Announcing The Winners Of The 2021 Paper Arts Collective International Competition & Exhibition

Color: Top 3 Artists Selected For Exhibition

By Les Picker

We are so pleased to announce the first tier winners in the Color category for The Paper Arts Collective's 2021 International Open Print Competition. 

First Place: Michael Torkildsen

"Stillness of the Moment"

"On this morning in the Sawtooth Mountains we woke early," Michael told us, describing his gorgeous landscape. "We watched the sunrise which wasn’t particularly great, so we walked the water’s edge to see what other compositions we could find."

From an early age Michael was influenced by his mother and grandmother who enrolled him in art classes where he learned the basics of painting and sketching. "Painters and photographers see the world differently", Michael continues. "A painter can place elements of their painting anywhere they please, so WHERE they end up placing them is of big interest to me. This way of seeing an image helped me visualize and the print is a result of that new way of thinking."

Michael is hardly your typical photographer. Living in the Pacific Northwest, where the mountains and rugged coast lines inspired a serious turn towards photographic composition. As his portfolio grew, his dissatisfaction with corporate life led to him pursuing photography full-time. 

Today Michael lives in a travel trailer taking photos and leading workshops.

The judges were taken by the majesty of the scene, as well as the magical quality of the early morning fog sitting on the lake. The image is well composed, with the dead and dying trees on the left providing environmental context. The choice of a muted matte rag paper made for a pleasing print. 

2nd Place James B. Palmer

"Untitled 0954"

This remarkable cubist study, rendered so simply and elegantly, caught the eye of the judges. "This is detail of a large sign for a commercial development," James told us. "The sign has three panels, one in front of another. This detail of the overlap of the panels reduces them to three areas of similar color separated by two lines. It also removes any hint as to the identity of the object, with the shadow providing some three-dimensionality. I find the variations of the color values, the sizes of the three areas, and the weights of lines relaxing.

Jim has been taking pictures off and on for 50+ years, starting with the beauty of the natural world. "Then I started recognizing that there can be beauty in the details of man-made things, such as the corner of a window frame with old, bubbled glass, or the rust and paint on the fender of an old truck." 

For the last ten years Jim has been looking for - and seeing - abstract elements in the details of everything, natural and man-made. "My eye is now always looking for the abstract and minimalist in the everyday world around me."

"Striking", "Elegant simplicity" were two of the comments judges made. Rendered on a glossy paper, Jim extracted all the tonality possible, while preserving the simplicity and geometry of the scene. 

3rd Place Elizabeth Kazda

"Mandala with Maple Samaras"

Elizabeth Kazda is an award-winning Wisconsin artist specializing in macro/close-up studio photography. She enjoys collecting interesting botanical specimens for her photography. Elizabeth explains how she captured this beautiful and intricate image.

"I gathered several samaras (winged seeds) with a subtle purple tint from a maple tree in my yard. I placed the samaras on a light pad to highlight the delicate net-like texture of the wings. The light pad was placed on a rotating platform. The samaras were photographed and rotated at eight equidistant positions to complete a full rotation using my technique of Precise Incremental Rotation. I used an in-camera multiple exposure of eight exposures to create the effect."

Elizabeth's goal with this photo was to take something from nature and photograph it in an original way to create art that challenges the viewer to look at the natural world anew. "The unique characteristics of the maple samaras," she explains, "are emphasized when rendered within the rotational symmetry of the mandala form. The design invokes a sense of movement, and the samaras become wings in flight."

When Elizabeth's print was placed on the viewing stand, the judges oohed and ahhed. This is a singular artistic and technical achievement, brought to its zenith with Elizabeth's choice of a flat, matte paper showing lots of white space. 

The Judges

A very special thanks to my fellow judges: Jim Graham, Jim LaSala and Robert Boyer. Few people understand just how difficult judging a competition of this magnitude is. In all we spent more than 50 hours on the judging. We agreed, argued, revisited prints over and over, educated, persuaded and ultimately came to a consensus on the final winners.

Join us in congratulating the artists selected and letting them know what you think of their magnificent work.