Fine Arts Competition – Indiana State Fairgrounds – Aug. 21, 2002 – 3 stars

Closed Aug. 18. Despite the complaints some participating artists voiced about the fine arts juried exhibition (misspelled names on labels for starters), I found the overall quality in the calligraphy, paintings, prints and drawing and pastels classes to be high. The style of work represented in the paintings class (most prominently displayed), however, was extremely limited and not indicative at all of the fine art being created by Indiana artists. The jurors definitely favored traditionally-handled, controlled-looking, truer-to-life work – most of which was quite beautiful, like an appropriate painting of chickens by Gene Jones, which looked pretty impressionistic next to its stiff counterparts. Carol Fisher's multiple blue ribbon win woodcut in the prints class was well-deserved indeed. The winning judgement in some other categories, however, could have been disputed. –Mary Lee Pappas