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A rather glum day features a sparkling event!
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Location: Blogs Sly Comments |
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| Posted by: Emory Schley |
10/31/2007 4:50 AM |
Over the weekend, I went to the Ocala Festival of the Arts at McPherson Governmental Complex. The weather was threatening, but artists turned out by the dozens chancing their carefully-wrought works of art to the elements as thousands of eager attendees strolled through the grass covered lanes between the display tents, ogling the sculpture, photography, musical instruments, and brightly hued paintings representing just about every possible genre imaginable. The murky weather produced the occasional mud puddle too, as the ground mushed and squished under the patrons’ feet.
Jack Thursby is a retired Central Florida Community College professor of art who brings considerable skill and enviable talent to his acrylic paintings. I’m always attracted to his work because he produces shadowy areas in his paintings that are difficult for many artists to achieve. His paintings always cause one to stop and reflect, both on his technique and his subject matter. His works depict the strum and rhythm of everyday life – and strange and unusual individuals. Generally, his works are easily the best of the bunch at the annual exhibit.
But this year, while Thursby had to take a back seat to no one, it was fairly evident that the overall competence of the art on display has definitely risen at least several notches above what it has been just a few short years ago. Thursby may have to start working a little bit harder in future years to keep ahead of a most talented group of artists and artisans. Generally at a typical show, I find one or two artists whose work I consider outstanding, but this year, each aisle seemed to contain at least one exhibit of highly refined artistic merit. The competition is getting tough out there in the land of artists.
I noticed the prices being asked for paintings has been dramatically increasing, too. I believe the most expensive painting I saw had an asking price of $9,800! Wow – almost makes me want to take up painting again! |
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