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Georgia painter wins 2022 Bluff Park Art Show

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Photo courtesy of Bluff Park Art Association

Photo courtesy of Bluff Park Art Association

Photo courtesy of Bluff Park Art Association

Photo by Meg McKinney

Photo by Meg McKinney

Photo by Meg McKinney

Photo by Meg McKinney

Photo by Meg McKinney

Photo by Meg McKinney

Photo by Meg McKinney

Photo by Meg McKinney

Photo by Meg McKinney

Photo by Meg McKinney

Photo courtesy of Bluff Park Art Association

Photo by Meg McKinney

A painter from Woodstock, Georgia, won the top prize at the 2022 Bluff Park Art Show Saturday.

Gary Curtis, who has been a full-time artist for about 40 years, had a painting of a violin and a glass bottle selected as the “best in show” and collected a $2,500 prize.

He was among about 130 artists participating in this year’s show, and his painting will be added to the Bluff Park Art Association’s permanent collection.

Curtis, a native of southern California who spent many years in corporate management with a Fortune 500 company, began his art business shortly after moving to the Atlanta area in 1980, according to his website.

Among his favorite subjects are mirror-like reflective silver vessels and transparent glass, such as the bottle in the piece that won the Bluff Park Art Show. Curtis said on his website that he has always been fascinated by the way objects become distorted as seen through cut crystal.

His paintings have been featured in American Artist and on the cover of Artist Magazine, and he has work in the Daytona Beach Museum of Arts & Sciences and the Ohr-O-Keefe Museum in Biloxi, Mississippi, as well as numerous corporate collections.

This year’s Bluff Park Art Show was moved outside of Bluff Park for the first time in 59 years due to construction at The Park at Shades Cliff, where the show has long been held.

The Bluff Park Art Association chose to move this year’s show to Hoover Metropolitan Stadium — a decision that upset some people who treasured the historic location in Bluff Park.

Heather Skaggs, a board member and spokeswoman for the association, said many people missed the beauty and coziness of The Park at Shades Cliff. However, board members overall received a positive response about this year’s show, Skaggs said.

One guest indicated her mother had always visited the show over the years but recently could not attend because she was in a wheelchair and found the terrain at the park difficult to navigate, Skaggs said. She was able to attend the show for the first time in several years this year, Skaggs said.

“Guests have also said they liked the layout of booths because they felt like they did not miss a booth and got to see all the artists,” Skaggs said.

Artist booths this year were lined up in a more orderly fashion in the parking lot in front of the Hoover Met.

That said, the decision to move the show to the Hoover Met was approved as a one-year change, Skaggs said. No decision has yet been made about the location of the 2023 show, which will be the 60th anniversary of the show, she said. Plans for the 2023 show likely will start in March, Skaggs said.

This year’s show, as always, included a variety of mediums, including painting, woodworking, pottery, jewelry, leather, textiles, metal, glass, photography and mixed media.

The judge this year was Anne Perry-Uhlman, director of the Fayette Art Museum.

Here is the complete list of awards given out this year, the winners and the type of art for which they won:

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