President’s Message

This is the 86th year that we have been celebrating the excellence of watercolor. People from all 50 states and several foreign countries have sent their slides to this competition. And once again, our jurors, elected by our signature members from a panel of top-rated, highly respected artists, examined the work and chose these seventy paintings to represent NWS for this year.

I offer my congratulations to all the successful candidates. You have given us a wonderful show. Now picking seventy out of one thousand or more slides is a difficult task. Obviously some truly great paintings do not make it to the finals. The jurors are challenged to pick a show representing the best of watercolor. They vote by secret ballot and they have chosen a wide variety of art across the whole spectrum of our medium.

My thanks to Jeanne Dobie, Pat Dews and Dan Burt, our Jury of Selection, and to M. Stephen Doherty for serving as our Juror of Awards. These distinguished artists worked hard to bring us a great exhibition.

We are truly indebted to our patrons who furnish the awards for our prize-winning artists. Several have supported us for many years and we welcome our new donors.

Our 86th Annual Exhibition was held at the beautiful Muckenthaler Gallery. Many thanks to their staff, especially Matthew Leslie, Director of Exhibitions, for their invaluable assistance in setting the show.

I have been blessed with a wonderful board for two years. These are the folks who make it happen. Special kudos to our Exhibition Director, Nancy Falciani, and our Third Vice President, Lowri Sprung, who does such a beautiful job with the catalog.

Chris Van Winkle
NWS President