The 2020 Florida Strawberry Festival Fine Art Show, presented by the East Hillsborough Art Guild (EHAG), showcases the artwork of the talented residents of the area. The show is open to the public during the annual Florida Strawberry Festival in Plant City.
Karen Crumley, chair of the show, said, “I was pleased to see the Youth Division age group 15-17 show an increase to 50 entries. For 2021, we want to implement several plans to attract even more high school age students to enter.”
Crumley added, “We had a total of 491 entries for both youth and adults. This is an increase over last year.”
The judges for this year’s show were Carol Hughes and Lisa McCarthy. Hughes is the program director at Arts Ensemble Education Foundation and leads the Veterans Art Program ‘Arts4Vets’ and all Art in Public Places programming.
McCarthy is currently a candidate for Master of Fine Arts at the University of South Florida. McCarthy co-founded CommCreative, a digital and traditional marketing agency. She is also the founder of Factory Mark Gallery, a contemporary art gallery for emerging and reemerging artists where 100 percent of sales go directly to the artists.
The Best of Show Award was awarded to Beth Smedley of Valrico for her graphics/mixed media piece. The Best of Show award is given along with a cash prize of $300.
The Strawberry Theme Award winner is Carolyn Greeson of Valrico. She received a ribbon and a cash award of $100.
The winner of the Suncoast Credit Union Purchase Award is Lurline Tanner of Thonotosassa for her piece titled Lake Panasofkee. The winning piece will be on display at the Plant City branch throughout the coming year. Tanner also received a cash prize of $500.
The youth entries were outstanding this year. All youth prizes are sponsored exclusively by Jarrett Scott Ford of Plant City.
In addition to the above awards, 24 area businesses stepped up to be a part of the Business Leader Choice Awards. Among them were the Osprey Observer and Winthrop Arts, Inc.
For more information on this year’s show and to get information for next year, please visit www.ehagfinearts.com.
