Volunteers give boost to annual AAOS art show

By Scott D. Johnston

The Fine Art, Photography and 3D Show at the Ocean Shores Convention Center this Saturday and Sunday is both the longest-running and most volunteer-intensive annual event on the North Coast.

The show, which is free to the public, goes back to the early 1970s and is produced each year by Associated Arts of Ocean Shores (AAOS) as “the artists’ gift to the community,” according to Ed Schroll, AAOS president. It is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday.

At least 60 volunteers will work together this week to display 800 or more pieces of art in the temporary gallery that is created in the Convention Center each year. Show chair Joan Lohr said the event will “display some of the finest art, photography, and 3-dimensional work in Grays Harbor County as well as from states other than Washington.”

The show is judged in Juried and Open divisions. Last year, the Juried Fine Arts and Photography categories displayed over 100 pieces each. The Open division had more than 250 entries each in Fine Arts and Photography, and nearly 100 in the 3-Dimensional Art category. Similar numbers are expected this year. New this year will be a display of 20+ works by young artists who are students at North Beach High School.

Entries are closed for the Juried and Youth divisions, but Open division entries will be accepted at the Convention Center until 5 p.m. Thursday. The Open entry fee is $10 per piece. Judging takes place Friday, with an invitation-only artists reception at 6 p.m.

AAOS offers over $6,000 in cash prizes, and outside sponsors add about $1,200 more. The organization also runs an annual poster contest, won this year by Raymond area artist Kris Ellen Jenott. Her original acrylic painting will be auctioned at the event.

Almost all of the art shown at the event will be available for purchase. In addition, there will be 10 artist vendor booths and an AAOS booth. There will be ongoing artist in action demonstrations both days, as well as live music performed by local jazz group Unexpected Soul.

Schroll said that while the move-in and move-out for the event require a lot of volunteers, AAOS is involved in different aspects of planning, preparation and support for the event pretty much throughout the year. For example, he said, “one of the main reasons for the (AAOS-produced) arts and crafts show,” Labor Day weekend this year at the Convention Center, “is to fund the Fine Arts Show,” along with other AAOS activities.

He said the North Coast is an area that has long attracted artists and the arts community has been successful in building the event into a regional art show that now draws entries from across the country and occasionally beyond, as well as strong support from northwest artists.

And the event has helped AAOS grow. Schroll said its membership has tripled in the past 2 1/2 years and the group has launched several new projects, including shows at Oyehut Bay and an effort to have AAOS artists collaborate on painting outdoor murals in public places, such as the one they created last fall at the studio of KOSW FM, the city-owned radio station on Ocean Lake Way in Ocean Shores.

More information is available online at www.associatedarts.org.