California Art Club Announces Top Honors at Opening of the 102nd Annual Gold Medal Exhibition

As the California Art Club unveiled its hallmark exhibition at an Exposition Park museum after a nearly 70-year absence, the century-old arts organization bestowed honors upon both veteran and emerging artists at the opening of the 102nd Annual Gold Medal Juried Exhibition, on view through June 23 at the USC Fisher Museum of Art.

Landscape painter Ruo Li and sculptor Cindy Jackson received "Best of Show" Gold Medals before the more than 400 in attendance at the Artists' Gala Reception on Saturday, June 1. Jackson's monumental bronze sculpture, Yo-Yo Man, which hangs dramatically from the museum ceiling, and, Golden Light, the powerful seascape of the Malibu coastline by the Chinese-born Li, were selected for honors by the 156 exhibiting artists in this unthemed exhibition.

The organization also presented Gold Medal awards named after early Club artists to three of today's most prominent contemporary-traditional artists. The Edgar Payne Award for Best Landscape Painting was presented to Clyde Aspevig for Aspen Pond, while C.W. Mundy received the Franz Bischoff Award for Best Still-Life for Along the Boulevard. The Dean Cornwell Award for Best Multi-Figurative Composition was awarded to Warren Chang for Figurative Arrangement.

Selected for the Irvine Museum Gold Medal for the work that best represents the tradition of the California Impressionism movement was Dennis Doheny for Awaiting the Warmth.

Two special Gold Medals were presented to artists considered as legends by the thousands of students they have inspired. CAC President Peter Adams presented Max Ginsburg with the President's Gold Medal Award for Advancement of Traditional Fine Art and David A. Leffel with the Gold Medal for Excellence in Arts Education.

Additional honors announced included awards presented by magazine sponsors. Doheny received a second recognition, the Award of Excellence from American Art Collector. Candice Bohannon, the 31-year-old up-and-coming figurative artist, received Awards of Excellence from two magazines, Southwest Art and Fine Art Connoisseur, for her painting Ice Flow.

Majestic Realty Foundation and First Foundation Bank are exhibition sponsors. For more information on the display and to view the award-winning artworks, visit www.californiaartclub.org.