From the Front Page: In Plein Sight

(Photo: Courtesy Shaun Van Steyn)

THE PLEIN AIR ART Festival, hosted by Falls Church Arts, concluded on Oct. 17 right outside of City Hall.

Artists competed for over $4,800 in prizes at the socially distanced Falls Church Arts Plein Air Festival competitions on Oct. 17 at the grounds of Falls Church’s City Hall.

The event featured 60 artworks created during the previous week by 23 artists who painted outdoor scenes around the city, and works completed by 14 artists during a three-hour “Quick Draw” competition that morning.

(Photo: Courtesy Shaun Van Steyn)

The festival competition drew over 180 onlookers who cast votes for their favorite artwork, with Rajendra KC winning the $350 People’s Choice Award for his “Northside Social.” That same painting also won the $1,000 Rock Star Realty Group Artists’ Choice Award.

The festival juror, Lynn Mehta, chose the remaining prize winners: “Farmers’ Market” by Rajendra KC won the $1,250 Beyer Auto Group Plein Air Prize. The $500 Barb Cram Prize, awarded in honor of Falls Church Arts’ beloved past president, went to Jill Banks for “Pumpkins for Sale.”

(Photo: Courtesy Shaun Van Steyn)

Robert Gilbert’s “West End Park” captured the $500 Kensington Prize, and Ingrid Matuszewski took home the $250 Young Group Prize for her “Step off the Beaten Path.” William Hendricks’s “Isaac Crossman Park” and Tracy Burk’s “The Birch House” garnered $100 gift certificates from Falls Church Distillers and Solace Outpost, respectively.

The June Beyer Art Quick Draw Prizes went to Jill Banks ($350, “House on the Hill), Tracy Burk ($250, “The Shed”) and Rajendra KC ($150, “Harris Teeter”).

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