DATE: Sunday, May 18, 1997                  TAG: 9705160045

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E8   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY TERESA ANNAS, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   64 lines

STYLISTIC VARIETY SETS THE TONE AT EXPANDED ART EXHIBIT, COMPETITION

WITH THE inclusion of artists as far west as California, the d'Art Center's annual mid-Atlantic competition has in fact gone national. Sad to say, the larger geographic range didn't translate into a much stronger show.

As usual, the exhibit is a mix of amateurish and sophisticated efforts. The exhibit features work by 65 artists from 16 states plus the District of Columbia. There's nothing, really, to tie together these artists' works. No recurring themes or stylistic tendencies.

Instead, there is variety. Throughout d'Art's galleries, you'll find photography, printmaking, painting, ceramic sculpture and mixed media collage. You'll see works influenced by popular culture, inner demons, family life, foreign travel and pure fantasy.

The judges were Deborah McLeod, curator of Hand Workshop, and Eileen Mott, statewide exhibitions coordinator for The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, both in Richmond.

Award winners this year were:

Best in show - Keith Sharp of Media, Pa.

Award of excellence - Stanton Hunter of Sierra Madre, Calif.

Awards of distinction - Janet Shaughnessy of Norfolk and Nancy Prichard of Virginia Beach.

Jurors choice awards - Taylor Elkins of Madison, Wis., and Pat Menick of New Brighton, Pa.

Sharp's trio of black-and-white photographs are moody, minimal studies. In each, an organic object - an arm, a leafy branch - intrudes on an elemental form such as a circle. His prints are gorgeous, having the rich patina of antique pewter.

Ceramicist Hunter has played havoc with the common teapot. He takes away the function and gets whimsical with the shape, sometimes turning it dramatic. Example: A shipwrecked teapot that looks as though it crashed into a muddy seabed and grew lumpy over decades.

Painter Shaughnessy is a relative newcomer on the local art scene, having made her regional debut in last year's Irene Leache exhibit at The Chrysler Museum of Art. She's been winning awards for a series of loosely painted, amorphous figural works that suggest complex scenarios regarding all kinds of relationships, from human/cosmos to man/woman.

Prichard offers a reward for a prolonged look at her mixed media collage, ``3 Ring Circus.'' Somewhat hidden within a busy, decorative pattern is a giddy collage that comments humorously on the O.J. Simpson trial. She presents the cast of characters like a bill of entertainment. And a gloved hand is turning a wheel of fortune with destinies affecting all: Life/Death/True/Lose.

Other artists to look for: George Laumann's panoramic digital photograph of urban skaters, Anne Peterson's witty photos documenting quietly amazing moments in the lives of average folks, and Wilfred Loring's painstakingly detailed aquatint print showing laundry flapping on the line. ILLUSTRATION: Photos

COURTESY OF THE ARTISTS

Above: Keith Sharp of Media, Pa., won best in show for his series

``Blending In'' at the d'Art Center's mid-Atlantic competition.

Right: Stanton Hunter of Sierra Madre, Calif., received the award of

excellence for his teapot sculpture.

``Enlightenment'' by Norfolk's Janet Shaughnessy and ``3 Ring

Circus'' by Virginia Beach's Nancy Pritchard won.

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