National Orange Show Citrus Fair and All California Juried Art Exhibition is Here

The 101st National Orange Show Citrus Fair [“NOS”] takes place at the NOS Event Center in San Bernardino from April 20-24, 2016. This year’s theme is “Blast to the Past.” The fair is open Wednesday through Friday from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. and on Saturday and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. There are fees for admission, games, rides, food, and parking. The NOS Events Center is at 689 South E St., in San Bernardino. For information, call 909-888-6788 or visit the website at: http://www.nosevents.com/nos-citrus-fair/. Art Reception On the eve of opening the NOS Citrus Fair to the public, a reception was held for the 2016 All California Juried Art Exhibition located in the dome on the fair grounds. The event was well attended by members of the Board of Directors for the National Orange Show, artists and their families, local dignitaries, and even the National Orange Show’s Teen Queen, Jordyn Bristol. Secretary George Smith, of the San Bernardino Art Association, which is hosting the event, was pleased to announce that most all of the artwork submitted was accepted and is being shown in this year’s exhibition. Last year only about half of the artwork submitted was accepted into the show. He was also very happy to be the individual who handed out the awards to the artists on Wednesday evening when the winners were announced. This year the artwork was juried into the show and pieces chosen for awards by Judge Mike Sheehan. He received his BFA degree from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, and is a designer and illustrator for the theme park, toy, and consumer products industries, as well as an art instructor at UCR. Judge Mike Sheehan noted, “The quality of this show is really, really good. When I was judging the show I took care to get it right.” He explained a little about the process by stating, “Earlier I had juried which artwork would be accepted into the show from photographs, then those artists delivered their pieces to the NOS grounds where I spent three hours going around and around the exhibition to judge the approximately 140 pieces that I accepted into this show.” He used sticky notes to do preliminary choices of those pieces that made a big impact on him while touring the show and kept assessing and reassessing his top picks until he was satisfied with his final selections. When asked about what he looks for when choosing the winners he revealed that he was looking for artwork that reflected a “good sense of craft.” He later explained that the secret to excellence is “time and mileage.” Open Theme First place in the open theme category went to “Lotus”, by Janet Castro. Judge Sheehan said, “I really liked the vibe of this painting. That is something I look for when judging an art show. The color palette she used in this watercolor painting [of a lotus flower] was very sophisticated. It had a patina feel to it as the artist used a muted palette.” Second place went to “Quorra”, by Mike Nichols. Third place to “Dead Row”, by Martha Cowan. Honorable Mentions were given for “Friendship”, by Alfonso Mendez; “Sea Scape”, by Robert Merchant; and “Repose and Repast”, by Tim Waldner. Citrus Theme First place in the citrus theme category went to “Lifting Citrus Highlights”, by Edward Saenz. It was an oil painting of a tractor in an orange grove with oranges laying around and on the tractor. When asked what he liked best about this painting Judge Sheehan quickly said, “The dappled sunlight. It was excellently done and added interest to this painting.” He continued, “I also liked the dusty tires on the tractor and how the artist used a warm yellow light at the bottom of this painting and transitioned to a yellow-green light at the top—it was beautifully subtle.” Second place went to “Orange Coffee”, by Martha Cowan. Third place to “Breakfast is Served”, by Julie R. Evans, as well as an Honorable Mention for “Still Life with Copper and Tangelo”, by Julie R. Evans. Other Honorable Mentions were given for “Orange 1 2 3”, by Muriel Dolemieux and “Blushing Oranges”, by Bobbie Greiner. People’s Choice The final award for People’s Choice went to "Sunrise in The West", by Jimmy Segura.