Awards

Best of Show - $300

Second Place - $200

Third Place - $100

Honorable Mention

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Theme Description

For artists, uncertainty is central to our creative life experience. Within this uncertain world, we are all driven by a peculiar compulsion to create and express ourselves visually. We are also driven to better understand the nature of our innate personal artistry by attempting to identify and implement what imagery is uniquely our own. This is a force we often understand little about, but it drives us into the depths of uncertainty during this intensely personal search. This can be both disparaging and inspirational, as our most creative and innovative moments often seem to arise when we feel visionless, lacking in inspiration, and having lost our creative spirit. It is at this moment that we are open to completely new ways of thinking visually and artistically. What imagery we have come to rely upon in the past no longer holds relevance to us. It is only now that we are willing and open to try and experiment with unfamiliar and uncharted artistic notions, techniques, and ideas. This is best expressed, I feel, by a statement given to us college painting students by a revered professor who would often speak in parables. He said: “Despair is the master of impossibility.” It took quite some time to understand the meaning of this, but in the end, we came to realize that in the midst of our struggles to find our own personal voices, once you are ready to throw everything you have created up to this point into the trash bin through dislike and utter frustration, you are only then ready to embark on a new artistic journey and enjoy the discovery of a new and inspired horizon. This was a great epiphany for us as young students. We were indeed fortunate to have received such wisdom early in our careers as artists. This marvelous insight has stayed with me over all my years as a painter and continues to serve as an important window into the forever uncertain world of the creative artist. It is our hope that the theme of uncertainty will inspire our CAFA community of artists for this upcoming exhibition.

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*Open to both CAFA members and non members

*Artists can enter up to 2 pieces, both of which may be accepted

*Juried for acceptance and awards by Shira Avidor

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Shira Avidor is an American painter. In 1998, Avidor received her BFA from the Bezalel Academy of Art & Design in Jerusalem. In 1999, she studied painting at the Jerusalem Studio School under the tutelage of the painter Israel Hershberg. In 2004, Avidor returned to the USA to expand her studies. She was awarded the Dean’s Scholarship towards the graduate painting program at Boston University’s School of Visual Arts and received her MFA in 2006 with honors.

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Avidor has received numerous grants and awards, including the Pollock-Krasner Grant, the Esther B. and Albert Kahn Award, and the Connecticut State Artist Grant. Avidor’s work is included in various art collections, among them the Israel Museum, Boston University’s presidential residence, the Prudential Art Collection, and many private collections in the USA and Europe.

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Avidor was an art professor at Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts and chaired the painting department for a few years.

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Shira Avidor has exhibited her work extensively in Boston, NYC, Connecticut, Amsterdam, and Tel Aviv. She currently resides and works in Tel Aviv.​​

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