Stephanie Spay loves painting people.
“I save what I love for the Hoosier Salon each year,” Spay said.
The Noblesville resident captured Best of Show at the 2021 Hoosier Art Salon. She has two paintings entered in the 98th annual Hoosier Art Salon exhibition, which runs from Aug. 27 to Oct. 23 at the Indiana State Museum in Indianapolis. The exhibit will feature 155 artworks by 129 artists in eight categories: figure, still life, abstract, three-dimensional work, watercolor, portrait, landscape and original work or print on paper.
“From what I gathered, the emotive response the judges had to my portraits and my use of inventive or unexpected vantage points really caught their eyes,” Spay said. “This was very rewarding for me, because these are two things that really excite me about painting my work and what draws me to the work of others.”
Spay placed third in portraiture in 2019 for a painting of her youngest son.
Spay, who is entered in the portraiture category again this year, said she looks forward to seeing the work of other artists displayed in the Hoosier Art Salon.
“It is always a beautifully curated show of Indiana talent,” Spay said. “Portraits and figurative paintings still remain my favorite, but I am branching out now to include interiors, florals, landscape and still life for sets and props for these figures to interact with in my work.”
Spay, a 1994 Noblesville High School graduate, earned a bachelor’s degree in art education through Herron School of Art and Design and Indiana University.
Other Noblesville artists entered include Simona Buna, Beth A. Forst, Lesley B. Haflich, Dan Howell, J. Rodney Reveal and Arlyne Springer.
Other area artists entered include, from Carmel, Robert Bratton, Wendy Franklin, Cindy D. Wingo and Sabrina Zhou; from Fishers, Brad Fields and Pamela Newell; from Westfield, Sylvia Gray, Matt Hurdle and Susan Mauck; and, from Zionsville, David M. Seward.
