To contact these Best in Show artists directly for purchase inquiries or to see more of their work, please visit the 8th Annual Figures & Faces Art Exhibition page for contact information.
Congratulations again to the winners and thank you for sharing your talent with us.
Best in Show (Traditional) – Mehrnosh Kaecker – “BERND” – oil on canvas
German artist, Mehrnosh Kaecker, graduated in 2001 with a communication design degree in Hamburg, Germany. In the following years, she has deepened her artistic skills by participating in numerous workshops and seminars of renowned artists, including at the Florence Studio, Florence and the Flemish Classical Atelier Bruges.
Her specialty is portrait and figurative painting and drawing. She has shown her art in exhibitions in New York, Paris, Moscow, Virginia and Germany among others. She has received several national and international awards.
To learn more about Mehrnosh and to see more of her work, please visit her website.
Best in Show (Photography & Digital) – Maureen Ravnik – “TAOS ARTIST” – photography & digital
Maureen Ravnik was born in Minnesota. After attending college in Colorado, she stayed and never looked back. Working and traveling opened her eyes to the wonders of the American west and reawakened childhood tendencies to creatively document her discoveries. She began making images of the American west in hopes of preserving the history, the culture, and the dreams that shaped the west. Today, Maureen’s time is spent outdoors capturing the scenery, wildlife, and exploring other methods for interpreting and sharing what she sees and experiences along the way.
Maureen’s techniques are largely self-taught. She is deeply inspired by Ansel Adams and Art Wolfe. Her work is delivered in an array of styles that arc between realistic, passionately abstract and doggedly figurative.
Maureen has accomplished many things with her photography including images placed in the Audubon International Top 250, local, national and international juried photography exhibitions, winning placements in monthly club competitions, state park calendars, images selected for use by the City of Littleton, Colorado, and many images selected as editor picks on National Geographic and for publication. Her work has been the subject of several newspapers. She has co-authored 2 books that document the history, beauty and environment of the second largest natural area in the country. Maureen has also served as a juror for the Tri-Lakes Center for the Arts in Colorado.
Maureen’s goal is to continually look for new ways to challenge herself. That is what inspires her to never reject possibilities in subject matter.
To learn more about Maureen and to see more of her work, please visit her website.
Best in Show (3 Dimensional) – Douglas Aja – “JUNIOR ELDER” – bronze
Douglas Aja has been sculpting African wildlife since the late 1990s. Since that time, he donates a portion of the sales proceeds to various conservation organizations as well as donates sculptures for fund raising events. Though he sculpts a variety of species, he specializes in the African elephant. Many elephants are known individuals from Amboseli National Park in Kenya. He has been a longtime supporter of Amboseli Trust for Elephants, ElephantVoices, The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, Action for Cheetahs in Kenya and Laikipia Wildlife Forum (LWF). Aja’s bronze sculptures are in the private collections of elephant researchers Cynthia Moss and Joyce Poole, wildlife cinematographer Martyn Colbeck, the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, the Bennington Center for the Arts, NBA great and Basketball Hall of Famer Sam Jones and North Carolina Central University.
To learn more about Doug and to see more of his artwork, please visit his website.
