COLUMBIA — The Columbia Art League and Boone County National Bank announced the winners of the 48th Annual Boone County Art Show on Friday night.
The show began in 1959, when some artists with the league were holding a show on the sidewalk outside the bank and it started to rain. The president of the bank invited them inside and 48 years later, both the bank and art show have expanded. This year, the art league presented more than 260 pieces of art by 172 Boone County artists.
Artists entered their work in 10 categories and seven mediums, such as painting and the Boone County Specialty, where, according to contest rules, the “work must reflect Boone County at the height of the fall season.”
“It gives people a chance to enter something they might not enter in any other show,” said Julia Helvey, who co-chairs the show with her husband, William. “It’s always interesting to see what we get.”
This year, Laura Pintel won with “Chickory,” a painting of a charming farm road, complete with purple wildflowers and vivid blue sky, demonstrating that Boone County and the Midwest are not limited to orange and brown in the fall.
Olivia Lahs-Gonzales, director of the Sheldon Art Galleries in St. Louis, who judged the art show this year, said the top three things she looks for in artwork are quality, originality of the idea and, in the case of a craft, craftsmanship.
The show runs through Sunday. All visitors to the art show can vote on their favorite piece, and the Popular Choice winner will be announced at 4:30 p.m. Sunday.