Side Street Studio Arts' Ultimate Painting competitor heads to international competition
ELGIN, Ill. - Side Street Studio Arts, in partnership with Canadian-based Ultimate Painting and supported by a grant from the Elgin Cultural Arts Commission and sponsorship from Elgin's Martini Room, hosted a series of painting competitions in March through June.
Out of those competitions, area artist John French was selected to paint in the Chicago regional competition and now the international competition in Toronto Canada July 24-25.
Ultimate Painting is an international tournament, where artists create the best work they can in 20-minute rounds of living painting. The audience votes for their favorites and the champions move on.
Forty-eight area artists competed in four Elgin competitions, all held at the Next Door Theater. The four winners - Bruce Bachelder, French, Rachel Elizabeth Maley, and Lindsey Wiseman, along with area high scorer Ken Simonsen, headed to the Chicago regional in June to compete against seven other winners. Out of these rounds, French was the highest vote-getter, and selected to head to the international competition.
"I signed up for the Ultimate Painting competition because I thought it would be a good networking opportunity and chance to meet the local community of painters. I didn't expect to win. I just thought it'd be fun," said French, who also teaches art at Side Street and other area art schools. "Naturally, I am very enthused and honored to be competing at an international level painting competition."
French, accompanied by a contingent of fans, organized by Side Street, will head to Toronto early July 24, where he will join 20 painters from across Canada, U.S., and Central and South America.
The International Live Painting Championship is a part of the Toronto 2015 Pan American/Parapan American Games. The structure will be similar to that of earlier rounds of competition, but include more painters. First- to third-place winners will receive cash prizes, and, as with all the battles, the art created is up for auction, with 50 percent of the sales going back to the artist.
"Every once in a while I give (the international competition) some thought," French said. "The last two competitions I came up with my concept moments before I began to paint. I have come to feel that this draws off the live element of the competition."
French has a bachelor's degree in graphic design from Westwood College, and experience as a freelance artist; murals, and various visual arts commissions. Recently, he has been working in art education with Side Street, Young Rembrandts, and Bottle and Bottega. In his independent portfolio he has 197 completed paintings, not including works from other media (marker, graphite, pastel, etc.). He was introduced to watercolor painting his senior year of high school and has been painting regularly since.
"Ultimate Painting was brought to our attention by former artist-in-residence Luis Reyes," said Side Street Studio Arts founder and director Tanner Melvin. "We looked into it, and man, it looked amazing! Any opportunity we find to not only give artists exposure and access to creative resources, but to also make a community event, we try to jump on it. The Ultimate Painting events have all the makings of being some of our biggest most exciting events to date! We're looking forward to heading to Toronto to support John."
Side Street Studio Arts was founded in 2013 by Elgin residents Melvin and Erin Rehberg. Currently under the direction of Amanda Harris, Melvin, and Rehberg, Side Street provides educational and creative resources and an accessible space, run by artists. Its mission is to support the artist and the artistic journey through collaboration. For more information on Ultimate Painting or any of its programs, visit sidestreetstudioarts.org or call 847-429-2276.