Sat 10/3 @ 6-9PM
Paul Tikkanen was an Ashtabula native, a multimedia artist (painter/sculptor/photographer) who attended the Cleveland Institute of Art and won the 1957 May Show at the Cleveland Museum of Art for one of his paintings. He and his wife Norma were world travelers who eventually opened a studio in Geneva. Tikkanen was also a supporter of the arts and area artists who left an endowment to the Ashtabula Arts Center Foundation for the annual Paul and Norma Tikkanen Painting Prize.
It’s distinctive in two ways. It awards two top prizes, one for abstract painting and one for realistic painting. Entries may include gouache, fresco, encaustic, ink (sumi-e), oil, acrylic, watercolor, alcohol inks, tempora, spray paint, airbrush, and mixed media painting. And the size of the prize is large for a regional competition: $15,000 to the first place winners and $6,000 to the second place winners will be given in two categories, abstract and realistic, awarding first place winners $15,000 and second place winners $6000, with $1200 for honorable mentions.
Forty seven artists were accepted into this year’s show, which opens at the Ashtabula Arts Center Saturday October 3 at 6-9pm, when the winners will be announced. It’s free and open to the public.
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