HOLLAND (WHTC) — Alla Dickson and her painting “Spectacle” is Tulip Time’s Art in Bloom winner.
Tulip Time and Holland Area Arts Council officials announced the award Thursday evening at a gala, before a crowd at The Commons at Evergreen. The reception honors the top 20 artists and their artwork in the festival’s annual competition.
The remaining 19 will be featured at the arts council during Tulip Time, where fans can vote for their favorite in the Viewer’s Choice competition.
This year, 55 artists made a total of 95 submissions, all reviewed by Douglas David of Douglas David Fine Art in Indianapolis, who chose the 20 finalists. Representatives from Tulip Time and the Holland Area Arts Council picked the winner from that group.
Alla Dickson has lived in Holland since 1996 but was born in Belarus, has lived in Russia, Siberia, and Egypt.
Alla Dickson developed a deep appreciation of various cultures in her travels an immigrated to the U.S. with her two daughters.
Since 2012, she’s been completely devoted to painting, her life-long passion. The self-taught artist has place her work in public exhibits and private collections around the world.
She teaches at her private studio and at the Holland Area Arts Council, where she serves on the Board of Directors. She is an active member of the Holland Friends of Art, Zeeland Artists’ Collective and other art organizations in West Michigan.
An ArtPrize veteran, her painting “Vivacious” won a previous Tulip Time Art in Bloom Viewer’s Choice Award.
In “Spectacle,” she expresses “the overflowing joy we all feel after a long, grey, West Michigan winter by using vibrant, energetic, yet light brush strokes to express the fluidness and gentle beauty of this flower,” according to a Tulip Time statement on the Art in Bloom award.
Tulip Time’s 2016 theme is “Join the Dance.” The festival is May 7 – 14, 2016. Check out WHTC’s photo gallery of Thursday’s gala.
