Judges Announced For Amish Acres 57th Arts & Crafts Festival

Richard Pletcher, founder of the Amish Acres Arts & Crafts Festival and Jennifer Pletcher Wysong, Marketplace Coordinator are pleased to announce the judges for the 57th Annual Arts & Crafts Festival.

The highlight of Amish Acres Arts & Crafts Festival is the awarding of over $5,000 in cash prizes from entries in the Marketplace. Each year two judges are selected to pick the prize winners in the two and three dimensional categories. This year's judges come from diverse backgrounds and will provide unique perspective to the process. The winners are put on permanent display in the Blue Ribbon Art Museum in Amish Acres Barn Loft wine tasting room.

John Enrique Thompson, a veteran of the United States Army, is a Lecturer of Fine Arts at Indiana University in South Bend. He holds an M.F.A. in Interactive Design and Game Development from the Savannah College of Art & Design, a B.F.A. with a concentration in Graphic Design from Indiana University, and an A.S. in Commercial Art & Design from Vincennes University. A native of the Michiana area, John has worked as a fine artist, a commercial illustrator, cartoonist, and academic for over thirty-years. His work reflects a deep appreciation of historical fine art and pop culture sensibilities and has been published in National Lampoon, Plastic Soda, the Seattle Scroll, as well as many other national and international publications. His painting and sculpture have been shown locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally. He has given presentations on comic art, comic history, and art education at venues such as the Rex Nettleford Arts Conference at the Edna Manley School of Visual and Performing Arts, and the Midwest Museum of Art in Elkhart, Indiana and currently serves on the board of directors of the Hall of Heroes Superhero Museum in Elkhart, Indiana. To see some of his work visit drippandesign.com.

Mr. Thompson will be assisted by Abigail Morganthaler, a middle school art education teacher at Wa-Nee Community Schools. She has a Bachelors of Art Education from Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. She also studied at the Rhode Island School of Design. Abigail is from Huntington, Indiana and currently resides in Nappanee. She enjoys photography and also serves on the Nappanee Arts Council. Mayor Phil Jenkins recently created the arts council to expose Nappanee and its visitors to public art. It has in just three years mounted downtown sculpture displays of painted apples, metal flowers and junk yard dogs. A new Art Path is being created along the bike trail and walking path that surrounds Stauffer Park, Callender Field, Borkholder Nature Center and McCormick Creek Golf Course. The path has an Apple Orchard and Flower Garden section that features the

Festival hours are Thursday-Saturday (August1 - August 3) 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and Sunday (August 4) from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Admission price is $7.00 for adults, $6.00 for seniors and youth ages 12-17, and active military personnel and children under age 12 are free. Parking is also free. No pets are allowed on the festival grounds. Amish Acres is located at 1600 West Market Street (U.S. 6), one mile west of downtown Nappanee. For more information, call 800-800-4942 or visit online at www.amishacres.com.

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