Louisiana ceramic artist wins 2021 Bluff Park Art Show
A ceramic artist from Folsom, Louisiana, was the top winner at the 2021 Bluff Park Art Show Saturday.
Craig McMillin, who has been working in clay for more than 30 years and specializes in crystalline glazes, had one of his pieces chosen as the best in the show and will have it added to the Bluff Park Art Association’s permanent collection. McMillin won $2,500.
This year’s show featured 130 artists from eight states, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Virginia, said Heather Skaggs, a board member and spokeswoman for the Bluff Park Art Association.
The artists showcased a wide variety of mediums, including painting, woodworking, pottery, jewelry, leather, textiles, metal, glass, photography and mixed media, Skaggs said. Sixteen of them were first-time participants in the show, she said.
This year’s judge was Cynthia Malinick, the director and chief curator for Auburn University’s Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art.
Attendees had a chance to browse through and purchase artwork from the artists spread out across Shades Cliff Park, listen to live music and dine from food trucks. There also was a Kids Art Hut sponsored by Girl Scout Troop 746 for children ages 4 and older at a cost of $6 per hour.
Here is the complete list of the awards given out this year, the winners and the type of art for which they won:
- $2,500 Best in Show: Bluff Park Art Association Permanent Collection Purchase Award — Craig McMillin of Folsom, Louisiana, ceramics
- $1,000 August A. and Cary Moore Memorial Purchase Award — Ajanaka Obayana of Decatur, Georgia, jewelry
- $1,000 Award honoring 2021 Show Judge Cynthia Malinick — Robin Rodgers of Smyrna, Georgia, ceramics
- $1,000 Hugh Dye Memorial Award — Lucy Thomas of Fayetteville, Tennessee, painting
- $1,000 Bluff Park Art Association Board of Directors Award — Jessica Broom of Birmingham, painting
- $1,000 Jim Johnson, Hugh Dye, Cary Moore and Donna Leigh Jackins Memorial Award — Larry Allen of Leeds, ceramics
- $500 Hoover Arts Alliance Award — Cindy Barr of Mountain Brook, painting
- $500 Henley Hager Award — Sarah Mason of Vestavia Hills, 2-D and 3-D mixed media
- $500 Anna Sullivan Price Insurance Facilities Inc. Award — Becky Smith of Hoover, photography/digital art
- $300 Popular Vote Award — Terry Beckham of Hoover, painting
Click here to purchase photos from the event.
Editor's note: This article was updated at 7:17 p.m. on Oct. 4 to indicate that the August A. and Cary Moore Memorial Purchase Award was changed to $1,000 instead of another amount previously indicated and on Oct. 29 to correct the name of the Henley Hager Award.