The Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center hosts the 28th annual Michigan Fine Arts Competition, April 2 – May 7, 2009. If you wish to be added to the MFAC notification database at any time, e-mail Exhibitions Coordinator, MikeDennie@BBArtCenter.org.
About the 2010 Juror
Sondra Freckelton,
Sondra Freckelton was born in Dearborn, Michigan in 1936 and studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She began her career as a sculptor working in wood and plastics, exhibiting under her married name, Sondra Beal.
During the early 1970's Ms. Freckelton was one of several noted abstract artists who turned to realism in their work. She began working in transparent watercolor -- a logical extension of the delicate watercolor studies she had done for her transparent cast-resin sculptures. Numerous museums, galleries and traveling shows throughout the United States have exhibited her watercolors. She has had solo exhibits at major galleries in New York, Chicago, Washington, D. C., and San Francisco. Various public and corporate collections include her paintings. Ms. Freckelton's work and teaching philosophy are the subjects of the recent Watson-Guptill publication entitled Dynamic Still Lifes in Watercolor by M. Stephen Doherty. She also teaches watercolor workshops and judges art competitions. Sondra Freckelton and her husband, artist Jack Beal, live and work near Oneonta, New York, and in New York City.
Awards to be given out
First Place Award - $1,000 Second Place Award - $500 Third Place Award - $375 Five Honorable Mention Awards - $125
History of the MFAC
The Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center hosts the Michigan Fine Arts Competition each spring since 1982 when the Detroit Institute of Arts turned the statewide competition over to the BBAC. For 28 years, approximately 500 artists from the entire state of Michigan have entered the competition annually.
Many competition winners have gone on to national prominence as a result of this competition. Each year, the MFAC is juried by an artist or curator of distinction, who selects current work of the highest quality from across our state. Cash awards support our finest working artists, while recognizing the contributions they make to the cultural fabric of our state.
Past MFAC Jurors
1982
Grace Hartigan
1996
Jane Hammond
1983
Philip Pearlstein
1997
John Walker
1984
Miriam Schapiro
1998
Larry Rivers
1985
Richard Anuskiewicz
1999
Nancy Mitchnick
1986
Romare Bearden
2000
Howardena Pindell
1987
Judy Pfaff
2001
Brenda Goodman
1988
Alice Aycock
2002
Nick Cave
1989
Patterson Sims
2003
Richard Nonas
1990
Gracie Mansion
2004
Al Hinton and Sei Saito
1991
Alvin Loving
2005
Susan Wilczak
1992
Gladys Nilsson
2006
Jerry Berger
1993
Laura Trippi
2007
Gerry Craig, Rebecca Hart, Janet Teunis, and Susan VanArendonk
