Just rewards in fine art

Young Chang

A couple of area artists got a boost recently to keep doing what

they do. Ursula Bohen and Marcia Weatherholt-Bernhardt both entered

the Orange County Fair’s visual arts competition for the first time

and won honors.

Costa Mesa’s Bohen won first place in the ceramics amateur

division, and Newport Coast’s Weatherholt-Bernhardt took the division

win for amateur painting, as well as first place and best of show for

an oil piece titled “Ready in Waiting.” She also was awarded juror’s

choice and honorable mention ribbons for a second work, “Together

Forever.”

“When I saw the three ribbons, I started crying,” said

Weatherholt-Bernhardt, of being honored in person for “Ready in

Waiting.” “I can’t believe how lucky I am.”

Bohen said her wins encourage her as an artist, despite her late

start.

“I’m returning to it late in the game,” said the 31-year-old, who

didn’t make anything for almost 10 years after taking her first

ceramics class in college. “But there are people who are starting

even later than I did.”

Both artists’ pieces hang at the Visual Arts Building at the

Orange County Fair, along clean white walls that add to the crisp,

air-conditioned pleasure of strolling through the temporary gallery.

Hundreds of pieces, ranging from photography to paintings to

sculptures to mixed-media works, offer fair visitors a cultural

reprieve from the rides and the heat.

As far as Weatherholt-Bernhardt is concerned, the fair provides

even greater haven for area artists.

“It is really the only competitive outlet that I know of in Orange

County, other than getting into the Laguna thing,” said the

48-year-old. “I wish there was more opportunity for fine art.”

Competition is, apparently, healthy among artists. The Newport

Coast painter, who is an architectural illustrator and exterior color

consultant for her company Weatherholt Castor Associates, said

everything she’s read about being an artist encourages taking little

competitive steps, starting with venues such as county fairs.

“Once you start winning the lower level competitions, you start to

move up,” said Weatherholt-Bernhardt, who entered three pieces in the

contest.

Though a professional artist architecturally,

Weatherholt-Bernhardt started oil painting a year and a half ago

because she wanted to look into other kinds of painting. “Ready in

Waiting,” which won in the division category and will continue on to

Sacramento next year to compete with other county winners in the

state fair, shows a construction site and two bulldozers -- a common

scene in the artist’s work life. “Together Forever” shows an older

couple.

“I think there’s a difference in the way that judges look at art

versus how the general public looks at art,” the artist said. “I put

in three pieces of very different subject matter to kind of cover the

gamut.”

Bohen entered only one ceramics piece -- an artistic vase

featuring a basket-weave pattern that is much taller than most vases.

The piece was made using coils and finished with ash glaze.

“You could put dried stuff in it,” said the independent marketing

consultant. “I’ve always been attracted to ceramics, and I love

looking at different pieces -- everything from ancient Greek urns to

contemporary pieces.”

The artist took her first ceramics class nine years ago in

college. This past spring, she signed up for a class at Orange Coast

College, which is where she made her winning vase.

“It was a total surprise,” Bohen said, of winning. “I’d gotten

good feedback for my work during the last semester, so I had a degree

of confidence, but this kind of sends me further along that path. It

reinforces those comments and further encourages me to continue in

the ceramics field.”

Weatherholt-Bernhardt said she is now determined to try to sell

her works and to start a studio in her office.

“I don’t plan to stop painting,” she said. “I’m going to paint

even more now.”