Juror’s Statement: Dan Hittleman of Melville, NY gives examples of his expertise in such works as “Flowering Stream” showing a dramatic contrast of the rushing white waters amidst large boulders with the delicacy of little yellow flowers along the way. Continuing with a similar theme is his “Rainbow Falls” in which small red flowers hold their own against the backdrop of a majestic waterfall.

Comment by Luke Gehring, Art Critic -- Of particular interest to me is the classic “Door and Pottery” by Dan Hittleman. A deceptively simple composition, the roof line and the edge where the wall meets the floor are parallel planes of roughly equal width. The table cloth is an abbreviated parallel plane approximately the same width. The log beams create a rhythm, moving the eye across the picture plane to the streaks in the adobe walls, pulling the eye down to the table, where the eye moves to the door frame and back up towards the roof line again. The color palette is as rich as it is limited, being only black, white and shades of blue and brown. The weathered building gives enough texture and visual richness to pull the whole together.