The Fine Arts Center of Hot Springs has announced the winners of the First Annual Photography Competition. Best of Show was awarded to Rhonda Berry for her black
and white silver print titled If Walls Could Talk.
The judges, Henderson State Professor Beverly Buys and UALR Professor Gary Cawood selected Berry’s piece because of the complexity of composition and use of the silver print technique to create mystery. Berry received the Best of Show ribbon and the cash award of $400 during Gallery Walk, August 3, 2012.
Buys and Cawood also awarded two $200 Merits Awards to a Illinois photographer, Christian Arrecis for his untitled digitally-altered photograph and to Yelena House for 
her sepia darkroom photograph titled Old School. House originally from Russia is a photographer living in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. The two $100 Honorable Mention awards were given to Hot Springs photographers, Jim Miller for Lost Key, a black and white digital photograph, and to Janice Jones for Nandinas In The Fog, an enhanced digital photograph.
The Hot Springs Photography Competition – Finalist Exhibit is displayed at The Fine Arts Center of Hot Springs for the month of August. The FAC added this competition to the already established list of competitions because of the growing interested in the photograph as an art form. In the last several years, more and more photographers were entering the Hot Springs Regional and the Diamond National Competitions.
The Twenty-four photographers represented in the finalist exhibit are Christian Arrecis, Rhonda Berry, Calvin Britton, Leslie Fisher, Janet Gade-Malone, Susan 
Gray, Holly Herlocker, Dylan Hickman, Yelena House, Janice Jones, Elena Liachenko, Sayeed Mehmood, Jim Miller, Sylvia Murray, Kimberly Olsen, Jim Pafford, Robin Phelps, Stephen Ragsdale, Alex Remington, Kathy Robicheaux, Paul Swepston, Kenna Westerman, and Jon Wisniewski. Bob Dion designed the window installation for the exhibit using vintage cameras and film donated by various FAC members.
The exhibit can be viewed during gallery hours, Tuesday through Saturday from 10:30 am till 5:00 pm. The exhibit will also be open during the 3rd Fridays @ FAC event, August 17th. The evening will feature Art of Abandonment, a presentation by national photographer, Walter Arnold speaking about his series and his involvement with Ron Howard’s Imagin8ion competition. Howard selected one of Arnold’s photographs to craft the setting for the short film, When You Find Me. After the presentation HSDFI will show the documentary The Last Drive In. 3rd Fridays @ FAC begins at 6:30 pm with the Arnold’s presentation and the documentaries viewing starting at 7:30 pm.
The Fine Arts Center of Hot Springs encourages the advancement of the arts in Hot Springs and Arkansas. Members and art patrons help support the programs by their annual membership dues and volunteer work. The Fine Arts Center of Hot Springs is a 501c(3) nonprofit organization and its support is provided in part by the Arkansas Arts Council, an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage and the National Endowment for the Arts.
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