Greeley Park 2008: Shining Brightly Despite Some Rain

Tuesday, August 19^th, 2008

Few spirits were dampened by thunderstorms on Saturday as artists, photographers and artisans gathered in Nashua's Greeley Park for the opening day of the 55th Annual Greeley Park Art Show. The show was sponsored by the Nashua Area Artist's Association (NAAA) headquartered at Gallery One in Nashua, and it is the oldest continuously running art show in New England.

Events during the show included the Adult's Art Competition on Saturday [picture, NAAA President Jayson Gleneck announcing the winners] and the Emerging Art Student's Competition on Sunday. Both events were held in the NAAA's new 10x40 tent that successfully protected the artwork from the elements during Saturday's storms.

This year one of our youngest artists won the "Best In Show" award for the Emerging Artists Student Talent Competition. Congratulations went to Ria Das, age 9, from Nashua, for her picture titled “Pitcher and Green Apple” [Picture, Picture]. See the full list of awarded artists at the end of this document.

NAAA honors long-time volunteer

NAAA's Kellie Carlin [picture, picture, both with Ria Dias] took the opportunity to publicly appreciate the work of Art Lynch. Art Lynch, a long-term resident of Nashua, was presented with the “Flame of Inspiration” award for his over 20 years of volunteer service to the Association and for being the driving force behind the scholarship program. And so it was a very touching moment when Lauren Duda, who won this year's Calvin Libby Scholarship, presented Art with his special award [Picture, Picture, Picture, Picture].

The NAAA was pleased to honor two scholarship winners this year. Justianna Andrews of Milford won this year's NAAA Scholarship, and Lauren Duda of Merrimack won the Calvin Libby Scholarship. Justianna will further her artistic career at the Art Institute of Boston and Lauren will attend the Savannah School of Art and Design (SCAD) in Georgia pursuing her talents in the artistic realm.

Despite some persistent afternoon rain sending the show to an early close on Saturday, artists we rewarded with a great day and crowds of art lovers on Sunday. One artist, standing in her 10x10 tent late on Sunday, said, "I'll be back next year". Her artwork had survived the previous day's rain without water damage, but she thinks the general economy kept art buyer's budgets tightly capped this year.

"It's the inexpensive items that go this year," added another artist, a photographer, "but you still have grandfathers buying gifts for their grandchildren". Some things just will not change, come hail and high water – be it in the economy at large or at Greeley Park.

The winners in the Emerging Artists Student Talent (EAST) show were:

Category	Artist Name	Title of Artwork
Best In Show	Ria Das	“Pitcher and Green Apple” [Picture]
Ages 6 -9 Winners
1st	Grace Lou	“Three Chinese Dolls” [Picture]
2nd	Diana Zhou	“My Black and White Friend”
3rd	Angela Gong	“A Cup, Seashell and Tablecloth"
Honorable Mention	Cady Qui	“Sky and Grass”
Honorable Mention	Ashley Cantwell	“Hearts and Flowers”
Honorable Mention	Tiffany Lu	“White Stars on a Tree”
Honorable Mention	Elizabeth Cleveland	“Comfy Cat”
Age 10-12 Winners
1st	Robert LaVine	“Spring has Sprung” [Picture]
2nd	Enya Han	“3 Pears, 3 Shells, 3 Lollipops
Honorable Mention	Devon George	“Manga Coloring Book”
Age 13 -15 Winners
1st	Marissa Innes	“Sequino-Tanzania Trip” [Picture]
2nd	Courtney Cortez	“A Cloth of a 1000 Shadows”
3rd	Emily Yu	“Attention”
Age 16-18 Winners
1st	Nola Ennis	“Magical Ingrediants” [Picture]
2nd	Sarah Dupont	“Licensed”
3rd	Allison Romero	“Botanical Gardens, Washington, DC"
Honorable Mention	Naomi Conti	“Placid Noonday”

The winners in the Adult Artists Competition were:

Category	Artist Name
Best In show	Dick Fischer
Acrylic
1st Place	Charles Mooradian
2nd Place	Mary Anne Manning
3rd Place	Randall Whitehead
Honorable Mention	Ann Marie Swierz
Oil
1st Place	Monique Sakellarios
2nd Place	Cheryl Miller
3rd Place	Christine Ryan
Honorable Mention	n/a
Mixed Media
1st Place	Suzanne Duchamel
2nd Place	Marilene Sawaf
3rd Place	James Chase
Honorable Mention	n/a
Pastel
1st Place	Anne McGrory
2nd Place	Shauna Duffy Smith
3rd Place	n/a
Honorable Mention	n/a
Watercolor
1st Place	Joyce Kingman
2nd Place	Alfred "Chief" Johnson
3rd Place	n/a
Honorable Mention	n/a
Photography
1st Place	Shirley Passman
2nd Place	Daniel Brown
3rd Place	n/a
Honorable Mention	n/a
Printmaking
1st Place	n/a
2nd Place	n/a
3rd Place	n/a
Honorable Mention	Jennifer Vigneau
Jewelry
1st Place	Janis Cosby [picture, picture, picture]
2nd Place	n/a
3rd Place	n/a
Honorable Mention	Lauren Alana