Our jurors visit each exhibitor during the Festival as part of the jury process and subsequently award $20,000 in prize money. These award winners are announced at the awards ceremony at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday during the Festival, at the Allen Street Stage.
The 2024 Jurors are:
Korean-born glass artist Eunsuh Choi is a portrait artist, whose flameworked pieces are personal narratives, portraits of her own moments of growth. Choi arrived in the U.S. having already completed a Master’s degree in glass from Kookmin University (S. Korea), but determined to pursue further glass education. Eunsuh Choi uses flameworking techniques to create objects and installations composed of intricately fused glass threads.
Ellen Owens is the Director of the Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University, providing strategy and vision while leading fundraising and collaboration efforts. She is passionate about making museums welcoming learning spaces for diverse public audiences. Owens currently teaches Museum Studies at Niagara University and sits on the Executive Committee for The Print Center board and the Frank Lloyd Wright Darwin Martin House board. Owens graduated with honors from Penn State University, earning a BA in Art Education and a BFA in Painting and Drawing. She received her MA in Museum Education from the University of the Arts and Executive Leadership certificates from the Getty Leadership Institute, University of Pennsylvania, and Bryn Mawr College.
Wayne Werner is a visionary goldsmith and performing artist from Maryland. He has participated in over 350 shows and taught over 100 workshops internationally. Werner has been around the globe studying metalsmithing. His work is inspired by ancient fertility Gods and traditional techniques. Career highlights include awards from the world gold council, demonstrating in museums, and a 17-year tenure at the Maryland Institute college of Art. Werner is a veteran of CPFA, and has won “Best of show” on more than one occasion. When not at the jeweler’s bench, he can be found playing vintage lap steel guitars and blistering harmonica with some of the areas finest musicians.
Sophie Brenneman is a visual artist, poet, and educator. She earned her BFA in Drawing & Painting from The University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, MS, and her MFA from The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, PA. She is an Assistant Teaching Professor of Visual Art at Penn State Altoona, and the Coordinator for the Visual Art Studies Program.
Artist Jerry Bennett works in porcelain paper clay. He attended Southwest Missouri State University, where earning a Bachelor of Fine Art, and earned a Master of Fine Art in Studio Ceramics from Indiana University. His work explores form, texture, and pattern as they interact with light in translucent porcelain. Using very thin high-fired porcelain, Bennett forms each piece individually by hand-building and painting the surface with engobes or colored clay, hand-painted and fired under a clear glaze. No attempt is made to make the floral pattern look realistic or life-like. The pattern, color, and line are the vital part of the decoration.
