Courtesy Photo At right, award-winning artist Noel Skiba poses in front of the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, with her painting of the Grand Hotel. Skiba is the juror for the Northeast Michigan Juried Art Exhibit at Besser Museum for Northeast Michigan.

ALPENA — The Besser Museum for Northeast Michigan is hosting a public reception for the opening of the Northeast Michigan Juried Art Exhibit from 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday. First, second and third place winners will be announced at 3:30 p.m.

This year’s juried art exhibit was judged by award-winning professional artist Noel Skiba, who chose 60 art pieces from the 100 entries.

Skiba titled the exhibition “Connections,” explaining that each piece radiated a connection with each other and the whole environment.

“It’s interesting,” Skiba said of the show. “As I judged the pieces and viewed the show … it was a very lovely grouping of art and a nice variety of media. I really feel that all the pieces are winners.”

She added that the pieces are earthy, and there is a relationship with nature, water, animals and people. The exhibit has a depth and breadth of elements and styles working together.

“It’s cohesive, creative, energetic, with very earthy, colorful pieces,” Skiba noted. “The show just put itself together.”

The first place winner will receive a $300 cash prize and a solo exhibition at Besser Museum in 2020.

Refreshments are being provided by members of the Founders Society/Friends of the Besser Museum.

The exhibit will be open through Dec. 30.

About Noel Skiba

Born and raised in Alpena, Skiba is a fourth generation artist, learning to paint at the age of two, under the instruction of her mother, local art master teacher, Joy Anne Skiba.

Noel Skiba is a passionate and energetic colorist painter. She has won many awards and honors throughout her lifelong career as an impressionistic acrylic, oil, watercolor and multimedia painter (including pastel, inks, dyes) and as a commercial illustrator.

Skiba’s career includes fine and commercial arts, working in a variety of media including paint, ink, drawing, ceramics, fiber weaving and hangings, sculpture, marble, tile, glass shells in mosaics, photography, retouching, video and animation, radio and TV commercials, outdoor and print advertising. She has taught art classes, painted live onstage, on PBS in Grand Rapids, for American Red Cross, and locally at WBKB-TV. She also worked as a courtroom illustrator, providing sketches for CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, and FOX.

She has also traveled the world doing mission work, teaching, building and painting live on location with music teams, sharing her paintings and creating murals working with children and adults.

Skiba holds a BFA from Kendall College of Arts and Design and Aquinas College, majoring in Illustration with a minor in Business; AAS degree from Ferris State University majoring in Science, Art and Radiography, with a focus on Medical Illustration; ASA degree from Alpena Community College majoring in Business and Fine, Liberal Arts; and a Certificate in Photography and Retouching from Winona School of Professional Photography.

Skiba was invited by the family of President Gerald R. Ford to paint during his funeral and memorial services while the President was “Lying in Repose.” Skiba created 36 paintings live on location during international TV, with several pieces featured in the Presidential Museum, with family and featured in National Archives. Skiba’s 2019 Mackinac Bridge Series is a permanent installation at the Michigan House of Representatives.

More of her awards include: 2019 First Place and Best of Show in Painting Representation of Schooner’s Wharf, Key West; four-time winner of Mackinac Island Lilac Poster contest (2016, 2015, 2013, and 2010); poster winner of Grand Rapids’ Celebration on The Grand; Florida Seminole Casino’s Balloons over Paradise, Pigeon Keys (2011, 2013); Islamorada Island Fest 2015; Alpena Brown Trout Art in the Park; Charlevoix Art; Harbor Springs Art; Addy Awards Brooks Shoes, Silver Quill Award; Grand Rapids, On The Town Magazine; Strathmore Paper Regional Award; Grand Rapids Community College Catalogue; Bay Harbor Art Show program cover; Keys Cultural Magazine cover; and Keys Weekly Cover art three times. Her artwork is also featured on Murdick’s Fudge Boxes.

Skiba’s artwork hangs in hotels throughout Michigan and Florida, as well as many businesses locally and statewide.

Skiba maintains art studios and gallery showrooms in four locations: Mackinac Island, Florida Keys, Grand Rapids and Alpena.

She also annually paints live at Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby. Some other en plein air live locations have been Grand Canyon, Sedona, Big Sur, Catalina Island, Las Vegas, Hawaii, Gettysburg, Washington DC, New York, Chicago, Bahamas, Cuba, and Paris, France.

Learn more about Skiba by visiting her website at www.noelskiba.com.

Besser Museum for Northeast Michigan is located at 491 Johnson St. in Alpena. For more information, call the museum at 989-356-2202.

Reach Lifestyles Editor Darby Hinkley by phone at 989-358-5691 or by emailing her at lifestyles@thealpenanews.com.