Multi-national voting decides winners of Maricopa art contest

Maricopa Arts Council and VWM Art announced the three winners of the first-ever Abstract Art Contest for the City of Maricopa.

Open only to visual artists residing in Maricopa, the online art contest wound up attracting attention from all around the world. Contest rules were quite specific, emphasizing a color palette of red, blue and yellow and mandating works of good size (maximum 4-by-6 feet). Nineteen works overall were submitted, with 16 deemed eligible to compete.

First place went to “347 Pot O’ Gold,” a 30-by-40-inch acrylic on canvas by Jennian West.

Voting was done completely online with works viewable only by their image, without any artist’s name attached. A total 874 votes came in from 11 countries on continents: United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Czech Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, Israel, Austria, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the Philippines.

Second place went to “Go with the Flow,” a 24-by-36-inch acrylic on canvas by Chantelle Fulce.

Contest administrator and MAC co-director Kristal Hoeh announced the creators of the winning works will be honored in person and will receive their prize checks from Maricopa Arts Council at City Hall on Nov. 14. The ceremony will serve as prelude to the Maricopa Grand Slam performance poetry event and will include a display of the winning works.

MAC has an established tradition to connect the arts wherever possible, and visual arts are always part of MAC poetry slams.

Third place went to “Solar Gear Shift,” a 24-by-36-inch yarn wall hanging by Betsy Wager.