Drawing 2004
Abbot Hall, 188 Washington Street

Lee R. Smith was an artist, teacher, and graphic designer. His life drawings and portraits, which spanned the 35 years between 1945 and his death in 1980, elegantly memorialize him in the homes and hearts of many in Marblehead and elsewhere. Lee created a spectrum of works, from formal finished portraits to the 30-second teaching sketches he made for his students. He left an art legacy enriched by his skill as a teacher and as a professional graphic designer. Smith’s artistic skills and enduring love for the Festival were honored in July 1981, one year after his death at the age of 52, in a special retrospective exhibit of his work. The 1981 Festival Program said of Smith, “He loved the Festival and the people of the Festival. That he should be remembered by this retrospective show and that an annual award be established in his honor would have moved him to tears.” The first Lee R. Smith Award, which was selected by members of the Smith family, Festival representative Gail Turner, and Marblehead artist Sally Low, was given during the 1981 Festival of Arts and is now awarded annually as part of the Festival’s Drawing Exhibit.

Award Winners: Elaine Caliri Daly (BOS), April R. Behnke (OSW), Racket Shreve (OSW), Gail Handelmann (LSA), Bunny Hannaway (HON), Christine Finn (HON), Olga Gernovski (HON)

Chairpersons: Ulla Bauder and Dianne Capstaff


Judges

Carol Hanson is a mixed media artist and owner of The School of Refrigerator Door Art in Nahant, where she teaches art in a wide variety of media to students aged 2 through adult. She studied art at The Art Institute of Boston, Salem State College, North Shore Community College, Sunbridge College, and with local artists. Her work has been exhibited in juried shows at Lynn Arts, Visions of Nahant, and at the Marblehead Festival of Arts. In 2003, she won awards at Visions of Nahant and at the Marblehead Festival of Arts. Her work is on display in the gallery of The School of Refrigerator Door Art in Nahant.

Mark Shasha is a local author and illustrator best known for his award winning children's classic, Night of the Moonjellies, and other works published by Simon & Schuster, The Purple House Press, and AOL/Time Warner. Mark is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. His paintings, books, and prints are in public and private collections around the world. They have been shown in many galleries, including The New York Society of Illustrators, The Lyman Allyn Museum of Art, Kennedy Studios, and The Gallery at Grosvenor Park. The New York Times has called Shasha's paintings "pre-Raphaelite" for his bright palette and particular sense of detail. Smithsonian Magazine has hailed his work as "classic." Last year, Mark was the subject of a National Public Radio program.