2023 Celebration of the Arts (COTA) Rutherford County Visual Artists Guild

Celebration of the Arts Winners with Judge Thomas Ruth and Committee member Barbara Leddy.

The annual Celebration of the arts (COTA) show presented by the Rutherford County Visual Arts Center concluded Sept. 27.

Held at the Foundation Performing Arts Center at Isothermal Community College, the show was judged by Thomas M. Ruth. He is a graduate from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh with a BA in Industrial Design.

Ruth is the recipient of multiple awards for skills in 3D and 2D medial, drawing, modeling, sculpting and fine arts.

2023 Celebration of the Arts winners:

Best In Show- Inesa Kayuta

3D Awards: 1st Place- Kathy Hutchinson, 2nd Place- Dee Montgomery, 3rd Place- Bernard Edwards

Merit Awards for Wood- Grant McRorie, Glass- Fred Mead, Mixed Media- Lydia Bacon and Sara Cronk.

2D Awards:

1st place- Susan Stiver, 2nd Place- Allison Lail, 3rd Place- Patricia Siuda.

Merit Awards for Oil- Patricia Hitchcock, Acrylic- Diane Mann, Watercolor- Christine Phelps, Photography- Clint Calhoun, Mixed Media- Katherine Melissa Smith, Realistic- Jim Weitzel, Abstract- Pilar Pace and Judges Choice Award- Dean Graves.

The show is a project of the Rutherford County Visual Artist Guild with support of the Stonecutter Foundation and the NC Arts Council.

The 2023 Celebration of the Arts Committee included Gaylord Cowan, Deborah Gerard, Deborah Harmon, Barbara Leddy, Diane Atwell, Kirk Milleman, Donna Sabolovic, Pam Peters and Debi Bundy.