Yuma Artists Annual opens Friday

Gallery walls at the Yuma Art Center are being adorned with more than 160 pieces of art for a major show that organizers say promises to dazzle with color, vision and perspective.

Yuma Artists Annual 2010 opens this week as a 57-artist celebration of Yuman creativity.

“We have a lot of new artists this year who have not previously been shown. We have Yuma favorites Steve Embry, Judy Phillips, Scott Jones, Teri Ingram, Bill Butler, Adair Bentley, Tom Cabral, Deanie Holbrook and Nancy Phipps to name a few,” said Carolyn Bennett, executive director for Yuma Fine Arts. “But we also have newcomers Ty Cook, John Hoskin, Felix Pablo Carrion, Albert Escalante, Maria Doten and many more, including students Vanessa Campos and Katie Wendt.”

Yuma Fine Arts invites the community to join them in kicking off Yuma Artists Annual 2010 during a reception Friday at the Yuma Art Center. The event at 254 Main St. is free to the public and will run from 5 to 7 p.m.

Art lovers who can't attend the reception will still have plenty more time to enjoy the exhibit, which will be on display through December.

The show features numerous paintings, ranging from oils, acrylics, pen and ink, and collages, along with photography and three-dimensional works in ceramics and glass.

“Unlike exhibits such as Celebrating Yuma which we held in July, Yuma Artists Annual does not have a theme. The work is juried with awards for each category, paintings, photography and sculptural pieces,” Bennett explained.

This is the fifth year Yuma Fine Arts has staged its Yuma Artists Annual.

“Each year the show has grown to include more artists, who also become Yuma Fine Arts members, thereby increasing our ability to advocate for the arts in Yuma,” Bennett said. “In addition to attracting more artists to submit work for the exhibit each year, the quality and professionalism of the work is maturing as well.”

Yuma Fine Arts held an open call to Yuma artists, and each was allowed to enter three pieces.

The result is an exhibit that Bennett predicts will be hit with art lovers. “I think they will be surprised and pleased at the variety of work shown. There is truly something for everyone.”

She added that people will learn something important from this exhibit about Yuma's art world.

“We are lucky to live in a city that has a beautiful facility dedicated to the arts. Yuma has wonderful artists and a vibrant arts community. And, as the sunniest place on the planet, we are an ideal artists community!

“It is the mission of Yuma Fine Arts to nurture artists to create and encourage the community to support them. Ten artists got together in 1950 to do just that — and here we are 60 years later.”

The artists:

P.D. Allen

Georgina Barrantes-Arzuaga

W. Jean Beisner

Adair Bentley

Linette Brand

Anthony Bruno

Bill Butler

Tom Cabral

Richard Callahan

Vanessa Campos

Leslie Cannell

Felix Pablo Carrion

Lorenia Casaus

Ty Cook

Jose Dorame

Maria Doten

Steve Embry

Albert Escalante

Lorraine Fielding

Lois Fox

Marion Fulmer

Margarita Hernandez Guzman

Laryl Hancock

Rosemary Hawkey

Judith Hilarie

Deanie Holbrook

John Hoskin

Harvey Hoskins

Teri Ingram

Scott Wesley Jones

Mary Jean Klingenberg

Patricia Lachance

Carly Landry

Joan Ann Lansberry

Sherrie Levek

Lia Littlewood

Michelle Loynes

Teresa Mallett

Barry Morrison

Ginger Morrison

Michael J. Obney

Judy Phillips

Nancy Phipps

Vicki Pinkus

Gene Richison

Isaac Russell

David Seacord

Rebecca Taylor

Maren Waddill

Chuck Warner

Sandra Welday

Katie Wendt

David Willets

Linda Willets

Jodie Williams

Judy Wright

Larry Yanez