Friday, August 26, 2005, The Brampton Guardian

Creativity abounds in the Snail Mail World Postcard Art Show on display at Visual Arts Brampton's Fridge Front Gallery in Shoppers World until Sept. 30.

This year's show has more than 350 entries from 14 different countries around the globe, such as Malaysia, Italy, Japan, Australia and Germany.

The substantial number of entries represents almost every different artistic medium, from oil and acrylic to fabric and photography.

"I am satisfied with this year's show," said Nicholas Moreau, guest curator. "We have a very diverse selection of postcards."

Alicia Mitchell, education coordinator at the Peel Heritage Complex, was this year's juror. She said her job was difficult because of the large artistic spectrum represented by the works.

"It is really challenging, especially with the variety of media and subjects," she explained as she paced back and forth, trying to select winners. "I have a lot of things to consider, especially since this is postcard art. Are they trying to relay a message? How are they using the small surface space of the actual post card? This is going to take awhile."

Eventually, Mitchell did select this year's winners. Moreau is inviting the public to visit www.visualartsbrampton.com after Sept. 1 to view this year's nominees for the People's Choice Award and vote for their favourite entry.

Here's a list of this year's winners:

Juror's Award
Sarah Baptist's photograph Purple (Brampton);

Media Award
Jessica Taylor's coloured pencil Cat Love (Brampton);

Best of Theme, "Remember"
Beek's painting Remembrance of My Father (Reno, Nevada);

Best of Snail Art
Nicholas Moreau's vector illustration Albert Einsnail (Brampton);

Photography
Ann Baptist's Tires (Brampton);

Fabric Art/Sculpture/Installation
Toni DiSano's fabric art Vortex (Ballwin, Montana);

Best Use of Medium
Janice Moreau and Cheyenne's collage Bird Days of Summer (Brampton);

Honourable mentions
* Judith Bush's photograph/mixed media Los Baños and Surrounds or Altered Landscape/Last Vestiges (Mountain View, California);
* Betty Jean Evans' watercolour Snowy Afternoon (Brampton);
* Julie Fina's painting Mona and Jeanne (Brampton);
* Aaron Goulborn's cartoon The Classics Play a Classic (Brampton);
* Lee's Brampton (Brampton);
* Paulina Su's scratchboard Type of Wading Bird (Brampton);
* Gina Turner's vector art Who Are You Looking At? (Pefferlaw, Ont.).