Local Artist Receives National Award

Avon Lake artist Chris Benavides won first place in the February Emerging Artist category from artmusecontest.com, a website devoted to giving artists national exposure and opportunity for gallery representation. Benavides’ oil painting, “Pioneer Daughter” was selected as the winning piece by juror and nationally known California landscape artist Kevin Courter. Courter states:

“This piece simply tells a story that I want to know more about and the eyes of this young pioneer girl invites us into that story. What have those eyes seen? What has been her experience as a daughter of a Pioneer? I love being invited into a story and this painting does just that. Well done!”

Benavides received a cash reward, recognition on the website and his painting will be included in an exhibition in the Jack Meier Gallery in Houston, Texas. The painting also received the Directors’ Choice Award at this year’s Bay Arts Annual Juried Exhibition. He is an associate member of the Oil Painter’s Society of America and the Portrait Society of America.