COURTLAND
Rawls Museum Arts opened its 2016 Juried Exhibition, titled “Emerging IV” on June 10.

Art projects in all mediums created by any resident of Virginia or North Carolina in the past three years, which had not been previously shown at Rawls Museum Arts, were eligible for submission.

Seventy-four pieces from 29 artists were selected for the exhibition and will be on display until Saturday, July 23.

“I was very pleased with the quality of the submissions this year,” said Leigh Anne Chambers, executive director of Rawls Musuem Arts. “The work was really solid this year.”

Paul Geiger was awarded first in show for his acrylic painting titled “Fountain.”

“It’s kind of symbolic, but it isn’t,” Geiger said of his painting. “It’s basically an observation of the City Center of Newport News. The fountains appealed to me because they’re kind of living, but they’re not. I got a hotel room overlooking the fountains and just observed them.”

Geiger was awarded the $500 prize by juror Amie Oliver, an artist and professor at Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts.

Geiger will also be eligible for a solo show in the 2017 season at Rawls Museum Arts.

Artist Jessica Sims received the second place $200 prize for her mixed media painting “My Little Kitties,” and Martha Jones was awarded the third place $100 prize for her two submissions, titled “Orange Network” and “Orange and Gray Network.”

Rawls Museum Arts is open Wednesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Saturdays and Tuesdays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.