Anguilla Art Festival

Artist from St Barths wins top prize at 2004 Arts Festival A large number of persons were at Wallblake House on Friday evening December 3 to hear the names of the winners for this year's International Arts Festival and to see the 48 finalists in the competition. Judges this year were Garve Beckham and Suzanne Seitz and Beckham was present to announce the winners. The winner was Jean-Pierre Ballagny from St Barths who won US$10, 000. Although there were some twenty artists who were in Anguilla for the occasion he was not present. Second prize went to Betty Barber of St Thomas (picture below) with her painting Caribbean Carnival and she was present to receive her prize of US$2, 500.00. The painting was in bright colours with lots of people and cleverly included were flags from many of the countries of the Caribbean. Persons attending on Friday were able to vote for the People's Choice that was a prize worth US$2, 500.00. There was a tie for the winner and Lynne Bernbaum, well known artist who has lived in Anguilla for many years, was one of the winners. She shared the prize with Justyna Miklaseiviez, of Poland but who is also well known in Anguilla as she has exhibited several times at CuisinArt Resort and was the resident artist there a couple of years ago. The International Arts Festival is a biennial event that is becoming popular worldwide. Participants sent slides for the first round and 48 paintings were chose...