After months of promotion, nearly a thousand submitted artworks, and tons of preparation, we finally held the opening reception for the juried exhibition “Root to Bloom: The Places Artists Call Home” last Friday evening. With over 70 artists included in the show, we were hoping that a few would be able to join us for the evening–and we received a huge and pleasant surprise! Over 40 of the included artists joined us to celebrate the show opening on Friday, and between the artists, their friends and family, and the gallery’s circle of collectors and friends, it was quite the bash!

Earlier that day, Meg Aiken was awarded the Social Media Choice Award for all of the votes on her painting, “Home Away from Home.” Friday evening, Victoria Kilcullen of Christie’s International Real Estate presented a Christie’s-sponsored award to Carl Ahlman for his landscape, titled “View.”

Gallery director Clint Mansell then handed out the awards and cash prizes for the top three paintings in the show, which included Kerry Dunn’s “3w4e44455555eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee” in first place, Corey Pitkin’s “Groundhog’s Day” in second place, and Christine Lashley’s “Yellow and Gold” winning third place.

Principle Gallery offers its sincere thanks to everyone who participated in this amazing exhibition, and to all those who attended the incredible reception on Friday. If you haven’t yet had a chance to see Root to Bloom in person yet, be sure to stop by! The exhibition will be hanging through the end of November. If you can’t come by in person, please enjoy the digital preview on our website here!