Winners named in 2016 Young Painters Competition: Hyper-colored mythical landscape; alumna's "afterglow"

By Susan Meikle, university news and communications

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"After the Narwhals," 2014, oil on canvas, by Annie Ewaskio is the winner of the 2016 Miami University Young Painters Competition.

Annie Ewaskio, of Brooklyn, New York, is the winner of the 2016 Miami University Young Painters Competition for the $10,000 William (Miami '36) and Dorothy Yeck Award.

Winners of the competition, sponsored by Miami's Hiestand Galleries, College of Creative Arts, were announced Jan. 29.

Ewaskio was selected for her work, "After the Narwhals," which is now part of the Miami University Young Painters Collection.

Ewaskio’s hyper-colored oil paintings are described as explorations of strange journeys through "a mythical alter ego of the United States, which selectively hosts detritus and animals we recognize from our current reality."

Her work has been in solo and group shows in New York, Baltimore and D.C., and published in The New Yorker, The New York Times and The Huffington Post.

She received her master’s of fine arts degree from Hunter College–CUNY in 2014, and her bachelor’s degree from Grinnell College in 2004.

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Second place: "afterglow" 2014, oil on canvas, by Andrea Barone

Andrea Barone of North Kingstown, Rhode Island, received the second place award and $1,500 for her painting, "afterglow."

Barone received her master’s degree in fine arts from State University of New York Purchase College in 2015. She is a 2008 graduate of Miami, with a major in art with concentrations in painting and metals and an environmental principles and practices co-major.

A painter, she works also in glass, metal, installation and photography. Barone’s work has been shown in various galleries around the country, including the Indianapolis Art Center, Momenta Art in Brooklyn, Central Features in Albuquerque and the Arsenal Center for the Arts in Boston.

Yambe Tam of Baltimore, Maryland, won the third place award for her work, "A Further Sea."

Works by the winners and other finalists will be exhibited through Feb. 12 at Hiestand North Gallery.

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Yambe Tam's "A Further Sea"

Also on display through Feb. 12 is an exhibition by Dorielle Caimi, winner of the 2015 Miami University Young Painters Competition.

The 2016 Young Painters Competition, which focused on nonrepresentational paintings, was judged by Gracie Mansion, a senior specialist in contemporary art at Artnet online auctions. She is an independent curator and consultant to private collectors, corporations and museums.