Chairman's Message

As Chairman, and one of the Founders of the Art Renewal Center, I was overwhelmed to see the enormous success of this year's Salon. The quality as a whole and sheer number of highly skilled, creative, and original works submitted was staggering. When we first started this organization, there were only a fraction the number of artists creating the top quality realism which we can see today as evident by this years competition.

I was particularly pleased with the Landscape entries this year, which as a category as a whole has taken an enormous step up in quality and was along with figurative, the most difficult category to judge.

We are very excited to start accepting entries this coming September for our next competition, for which we are expecting an ever larger turn out then we had this year. For those who did not win, and those who did not make it to the finals, many of you still demonstrated very high and advancing levels of quality and accomplishment. Please don't be discouraged. There is always next year, when with hard work and uncompromising dedication you just might be a winner. Many of this year's winners only won after several years of disappointment. Contemporary Realism needs to always have the best of the best competing if we are to once again see vibrant realist imagery reach the heights achieved in the past. It takes the pressure of the most skilled, the most talented and the most creative minds competing for the top prizes, to achieve the kind of advancements that only can come from continuous feedback and cross pollination of skills, methods and brilliant ideas.

Once again, please join all of us here at the Art Renewal Center in wishing warm and robust congratulations to all of our winners, honorable mentions, and finalists.