More than 100 Newton County residents attended the awards ceremony and open house for Southern Heartland Arts Gallery’s Artful Harvest show, sponsored by United Bank, Thursday night.

The ladies of the Heartland Woman’s Club hosted the event, which featured artists from Newton and neighboring counties. The Artful Harvest show is one of the many outreach programs for Southern Heartland Arts, Inc. Southern Heartland Arts is a nonprofit advocate for the visual arts.

The show featured three award categories for adult artists, awards for junior artists in elementary and high school and awarded a best in show prize. Cindy Murphy won Best in Show for her “Vines Botanical Garden” Triptych in oil and palette knife.

Other winners were: First place, 2D — “Day at Tribble Mill” by Debra Davis and “Gratitude” by Mary Vogel; First place, 3D — Diane Loffmin for “Organic Mushroom,” a Clay free form piece; Second place, 3D — Rebecca Braswell for her clay platter, “Fishy, Fishy, Fishy”; First place photography — Debby Hendrix for “Tree” Second place, photography —Amanda Pendley for “Heavenly Light”; Honorable mentions — Irma Ali, Bobby Hamby, and Doug Smith; Student winners, elementary division — Emily Pelez and Ryan Braswell; Student winners, high school division —Samantha Burgess and Ashley King.
Patrons can vote for the People’s Choice winner Monday through Saturday until Sept. 29.

Southern Heartland Arts, Inc., a nonprofit organization for the visual arts, was incorporated in 1987. The organization provides scholarships for college-bound graduating seniors interested in careers in the visual arts, as well as for children to attend summer art camps and continuing weekly art classes.