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ARTscene

Art show features some sizeable — and familiar — paintings

By Eric Robinette

Staff Writer

Friday, August 15, 2008

The Area Art Show opening at Middletown Arts Center Friday, Aug. 15, is big — not just in the scale of the event, but in the size of some of the artwork.

A number of the pieces are very large. One painting by Middletown artist Ken Streiff shows a young boy wearing a "Blues Clues" shirt — and the boy looks almost life-size. The painting, "Just a Boy Again" measures 32 by 491/2 inches.

Other paintings feature scenes that may be familiar to people from this area. Sharon Dunaway of New Carlisle contributed a painting of the Wot-A-Dog hot dog stand.

Some imaginative renderings include a drawing of Elizabeth Taylor made by Hamilton artist Mary Louise Veenaman to look like the image is in shattered glass.

The show features 105 paintings this year. They were culled from 220 entries from 93 artists representing 27 cities within a 50-mile radius. According to Patt Belisle, the executive director of the Arts Center, the judges took six hours not only to decide awards, but to decide which paintings to pull.

Their commentary reads, "The quality of the work was tremendous, with strong submissions in every category, which we believe is a testament to the strength of the MAC's programming and classes. Because all the entries were so good, our decisions were very difficult."

The show will go through Sept. 4.

how to go

WHAT: Area Art Show

WHERE: Middletown Arts Center, 130 N. Verity Parkway

WHEN: Reception 6 p.m. today. Instillation through Sept. 4

COST: Free

MORE INFO: (513) 424-2417