Georgia jewelry artist takes top award at 2018 Bluff Park Art Show

Jewelry artist Charles Pinckney of Athens, Georgia, talks with a customer about a piece of jewelry he made at the 2018 Bluff Park Art Show in Hoover, Alabama, on Saturday, Oct. 6, 2018. (Photo by Jon Anderson)

Reposted from the Hoover Sun
written by Jon Anderson.

A jewelry artist from Georgia took top honors at the 2018 Bluff Park Art Show today.

Charles Pinckney of Athens, Georgia, won the $3,500 Purchase Award, which means one of his jewelry pieces will go in the Bluff Park Art Association’s permanent collection.

Pinckney started work as a jewelry artist in 1983 but said he has had some of the ideas for his designs in his head since he was 6 years old. He has participated in the Bluff Park Art Show for seven or eight years, he said. “It’s an awesome little show. I’m just grateful I can get into it every year.”

His work was chosen for the top award from among the work of 135 artists in this year’s show, coming from 10 states, including as far away as Pennsylvania and the Florida Keys.

Thousands of people made the trek to the park at the Bluff Park Community Center today to see artwork from a wide variety of mediums, including clay, digital imaging, fiber, glass, jewelry, metalwork, mixed media, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture and woodwork.

Organizers said they were pleased with how this year’s show went.

“I think we had greater attendance than I’ve seen in quite a while,” said Julie Preskitt, president of the Bluff Park Art Association. “We’ve had many positive comments. … This is an opportunity to really hang around the artists. This has been a really good family fun day — something for everyone.”

Many people commented they liked some of the changes in the show this year, such as blocking off “Savory Savoy” Street to serve as a food truck alley and the addition of a hay bale seating area in the middle of the park, Preskitt said.

Graham Boettcher, the new director of the Birmingham Museum of Art, served as the show judge and said he liked the variety in the show, not just the variety in mediums but the variety in subject matter of the artists.

“I thought the level of craftsmanship was very high,” Boettcher said. “That made my job very difficult because they were hard to choose from. I enjoyed it tremendously, and I considered it quite an honor to judge.”

Eric Johnson, a metal sculptor and painter from Dora who has participated in the show the past seven years, said he enjoys coming to this one.

‘It’s really close. It’s a one-day show, and they really take care of the artists,” Johnson said. They bring the artists water, feed them dinner on Friday night and breakfast and coffee on Saturday morning, he said. They also help him get a spot in the park that he likes and share a lot of information online, he said. That may sound simple, but some shows are not as accommodating, he said.

Sheri Coffee and her daughter, Sarah Coffee of the Trace Crossings community in Hoover, have been coming to the show for about 16 years. “She looks forward to it all year,” Sarah Coffee said of her mother.

The pair always visit the booth of Chattanooga sculptor Timothy Reed, who makes whimsical kinetic wooden sculptures with colorful, cartoon caricature designs. “We’re trying to get a different ornament for every month of the year,” Sarah Coffee said.

The Coffees said the Bluff Park Art Show is always really fun, but today it was so hot that it didn’t really feel like fall.

In addition to visiting artist booths, guests today were able to sample food trucks from Pazzo Pizza, Rooski’s, Swamp Monster BBQ, City Bowls and Master Tacos. Other vendors included Urban Pops, Bruster’s Ice Cream, Piper & Leaf Artisan Tea Co. and the Bluff Park United Methodist Women Bake Sale.

There also was a hands-on art area for children, organized by the Shades Mountain Woman’s Club with assistance from Juniorette groups of girls from Hoover and Pelham. Music was provided by a guitar and mandolin duo called AndBlack and a Dixieland jazz band called Chuck and the Kings.

Here is the complete list of award winners from today’s show:

$3,500 Bluff Park Art Association Permanent Collection Purchase Award — Charles Pinckney, jewelry, Athens, Georgia

$1,750 President’s Award — Paveen “Beer” Chunhaswasdikul, clay, Gadsden

$1,750 Award in honor of 2018 Show Judge Graham Boettcher — Debra Riffe, printmaking, Birmingham

$1,250 Board of Directors Award in honor of Barbara and Ed Randle — A. Denise Rollings-Martin, jewelry, Bremen

$1,000 August A. Moore Memorial Purchase Award — Bethanne Hill, painting, Birmingham

$500 Award for Excellence in Glass — Amy Soverow, Birmingham

$500 Hugh and Jackie Dye Award — Eric Poland, two-dimensional mixed media, Pelham

$500 Synovus Award — Jim Weaver, painting, Florence

$500 Hoover Arts Alliance Award — Eric Johnson, sculpture, Dora

$500 Gallery Services Incorporated Award — Theresa St. Romain, jewelry, Tucker, Georgia

$500 Mills Pharmacy Award — Don McWhorter, clay, Carrollton, Georgia

$300 Popular Vote Award — Essie Ebrahimi, woodworking, Montevallo.