Prize Wining Artists: Art Worth 2023

 Rebecca Low started doing art in 1993, which was inspired by scrap metal while taking walks with her dog, Pepper. Low decided to take a welding course with the pipe fitters to learn how to weld, which allowed her to make her own creations come to fruition. Previously an interior designer of 25 years, she left a successful career and never looked back. Luckily, those interior design skills came in handy when she designed and was the general contractor on her gallery and studio. Low works with many different types of materials, such as metal, glass, plastic, wood, fire and water. She also uses a variety of techniques in assembling her works.  When you look at the clouds you might see a dog, or perhaps a horse's head. When I look at what many people call ‘junk,’ I may see all kinds of things. Simply put, I create what I see. The inspiration behind my art is being able to see beyond ‘just a piece of metal’ or ‘rusted whatever’ and recognize its potential with passion and creativity. I take either found objects or raw metal (or both) and often combine them with paint, water, rock, glass, fire or any other material to create my vision. My intention is never to try and control; I instead let the visions and materials do that. Seeing things differently applies in many areas of life; it also leads to seeing people differently and giving them second chances - just like repurposing these found treasures. A signature of hers is the asymmetry of her creations. Rebecca is the owner of Rebecca Low Gallery and has a distinguished record as an artist of both public and private commissions. 

S. Janelle Montgomery is an art historian and curator living in Fort Worth, Texas. She grew up in North Texas before moving to Chicago, where she received a BA in Politics, Economics, Rhetoric, and Law and an MBA in Finance from the University of Chicago. Later, she returned to school to study art history, graduating with an MA from TCU in 2017. Ms. Montgomery has taught Art History at TCU and the University of North Texas. She has also served in curatorial roles at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, the Amon Carter Museum, and the Kimbell Art Museum. She is currently a Gentling Fellow at the Amon Carter Museum of America Art.

I am predominantly a ceramic artist who makes wheel thrown vessels, handmade tiles and tile mosaics using a variety of methods.  My original designs have evolved over forty years as a full-time artist. I continue to explore new glaze techniques, form and color.  I attended the Pretoria Art School at the College for Advanced Technology in Pretoria South Africa and The University of Texas at Arlington where I focused on ceramics and sculpture.  After returning to Texas, I became a full-time ceramic artist selling as well as exhibiting my ceramics throughout the Southwest. I also started teaching throwing and Raku firing workshops. In time I developed a strong signature technique for my contemporary ceramics.  Most of my vessels are thrown on the potter’s wheel. When working with my new Crystalline glazes I use white percaline clay and zinc-based glazes. I actually grow crystals in my glazes using ridiculously complicated firing schedules.  I have created several outdoor ceramic mosaic murals in Fort Worth, Texas. My latest Public Art project was designing 12 panels for the Iron Horse Station for TexRail at the North Richland Hill Station, installed March of 2022.  September 2014, I designed and installed a 233’ recycled glass tile mosaic reflecting the natural prairie grasses and flowers native to Grand Prairie Texas. This was a public art project for the City of Grand Prairie funded in part by a National Endowment for the Arts grant.  Along with my husband glass artist Raymond Rains and our dog Barney Summers I own and operate Cliff House Studio and Gallery in Fort Worth, Texas.

 Amy Bishop not only wears the hat as 

WRR’s midday host,

but also as the marketing manager.

Prior to returning to Dallas, Amy was the arts and culture beat reporter for Houston’s NPR affiliate and announcer at the former classical music radio station. As an award-winning journalist, her stories could often be heard statewide and nationally on Texas Standard and NPR’s Here & Now.

She started her career in radio at the age of 19 as a student DJ for KNTU at the University of North Texas, eventually working her way up to the Program Director position by her senior year. Amy graduated with a German degree, but had her sights set on continuing her radio career after college and worked in various capacities at a mixed bag of radio stations in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Her other radio experience includes working as a reporter/anchor/airborne traffic reporter for News Radio 1080 KRLD and as a reporter/anchor for the Texas State Network. Prior to leaving for a job in Houston in 2012, she was WRR’s midday host and earned a spot on the City of Dallas’ Wall of Honor for two years in a row. She is thrilled that things have come full circle by having the opportunity to share her love of classical music with WRR’s listeners.

In addition to classical, Amy’s musical tastes are broad. She is a self-proclaimed Beatlemaniac and a bona fide Anglophile, loving all things British. She often describes herself as a coffee-addicted crazy cat lady who loves to dance. She is a regular contributor to Arts and Culture Texas Magazine and an ardent advocate for supporting arts and cultural organizations.

Dr. Jacquelyn Delin McDonald is an art historian whose research focuses on art from German-speaking countries, American art, and women artists during the long nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Her current book project involves the study of German-American sculptor Elisabet Ney. She has published and given various public lectures on Ney as well as the ‘sculptress phenomenon’ of the late-nineteenth century. She is currently a Lecturer at the University of Texas at Dallas, as well as an adjunct faculty member at Texas Christian University, and the University of North Texas. She has held fellowships with the U.S. Capitol as well as the Edith O’Donnell Institute of Art History. During her undergraduate studies, she worked in various mediums to explore and exalt the figure. Using of arbitrary color and gesture, her works confront the voyeuristic gaze. As a DFW native and ‘Sunday painter,’ she is thrilled to serve as a judge for the Art Worth community event.

Laurin McCracken, AWS, NWS, is a realist watercolorist. Many of his signature paintings feature deep black backgrounds. His approach to still life painting emulates that of the Dutch and Flemish still life painters of the 16th and 17th centuries. His paintings have won multiple awards and have been included in competitive and invited exhibitions around the world. He is well known as a teacher that works closely with his students to help them improve their painting techniques while learning many intriguing things about the art and techniques of watercolor. 

David Mikitka, Sculptor

I’ve been involved in art one way or another throughout my life. I grew up in a home where if something was broken or needed to be built, we simply did the work ourselves. I did not recognize it at the time, but the experience of working alongside my father and grandfather on those tasks of fixing the washing machine, building an addition on the house, or laying a stone wall, developed in me an innate sense of creativity in solving physical problems, working with the raw and at times natural materials at hand, and understanding structure and dimensional relationships. I believe a great deal of my personal motivation comes from the lifelong satisfaction of creating something that meets a need or serves a function, and is also appreciated as a thing of skill and beauty.

I began expressing myself artistically in high school. Needing an easy-A credit, I signed up to take a basic crafts class involving ceramics, leather and enameling, and once I had completed that course, the instructor agreed to my auditing his class for another two years. During those years, he allowed me free access to explore anything I cared to during class time. He taught me to weld which led to my early interest in sculpting metals, especially steel. One of my works placed first in the Arizona State division of the Scholastic Arts Awards and was then sent on for national judging where it received an Honorable Mention. Being full of youthful ambition, I then tried to go “pro” by offering my works for sale in various local galleries. When they wouldn’t sell at any price, I realized that truly making a living as an artist was not as easy as I had naively thought. As such, I took a different path to college and a more traditional career but maintained a keen interest in all the arts, occasionally dabbling in my own sculpture and design as time and professional commitments allowed.

I returned to sculpting on a more serious basis due to a chance meeting and friendship with Matt, a professional photographer and owner of a local art gallery. He viewed some of my earlier high school work and enthusiastically placed a few pieces in a show. When my sculptures received a goodly amount of positive attention, he very strongly encouraged me to start creating art again and truly became my mentor and chief promoter. Without his encouragement, I wouldn’t have come back to the arts in this way. I chose him as the model for this piece hoping to express Matt’s ceaseless sense of thought, wonder, and pondering of even the most common things, historical events, or human trials and tribulations. I never tire of having to ponder my own beliefs when hearing his perspectives and typically unconventional views.

I like sculpting copper because it was the first elemental metal collected and worked by primitive peoples and the need for fire and heat to create a work is a spiritual experience for me. I use only scrap copper reclaimed through recycling and usually incorporate something found or unique and personal to each piece that accents and exemplifies the personality of my subject. My inspiration occurs sporadically when I see something unique, tragic, or beautiful in an individual, often someone within my circle of acquaintances, friends, and family. With a mind full of ideas, I eagerly anticipate exploring this medium in the future and seeing where the process will lead.

Anne Kelly Lewis, ISA AM. 

 A Fort Worth native, Anne is the Director of the William C. Campbell Gallery.  

Anne is an Accredited Member of the International Society of Appraisers. She served as the Vice President and President (2016-2019) of the North Texas Chapter of ISA (NTISA) and served as a board member, Vice President and President (2017-2020) of the Foundation for Appraisal Education (FAE). With a BA in Art's Management from the College of Charleston,
She served as the director and in house fine art appraiser at the established American fine art gallery in Dallas, Texas, David Dike Fine Art for 11 years. The gallery specializes in turn of the century to mid-century American and European art. From 2008 - 2020, Anne executed the highly successful David Dike Fine Art, Texas Art Auction.