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Art fanciers coaxed to land at show, decoy contest
Wildlife featured at fundraiser
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photos by GRETCHEN PHILLIPS
Heck Rice of White Stone, Va., places decoys in water for judging at the Charles County Community Foundation's wildlife show and decoy competition Saturday at the College of Southern Maryland.
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The College of Southern Maryland was taken over by wildlife Saturday, or at least wildlife enthusiasts.
The Charles County Community Foundation hosted its third annual wildlife art show and inaugural decoy competition at CSM's La Plata campus Friday and Saturday.
Gretchen Heinze Hardman, executive director of the foundation, said the event was an opportunity for area artists to show their work and to meet some of the grant recipients. The foundation handed out six $2,000 grants Friday night to the Alice Ferguson Foundation, an environmental and historical preservation group; the Center for Children children's advocacy group; Spring Dell, a service provider for developmentally disabled people; the Charles County Public Library; the College of Southern Maryland Foundation; and the Society for the Restoration of Port Tobacco. A portion of the proceeds from all of the art sales Saturday went to the foundation and to a newly created fund to support art at CSM.
Hardman said the event was put together "to increase art awareness, education and promote life along the Potomac River."
"I love coming to the shows," said Rheta Pemberton of Pomfret. She and her husband, Bill, spent the afternoon Saturday wandering around the exhibits looking at art and speaking with the vendors.
Nancy Knudsen, an artist from La Plata, said she enjoyed the shows, too. Knudsen said this was the second year she participated in the show and said she likes having the opportunity to work with the foundation to promote art.
Knudsen said the fun for her is not creating the art, but naming it. Standing before a painting of a frog nestled in brush, Knudsen said she named the painting "Ribbit" because that was what her grandson called the frog.
Participants Saturday got more than just art out of the wildlife show. Representatives of the Maryland Geocaching Society gave geocaching demonstrations and passed out literature about the activity.
Geocaching is a hobby that began less than a decade ago in which people use handheld global positioning system devices to hunt for caches of treasure hidden in unlikely places, such as parks, the inside of buildings and in trees.
Saturday was also the first decoy competition held at the show. According to Heck Rice, chairman of the competition, there were 27 entries. Rice said it was a small competition but a good turnout for the first one.
In a decoy competition, decoys are judged by their ability to self-right when flipped upside down, appearance from near and from as far as 20 feet and the carving must look as realistic as possible.
Burkey Boggs, chairman of the event, said he saw a good crowd Friday night and many artists seemed interested in the foundation's cause. He said it was nice to see the artists get an opportunity to see where the community foundation's money is being distributed. Boggs said the decoy competition was a good addition. He hopes more will compete and more people will participate in the show in years to come.
