Cara Burton, Executive Director of the Danville Museum, (left) presents the Lynne Bjarnesen Memorial Award to William H. Moore (center) for his "Running Bear" basswood carving.  Karen Niemczyk, Adjunct Professor at UNC-Greensboro Art Department, (right) judged the artwork of the Museum's Art on the Lawn show selected artists.  Photo courtesy of Kenneth Bond.

Photo courtesy of Kenneth Bond

Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History recently hosted its 17^th annual Art on the Lawn juried art show on the grounds of the Museum’s Sutherlin Mansion.   A small show of select local artists entered with only two being chosen for a cash award. Linda Gourley of Dry Fork, Va., won the Gordon Neal Memorial Award for her “Garden Angel Study II” painting. William H. Moore of Burlington, N.C. won theLynne Bjarnesen Memorial Award for his basswood carving “Running Bear.” The two awards recognize the efforts of the original organizers of the juried show. Bjarnesen was the past Executive Director who passed away in early 2012 and Neal was a past Board member and active museum patron. Entries included original works of paintings, pottery, and carving of artists from the region.

The art show included other activities such as artist demonstrations, children’s art projects, a craft by the Danville Public Library, live music, food by Phillie Cheesesteak of Danville, a silent auction, and the Chair-ity project. Chair-ity is a community art project where the public can vote on altered children’s chairs that local artists embellished. The chairs will be on exhibit at the Museum throughout the summer and votes can be purchased for $1.00. The artist with the most votes will receive half of the voting funds and the Danville Museum will receive the other half. The Chair-ity chairs will be auctioned at Margaritaville on Saturday, August 17^th.

The awards and activities are made possible by event sponsors: Audiology Hearing Aid Associates, Awards and Trophy Shop, Rick Barker, Ben David Jewelers, James A.L. Daniel, and M. Scott Waller of BB&T – Scott and Stringfellow, Inc. Additional support was received from the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.