By John Chambless
Staff Writer

As always, the annual Juried Exhibition is one of the most intriguing of the year at the Oxford Arts Alliance, with artists from near and far exhibiting some fresh new works.

The first place winner is Kristen Peyton's “Quadrant Panes,” a huge oil of windows reflecting inner and outer light. It's bold and confidently painted. But it's matched in impact by the much different black-and-white charcoal portrait by John Famulare of Little Falls, N.Y. The woman depicted in closeup is rendered with photorealist detail, with every pore depicted perfectly. It's a tour de force.

Lele Galer's large oil “Nightscape” has a nice depth and texture, drawing your eye into the shadowy forest. Kennett Square artist Tracey Rothenberger takes a similar subtle approach with equally strong results. Her brown/gray expanse of marshy ground and overcast sky, done in oil and wax, magically reveals more subtleties the longer you look at it.

The second place winner is “The Many Faces of the Great Spirit” by Carl Cellini of Maple Glen, Pa.; and the third place winner is “MARC Train,” a color photo by R.G. Edmonson of Hyattsville, Md., with railroad gates in the foreground and the streak of a passing train behind them.

There's a crisp light and color in “Benjamin Franklin Bridge” by West Chester artist Mark Bockrath, as well as Philadelphia artist Elizabeth Heller's cityscape, “47th and Kingsessing.”

Local artist Vicki Vinton gets an honorable mention and strikes a blow for powerful abstraction in her mixed-media painting “3x3.” Kennett Square sculptor/painter Katee Boyle shows “Artifacts, Noble,” an evocative metal sculpture that's roughly stitched pillows, topped with a hand-forged headdress – all battered and worn by the ages and showing a hard-fought patina.

The turned wood vessel by George Radeschi of Bedford, Pa., is a showstopper – an intricate assemblage of various woods, magically sculpted and polished into a huge urn shape. Robert Schwieger of Plainfield, Ill., gets points for the range of mediums in his “Cat Tails,” a reflective rectangle of overlapped patterns and objects that he has achieved with a combination of screenprint on glass.

More modestly, Jeff Dion's small woodland oil view, “Valley Green May 31, 2017,” has a marvelous light through the leaves and a dappled forest floor. And don't miss Joshua Schaefer's tiny oil painting of a dead bee. It's only a few inches wide, but masterfully done.

Phoenixville's Michael Hill dazzles with “Provincetown Breakers,” a super vivid acrylic of rocks, a marsh and distant town under a brilliant blue sky. Joseph Bellofatto of Burke, Va., shows impressive classical technique with his richly textured pencil drawing, “Resurrection Angel,” and Kristine Miller-Siple gets a nice impact in her shoe portrait, “His,” that does much to suggest the unseen owner of the footwear.

The Third Annual National Juried Exhibition continues through Nov. 10 at the Oxford Arts Alliance (38 S. Third St., Oxford). Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with extended hours on the first and third Friday of the month until 8 p.m. Visit www.oxfordart.org.

To contact Staff Writer John Chambless, email [email protected].