SFS Art Fest 2022 Art Competition Judges
Pam Korporaal
Jury Director
Pam Korporaal is the creator/producer of the Whittier an Arts Destination website which provides information on local art events. She currently chairs Arts Connect. She is on the Whittier Art Gallery Board and is an Arts Commissioner for the City of Whittier. She is a film screener for the Borrego Springs Film Festival and is a photographer.
Whittier: An Arts Destination
Whittier has several galleries which have monthly exhibits of Southern California artists. The Whittier Art Gallery features local artists and art organizations Both local colleges house galleries, the Mendenhall Lobby Gallery and the Shannon Center Lobby Gallery on the Whittier College Campus and the Rio Hondo Art Gallery on the Rio Hondo College campus. The City sponsors the City Hall Lobby Gallery, Parnell Park Gallery, and the Nixon Room at the Main Library with open calls for local artists to show their work.
Whittier has multiple theatre venues. The City of Whittier has Center Theatre with performances by the Whittier Community Theatre and the Family Theatre. Whittier College is home of the Ruth B. Shannon Center for the Performing Arts and Rio Hondo College has the Wray Theatre with both professional and student performances. Check the calendars for these and other theatre/spoken word listings.
Dennis McGonagle
Judge
“My landscapes describe my world using vibrant color and vigorous brushwork. Because they are scenes from a specific place, my paintings tend to have a mysterious narrative quality, communicating a sense of time and place, a plot, and at times, a cast of characters.
My goal for my work is to transport the viewer to the site where they can share the energy and inspiration I felt when I began painting the piece.”
Dennis McGonagle is best known as a landscape painter. His journey as an artist began in 1973 when he enrolled in a painting class with Professor Jerry Romotsky at Rio Hondo College. Romotsky helped him develop his colorful expressionistic style by encouraging him to study art history and to find beauty in his daily life. His goal ever since has been to grow as an artist and to create paintings that speak to people on the profoundest levels. The process of painting landscapes summons a beauty that comes from the depths of his life and is captured on canvas.
McGonagle worked for the Whittier City School District as a fifth grade teacher and visual arts mentor from 1985 until his retirement in 2015. In 2012, he won the Los Angeles Music Center’s Bravo Award for his outstanding work as an art teacher in the generalist category. He has judged several juried shows in the Whittier area over the years.
McGonagle is also known for his mural work, including a 2,000 square foot mural on two exterior walls of the Whittier Museum. He has recently finished a 200 foot long mural at the East Los Angeles Buddhist Center in La Puente.
Maya Hivale
Judge
“My art work grows out of circumstances and concerns that I live through each day. Using paint and object from everyday life, I explore and expand my thoughts and ideas. It is a joy to create using found objects, fabric pieces, dictionary pages, photos etc. for the purpose of expression and healing. In this process of instinctual choices I’m able to reveal the truth and tell stories."
Maya is an award winning artist and advocate for children. She works for LA County, Children & Family Services. In her current position she provides support at finding homes for children and high-risk youth. She has judged school and child oriented art shows over the years. Maya has a unique understanding of the power and connection between cross-cultural counseling and art therapy. She believes that art is an innovative approach to foster hope and is gratified to find in the art world values that enlighten, refresh and educate children, families and the community as a whole.
Maya passionately produces mixed-media works of art. She loves to layer images and use discarded items that are considered trash and transform them into something new. The family she was born into along with world-travels have given her an inheritance of images that she can use for a lifetime.
Maya is married to Don Mrla and they have two creative young adults, Josiah and Jaiden.
George Rodriguez
Judge
I love that I can save an instant in time with my camera. Especially "people" photographs. I am fortunate to be in this Photographic profession that has allowed me to practice my passion.
The career of Los Angeles photographer George Rodriguez documents a visual history that spans over 45 years. Growing up in LA, and studying photography in school, led him to discover a passion for portraiture and photojournalism. Living in the city allowed him to experience some of the most tumultuous episodes in LA’s history.
George Rodriguez has works in the Smithsonian Institution-National Portrait Gallery. He has worked as an independent photojournalist in the motion picture, television and music Industries, in magazine publishing and the corporate world.
George has been honored with a Lifetime Achievement, Leadership in the Arts by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. He is very well respected photographer in the photography community for portraiture and photojournalism.