By By KEVIN SCOTT CUTLER
Lifestyles & Features Editor
The Beaufort County Arts Council is making plans for one of its biggest and most prestigious events of the year.
The 45th-annual juried Fine Arts Show will be held Oct. 22-24 in the Washington Civic Center, according to BCAC Executive Director Joey Toler. The show is presented with support from PCS Phosphate.
The free exhibition runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is open to the public. The show will feature more than 400 pieces in a variety of mediums, representing the work of approximately 200 artists.
A show prospectus with Fine Arts Show guidelines is available by calling the BCAC office at 252-946-2504, Toler said. That information is also available via e-mail at beaufortcountyarts@embarqmail.com.
Artists are invited to enter up to four works in four categories: watercolors, oils and acrylics, graphics/open mixed and three-dimensional. The entry fee is $20 for one or two entries or $7.50 each up to four entries. Entries for the show will be accepted from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the civic center Oct. 18.
A separate juried photography show is planned for July 8, 2010, through Aug. 27, 2010, Toler added.
The Fine Arts Show awards cash prizes totaling more than $3,900. Awards are given for first, second and third places, as well as honorable mentions, in each category, Toler said.
Additional awards include the Frances M. and William R. Roberson Jr. Best in Show of $500; Richard W. Tripp Best Watercolor Landscape of $300; East Carolina Wildfowl Guild Award of $150; Margaret Hodges Hackney Award for Best Beaufort County Entry of $200; Pamlico-Tar River Foundation Award of $75; the Young Ones Floral Award of $100; the Irene Glover Forbes Pottery Award of $50; the Garden World Award of $100 given by the Washington Garden Club; the Franke Rumley Textile Award of $100; the People First Award given by Louise and Harold Lane; and the Mark and Suzette Bardill Purchase Award of $1,000.
Award selections will be on exhibit in the Washington Civic Center Gallery through Dec. 18, according to Toler.
“BCAC is pleased to announce that Pamela Wallace Toll has been chosen as the juror,” Toler said. “Ms. Toll graduated with a degree in English and art from the University of North Carolina and earned her BFA in painting from East Carolina University.”
In 1991, Toll co-founded Acme Art Studios in Wilmington; that facility is a work place for artists, and it hosts art events and exhibitions, Toler said.
“In 1998, she and two partners established the No Boundaries International Art Colony, a nonprofit whose mission is to lay aside national boundaries in favor of cross-cultural exchange,” Toler said. “Since 1998, over 159 artists from Europe, Africa, South America, Australia, Asia and North America have participated.”
Toll will offer a critique of the Fine Arts Show on Oct. 24 beginning at 6:30 p.m. The session is open to participating artists and the public, Toler said.
For more information about the Beaufort County Arts Council and its program, visit www.beaufortcountyarts.com.