist in the Black and White Art Expo, Infinity Online art show, Finalist in the Spring Online Competition, American Women Artists, Finalist in the You Be the Judge finalist online art competition, Finalist in the Portraits Online Art Exhibition, Linus Galleries, Finalist in the Art Kudos International Art show, and Finalist in the My Best Artwork, Collaboration of Artists.
2014 - Finalist in The Senses, Linus Art Gallery, 7th Place Overall Category in the All Women Competition, Light, Space, Time Gallery, Honorable Mention in the 3 x 3, The Magazine of Contemporary Illustration, Finalist in the Art Kudos International Juried Art Competition and Exhibition, as well as Winning Artist in the North Light Books 2014 drawing competition Strokes of Genius 7: Depth, Dimension + Space, and also Third Place Overall in St. Peters Cultural Art Center Anything Goes Art show.
2015 - Winner in Master Volume 11 Juried Art Publication, Best Of Show in Colors of Humanity Art Gallery, Human Nature 2015 Show, Honorable Mention in Faces of Humanity, ArtCompetition.net, Second place in New Perspectives Online Artshow, Third place in TRAC 2015 Online Art Competition, as well as Honorable Mention in Light, Space, Time, Open Art Exhibition - 3 Dimensional Category.
SEE MORE OF PICKLER’S WORK HERE: www.debi-studios.com
BELOW ARE THE 25 BEST GALLERIES AND MUSEUMS IN AMERICA, 2016, WHO VOTED ON ALL ONLINE ART SUBMISSIONS:
BEST IN CALIFORNIA -- EXCLUSIVE COLLECTIONS GALLERY.
"... professionalism, reputation, gallery space, red carpet events, trajectory, artist roster and clientele... Beverly Hills location... Laguna Beach location... two San Diego locations...”
BEST IN PENNSYLVANIA -- JAMES A. MICHENER ART MUSEUM.
"... 40,000 square feet... world-class group of paintings... 2,800 objects... attract annually more than 135,000 visitors..."
BEST IN ILLINOIS -- HILLIGOSS GALLERIES.
"20 years... Chicago’s Premier Art Gallery. The two-story 8,500 square foot gallery... original paintings by the world's finest living artists, as well as fine prints by historic and 20th century masters."
BEST IN UTAH -- UTAH MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART.
"...epitome of a contemporary museum... an award-winning aesthetic force and community leader since it was established 85 years ago... four-time recipient of funding from the Andy Warhol Foundation..."
BEST IN IOWA -- MOBERG GALLERY.
"... exceptional eye for contemporary masterpieces... procured work for museums, corporate collections, private collections... sets the standard for modern art in the Midwest."
BEST IN RHODE ISLAND -- RISD MUSEUM.
"140 years... 100,000 objects... Impressionist paintings, 20th- and 21st-century design, Gorham silver, 12th-century Buddha... Cézanne, Degas, Matisse, Manet, Picasso, Rothko, Sargent, Turner, van Gogh, Warhol..."
BEST IN COLORADO -- COLORADO SPRINGS FINE ART CENTER.
"132,000 sq. ft... one of the only multi-discipline arts institutions... For nearly 100 years, the top cultural attraction of the Pikes Peak region... world’s finest art... "
BEST IN SOUTH DAKOTA -- SOUTH DAKOTA ART MUSEUM.
"Since 1970... artistic legacy of South Dakota in all its diversity. Harvey Dunn, Native American art, Marghab Linens... 7,000 objects in its collection..."
BEST IN NEBRASKA -- KIECHEL FINE ART.
"...few have the roster and esteem as Keichel... discerning eye... three story four gallery showplace... many of the top Midwestern Contemporary artists... "
BEST IN LOUISIANA -- NEWCOMB ART MUSEUM.
"... founded in 1886... pays tribute to its heritage through shows that recognize the contributions of women to the fields of art and design...."
BEST IN SOUTH CAROLINA -- MARY MARTIN GALLERY OF FINE ART.
"...museum quality art ... number one tourist destination in America... on par with Beverly Hill’s Rodeo Drive and NY’s Fifth Avenue..."
BEST IN KENTUCKY -- E&S GALLERY.
"... professionalism, reputation, gallery space, exhibitions, artist roster and clientele ... 11,000 square foot gallery... African American art with an unmatched selection of artists, medium, subject matter, and genres... "
BEST IN INDIANA -- GRUNWALD GALLERY OF ART.
"... thirty exhibits annually... collaborate with scientists and scholars to produce exhibits that interpret visual art in a broader scientific or humanities context... "
BEST IN HAWAII -- LIK LAHAINA, LIKE WAIKIKI.
"Peter Lik has 13 exceptional gallery locations throughout the word and is the most successful photographer in the world... sold upwards of $500 million... Lik’s works make up four of the top 20 most expensive photographs ever sold."
BEST IN NEVADA -- NEVADA MUSEUM OF ART.
"...four-story structure... 2,500 works of 19th through 21st-century art... inspiring dialogue about the impact of human activity on natural environments..."
BEST IN NEW JERSEY -- EVALYN DUNN GALLERY.
"It is very rare to find a gallery so successful that it is approaching it’s 60th year... also features the finest 20th Century American and European art..."
BEST IN FLORIDA -- ART FUSION GALLERIES.
"8,000 square foot... in the heart of Miami’s Wynwood Art District... preeminent gallery in Miami for integrating the best of Emerging to Mid-Career Contemporary artists... represents over 1,000... "
BEST IN MINNESOTA -- DOUBLETAKE GALLERY.
"...enormous international Internet presence, with millions of hits... LeRoy Neiman, Salvador Dali, Peter Max, Frederick Hart, Erte, Norman Rockwell... fine art consignment and brokerage service... "
BEST IN IDAHO -- PRICHARD ART GALLERY.
"...premier venue for the state of Idaho... critically engaged, forward thinking arts space... freedom-oriented... encourages experimentation... emerging as well as established artists... "
BEST IN OKLAHOMA -- OKLAHOMA CONTEMPORARY ARTS CENTER.
"...Nonprofit organization... encourages artistic expression... Oklahoma’s top artists... $26 million capital campaign... spectacular new facility just south of downtown OK..."
BEST IN NEW MEXICO -- WILDER NIGHTINGALE GALLERY.
"22 years... eclectic works ranging from contemporary abstracts to traditional Taos landscapes... Leading artist such as BJ Briner, Tom Noble, Rory Wagner, Margaret Nes and Stephen Day..."
BEST IN MICHIGAN -- ART LEADERS GALLERY.
"10,000 square foot show room... over 24 years they have earned an impeccable reputation and are one of the leading residential and corporate art dealers in the state."
BEST IN OREGON -- BRONZE COAST GALLERY.
"24th year... one of the Oregon Coast's premiere fine art galleries... specializing in limited edition bronze sculpture... popular tourist attraction... award-winning regional, national and international artists..."
BEST IN WASHINGTON -- BRICK WALL PHOTOGRAPHIC GALLERY.
""...only Spokane gallery dedicated entirely to photography... some of the finest photography in America... nature, landscapes, as well as contemporary compositions by students and educators..."
BEST IN MAINE -- FARNSWORTH ART MUSEUM.
"20,000 square feet... 15,000 works. For nearly seventy years, they have exhibited a nationally recognized collection of art from America’s greatest artists..."
ARTISTS CAN ENTER FOR 2017 HERE: www.AmericanArtAwards.com