In early September 2014, I received the fantastic news that I had received an American Art Award for The Yellow Window in the category Realism Still Life.
These awards, which have gone from strength to strength since they were founded in 2008, receive literally hundreds of entries worldwide; that is, submissions from 51 countries this year! Split into diverse subject categories, they are then adjudicated by 25 top US galleries who scrutinise and score them diligently over a number of weeks, leading to the announcements across the month of September.
The standard of award recipients’ work is impressively high and many have done tremendously well out of the publicity and gallery exposure that these awards have offered to them. This is what makes this award such an invaluable opportunity for artists in an artworld that is in dire need of some fresh new mechanisms to get ‘real’ art seen more widely, beyond the more institutionalised routes.
In ‘my’ category, I was awarded fourth position out of six top prizes given out and, having now seen the tremendous standard of work that I am placed alongside, I am genuinely thrilled to receive this recognition.
Whilst I was notified of this award some weeks ago, the official announcement was only made this week, with coverage in a special feature – including my work – in the internet celebrity magazine Highlight Hollywood.