Provided by Phillips’ Mill Community Association:
Credit: Submitted
The Phillips’ Mill Community Association presented awards to nine photographers as part of the kickoff for the 24th annual Phillips’ Mill Photographic Exhibition, which continues through June 26 in New Hope.
Winners are as follows:
Best of Show: Sandra Dillon, of Erwinna, “Loa in Hotpot by Midnight Sun”
Best Body of Work: David Ackerman, of Hopewell, N.J., “Ascent,” “Glacier Perito Moreno,” “Ice Blue Trails,” “Wall of Ice”
Patron’s Awards: Donna Lovely, of Newtown, “Chinese Card Players, Kaifeng China;” Evie Bilikiewicz, of Morrisville, Pa., “Looking Fear;” Susan Kott, of Croydon, “Time One;” William Earle, of West Chester, Pa., “Zoe;” Sharon Maloney, of Middletown, Pa., “Lines”
Judges Award: Mike Zaikowski, of Philadelphia, “Pinelands,” “Sheep Shed,” “The Watcher,” “Wissahickon”
Spencer Saunders Award: Kristopher Schoenleber, of Princeton, N.J., “Room to Roam”
A photo by Newtown photographer Donna Lovely.
Credit: Donna Lovely
In all, the exhibition features 146 photos, which were selected from a pool of 814.
Held through June 26, the exhibition, themed “Photography as Art” and “Photographer as Artist,” features a vast array of images from 91 photographers.
Evie Bilikiewicz, who studied photography at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, entered images for the first time ever into this year’s exhibition. She was ecstatic that two images, “Losing Control,” and Patron’s Award winner “Looking Fear,” were accepted. Her work features female models and “feminine” themes and evokes a “bizarre, anonymous feel,” she said.
Sandra Dillon captured her Best of Show image during a horseback trek through Iceland under the midnight sun. Her captivating image features a young girl coming out of blue-tinted water.
“She was my muse on the whole trip,” Dillon said. “She didn’t mind.”
For David Ackerman, a photographer of 15 years, his Best Body of Work photos were taken in Patagonia, Argentina.
“We were on a glacier,” he said. “The glacier was other worldly.”
Mike Zaikowski, a photographer of 50 years, has been involved with the Phillips’ Mill Photographic Exhibition from practically the beginning, having entered his first show about 20 years ago. This year marks his first Judges Award.
Allan Michael, a tour boat operator in Manhattan, had his first submission, “Pyle Driver,” accepted for this year’s exhibition.
“I fell in love with Bucks County three years ago,” said Michael, who follows the principles of aesthetic realism and is actively involved in arts organizations in New Hope. “Photography puts together the momentary and the permanent.”
John Stritzinger, of Elkins Park, who won last year’s Best of Show, juried this year’s exhibition, along with Stephanie Lisle, a Hamburg, Germany native and Bucks County art promoter and Roberto A. Quezada, from Guatemala, a filmmaker of 25 years.
If you go
The Phillips Mill Photographic Exhibition continues through June 26. The exhibit will be open Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.; and Fridays and Saturdays from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. The mill, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is at 2619 River Road (Route 32) in New Hope. For additional information, visit www.phillipsmill.org or call 215-262-6064.
Admission is $5. Admission is free for members of the Phillips’ Mill Community Association. All work on exhibit is available for purchase.
The exhibition is being chaired by Claudia Davis, a photographer based in Ottsville who specializes in unique portraiture.
