THE BAPTISM: This watercolor by local artist Terri McNichol won a Purchase Award from the Mercer County Cultural and Heritage Commission, and will be on display as part of the Mercer County Artists 2015 exhibition at the MCCC Gallery through February 27. For more information and gallery hours, visit: www.mccc.edu/gallery.

The Mercer County arts community came out in force earlier this month to view the rich and varied works of fellow artists at the Awards Ceremony and Opening Reception for “Mercer County Artists 2015,” which will be on display through February 27 at the Gallery at Mercer County Community College (MCCC), located on the second floor of the Communications Building on the college’s West Windsor campus, 1200 Old Trenton Road.

The show features 89 works by 63 artists in a variety of media including oil, acrylic, and watercolor paintings, as well as mixed media collages and 23 sculptures.

Gallery Director Dylan Wolfe, who curated the show, announced the award winners with fellow presenters Tricia Fagan and Nora Añanos from the Mercer County Cultural and Heritage Commission. “This exhibit clearly demonstrates the immense talent and culture of Mercer County,” said Mr. Wolfe. “Supporting the arts sustains the inspirations we can each find when we are living in a community flush with creativity, culture, and the expression of passions.”

Mr. Wolfe thanked juror Kyle Stevenson, an artist and MCCC Professor of Fine Arts, for making his selections from 244 pieces submitted by 138 artists. “Having been present during his deliberation, I can tell you with certainty that he made many difficult choices,” Wolfe told the crowd. Mr. Wolfe also acknowledged the Mercer County Cultural and Heritage Commission for its continuing support of the exhibit. “The commission not only supports us through grant funding, but also purchased artwork totaling over $2500 from this exhibit. They continue to build a remarkable permanent collection of county created, county owned artwork, and provide direct support and encouragement to our community of artists,” he said.

Award winners include: the Utrecht-Blick Best in Show Prize to David Orban of Trenton for “The Work Party: The Workbench.” The Juror’s Choice Awards went to Janis Purcell of East Windsor for “Phoenix Rising” and Megan Uhaze of Hamilton for “The Eye.” Juror’s Honorable Mention recipients were Marina Ahun of Princeton for “New York Grand Central Terminal”; Elise Dodeles of Lambertville for “San Francisco Area Fighter A219, Ike O’Rourke”; James Doherty of Lawrence for “Wynwood Walls”; Timothy J. Fitzpatrick of Mercerville for “Low Tide”; and Bill Plank of Lawrenceville for “Birth.”

County Purchase Awards went to Jamie Greenfield of Lawrenceville for “Seven Gold Coins”; Libby Ramage of Princeton for “Incantation”; John Pietrowski of Ewing (untitled); Adam Hillman of Pennington (untitled); Terri McNichol of Cranbury for “The Baptism”; and Cathy Saska-Mydlowski of Hamilton for “South Beach.”

Arin Black, executive director of the West Windsor Arts Council, awarded the Council’s prize to Kathleen Liao of Princeton Junction for “Quantum Leap.”

Featured artists from the Princeton area included: Priscilla Snow Algava, Joanne Amantea, Mechtild Bitter, Katja De Rutyer, Mary Dolan, Janet Felton, Sejal Krishnan, Ronald A. LaMahieu, Ghislaine Pasteur, Christa Schneider, Judith Tallerman, Ellen Veden, and Andrew Werth.

For more information, directions and gallery hours, visit: www.mccc.edu/gallery.