“Pow-wow II”
by Randall Wilson, Navajo
Alternate Views 
Photo by Emily Kleinkauf
Description: Acrylic on canvas.
About this Award: Awarded for high quality in craftsmanship in painting or drawing.
Jurors’ Comments:
Susan Folwell: I think in terms of being able to use texture, the person has done a fairly good job, and also with the lighting. You definitely get a clear sense of the face and the figure - everything from the fur to the feathers.
Martin Kim: I feel like the figure is one of the most difficult things to accomplish when you are rendering in paint. To have a sense of luminosity and character in the figure and not just a photo reproduction is the hardest balance to hit. I think this artist has a very sure hand with a brush and fully understands the subject matter.
Mark Bahti: (About the Runner-up, his choice, acrylic painting “Summer Mesa”) I like the fact that it’s a little departure in terms of subject matter from what you see in American Indian painting and yet it makes perfect sense. It’s a beautiful scene up in the mountains, presumably Utah—San Juan, somewhere in that area. I like the pointillist approach to it. I am familiar with this artist and this is definitely a departure from what he’s been doing for a couple of decades. So he’s moved into a new area and seems to have some confidence and mastery with the technique he chose to use.