News

Announcing the 2017 Cover Art Competition

Posted: June 10, 2015

Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival 2017 Cover Art Competition

The winning artwork will be used to design the catalog cover, posters, t-shirts, mugs, hats, and other items to publicize the 44^th annual Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival.

Grand Prize $1000

Up to four $100 Honorary Mention awards

Subject related to Sheep and/or Wool
Any 2-D medium
No larger than 18″x24″
Can be full color
Artwork only, do not include text regarding Festival name, date, etc.

Deadline November 1, 2016

Download the rules, entry form, and release.

Visit the gallery of past winners.

Questions? Email gro.l1784077949oowdn1784077949apeeh1784077949s@tra1784077949revoc1784077949.

#mswf #mswf2016

Posted: May 6, 2016

Look for #mswf and #mswf2016 on social media this weekend! We are @MDSheepWoolFest on Twitter and mdsheepwoolfest on Instagram!

Upcoming Festival Deadlines

Posted: March 12, 2016

Here are some important deadlines:

5/6/2016 – Skein & Garment Competition entries accepted at Fairgrounds 9-1
5/6/2016 – Sheep Poster Contest entries accepted at Fairgrounds 10-1
5/6/2016 – Fleeces for Fleece Show & Sale accepted at Fairgrounds 10-4:30. Must be pre-registered by April 27. No new entries will be accepted.
5/6/2016 – Sheep Photo Contest entries accepted at Fairgrounds 11:30-3
5/6/2016 – Fine Arts Competition entries accepted at Fairgrounds 12-3
5/20/2016 – Last day to order catalogs or make donations online
10/1/2016 – Deadline for 2017 vendor applications
11/1/2016 – Deadline for 2017 Cover Art Competition entries
1/1/2017 – Deadline for advertising in 2017 Catalog

2016 Catalog Cover Art Competition Winner

Posted: January 30, 2016

Maria Victoria Savka, Pittsford NY

A local of upstate New York, Maria Victoria Savka is currently earning her BFA in Fine Arts and Illustration at Rochester Institute of Technology. She enjoys dabbling in watercolor, creating simple intricacies in her artwork, and a strawberry malt shake in a good hammock. She has recently been part of the Student International Print Show in El Minia, Egypt and the Torpedo Factory’s ‘Printed Matter’ show at the Target Gallery. www.mariavictoriasavka.com

Maria Victoria Savka

2016 Honorable Mention

Mary Jeanne Coles, Union Bridge MD

Watercolor

Honorable Mention - Nathan Loda

Nathan Loda, Vienna VA

Oil

Jamison Odone, LaVale MD

Fountain pen and digital

Debbie Lynn Zwiebach, Pasadena MD

Pen and ink with Sakura Gelly Roll pens

Online registration is now open!

Posted: February 9, 2016

Online registration for Fiber Arts Workshops, Shepherd Workshops, Family Activities and Sheep Show entries is now open.

The online registration system is also ready for you to purchase catalogs, meal tickets and Maryland Sheep Breeders Association memberships, and to make donations. You do not need to login or create an account for any of these, just look for the “Buy Tickets and Misc Items” link. Order your catalog by March 15 so it can be included in our initial mailing.

And the winner is…

Posted: May 26, 2015

Sheep Show

saler homepage

Supreme Champion Ram – Ethan Kennedy (Romney)
Supreme Champion Ewe – Ramona Butt (Karakul)
Supreme Fleece – Steve & Terry Mendenhall (Natural Colored Fine)

Fleece Show

Grand Champion Fleece – Geof Ruppert (Cormo)
Best Maryland Fleece – Peggy Howell (Corriedale)

Skein & Garment Competition

Best in Show, 2015 Skein & Garment Competition

Best in Show – Karen Battersby
Best Producer of Maryland Wool – John & Kate Bostek
Best Skein of Maryland Wool – Kim Parkinson
Best Article of Maryland Wool – Susan Koester

Fine Arts Competition

Best of Show – Joan Arnold
Reserve – Eric Hunter
Best Maryland Entry – Lindsay Tozier-School

Sheep Photo Contest

Best of Show – William Churchill
Reserve – Cheryl Dunlap
Best Maryland Entry – Carter Huff Jr.
Best Maryland Junior Entry – Kiparoo Farm

2015 Catalog Cover Art Competition Winner

Posted: February 12, 2015

Ida Faraghan, Cinnaminson NJ

Ida Faraghan,

I began watercolor painting at age 65. With no formal training, I struggled with the art, until I found a local art teacher, Rosemary Hutchins. Extremely talented, giving, and sharing of her craft. She was my inspiration to continue to improve my love of watercolor.

I have been painting for 21 years, and still learning. I continue my love for sheep in my watercolors.

Happily married for 66 years. Five fantastic, loving, talented children, that presented us with 12 beautiful grandchildren; 4, about to be 5, wonderful great-grandchildren.

I am overwhelmed and honored to be part of the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival, that I have attended for many years.

Ida Faraghan

2015 Honorable Mention

Honorable Mention - Evie Baskin

Evie Baskin, Chestertown MD

Evie Baskin

Pastel

Kessler Color

Patricia Powell Kessler, Silver Spring MD

Patricia Powell Kessler,

Monoprint and Mixed Media

Clare Margaret Color72

Clare Margaret Douglas, Harrisburg PA

Clare Margaret Douglas

Cut Paper

Honorable Mention - Alison Lusk

Alison L. Baker, York Haven PA

Alison L. Baker,

Watercolor

2017 Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival

Posted: February 12, 2015

May 6 & 7, 2017
8:30AM – 6PM Saturday
8:30AM – 5PM Sunday
Howard County Fairgrounds, West Friendship, MD
No pets…please leave your dog at home

There’s still time to get a catalog.

Posted: March 18, 2015

mous phone case blog here their explanation

Previous Catalog Cover Art Competition Winners

Posted: May 12, 2014

2014 Catalog Cover Art Competition Winner

Ken McNeill, Fuquay-Varina, NC

I grew up in tobacco country, central North Carolina. I drive a truck and I like old barns. Farm equipment, the smell of plowed dirt and rolling landscapes say home to me. I’ve drawn since childhood but took for granted the natural beauty of pastures, ponds, fields and farm buildings. A handful of years ago, when I set out to paint my surroundings, I truly began to see color in the shadows and the play of light.

I work eight-to-five as an electrical engineer. My job is structured by the laws of mathematics and physics. To be valid, it must be interpreted precisely and in the same way by those who utilize it. To break those constraints, I paint nights and weekends, filling my canvases with bold swirls of color. My wife’s obsession with spinning, knitting and all things fiber inspired me to paint sheep, goats, alpacas and bunnies, with the goal of finding an animal’s attitude or personality and translating it to canvas. My hope is that these paintings bring pleasure to others. And I feel honored that my work will be part of the 2014 Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival.

2014 HONORABLE MENTION

Susan D. Gutting, Coeur d’Alene ID
Clare Margaret Itzhaki, Harrisburg, PA
Melinda Byrd, Woodbine, MD
Susan D. Gutting, Coeur d’Alene ID
Clare Margaret Itzhaki, Harrisburg, PA
Melinda Byrd, Woodbine, MD

40th Anniversary Cover Artist

Meg Page

Native Marylander Meg Page’s paintings redefine the passion and detail of classical botanicals and animal portraits for 21st-century collectors. A nationally acclaimed naturalist painter, Meg is a fine arts graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art and worked as a illustrator and fine art painter with works featured in Town and Country, Southern Living, Southern Accents andStyle magazines.

Meg’s latest inspiration has been site specific — Gentle Farm, Ladew Topiary Gardens, Evergreen House, Maryland Hunt Country, Coastal Carolinas, and the Florida Keys — giving her access not only to current surroundings, but also to historic prints, paintings and collections; affording perspectives of flora and fauna for her to capture their intrinsic beauty and vivid colors. Whether an iris from a garden, a horse in a pasture, a bird in the wild, or your very own creatures… they are all attributed to a specific time and place. With a provenance all its own, each becomes a personal heirloom with a timeless story.

2012 Catalog Cover Art Competition Winner

Deanna Williford

Deanna Williford has been attending the Sheep and Wool Festival since 1976 when she moved to Howard County to begin her career of teaching deaf children. First, she came as a lover of the fine crafts offered there, later as a Welsh Corgi breeder, and more recently as a knitter, felter, and maker of traditional hooked wool rugs. You may find her demonstrating at the Mason-Dixon Rug Hooking Guild’s booth during the festival.

Her artwork chosen for the 2012 poster contest combines an Asian style of art called Notan with the detailed pen and ink work done in Zentangle patterns. Zentangle is a relatively new art style involving elaborate designs drawn slowly and in a relaxing manner. Deanna was one of the first Certified Zentangle Teachers in Maryland and teaches classes at the Columbia Art Center and for Howard County Rec and Parks. While she loves creating art with watercolor and pastels, she enjoys sharing the fun of Zentangle with others.

Like many retired people, Deanna says, “I don’t know how I ever found time to work!!” She rides her two Thoroughbred horses everyday (one is the grandson of the Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew!), volunteers at the National Aquarium and Animal Welfare Society, and creates jewelry and art. Feeling very honored to have her work chosen this year, she wishes a wonderful experience to everyone involved in, or attending, the “bestest” Sheep and Wool Festival!

2012 HONORABLE MENTION

Katie Eberts, Cedarville MI
Susan Gutting, Coeur d’Alene ID
Susan Chong Powell, Silver Spring MD
Katie Eberts, Cedarville MI
Susan Gutting, Coeur d’Alene ID
Susan Chong Powell, Silver Spring MD

2011 Catalog Cover Art Competition Winner

Charity Goodwin, Stanberry MO

2011 HONORABLE MENTION

Leanne Coppola, Wall NJ
Bari Padgett, Dickerson MD
Amber Harte Maurer, Westminster MD
Leanne Coppola, Wall NJ
Bari Padgett, Dickerson MD
Amber Harte Maurer, Westminster MD

2010 Catalog Cover Art Competition Winner

A LETTER FROM THE ARTIST, MARY THUMANN

The possibilities of raw materials have always excited me. Every trip to the library in grade school resulted in my borrowing a book on how to manufacture such exotica as soda bottle cap door mats or mohair coiffed bed dolls dressed in coffee filters. It was no wonder than when I became a newlywed in 1976 that I channeled my creative juices into the bicentennial frenzy and all crafts that went along with it. Stenciling, pierced lampshades, candlewicking, basketweaving, quilting and more, I tried my hand at it all going as far as making the cradle I rocked my two babies in. Too many ideas, too many supplies, not enough time to try it all.

Life has a way of winnowing out the chaff and keeping the seeds of what is important. So I narrowed my focus to what I love most… textiles and fibers. First, traditional hand-pieced quilts slowly evolved to smaller art pieces, then learning how to spin and knit has keep me artistically challenged for the last thirty years.

Currently, some of my work is being displayed in an international exhibit. Also I have started to enter contests….which brings us to my piece “The Sheep”. Inspired by my own wooly flock, I endeavored to represent them in my other favorite fiber…cotton. I am honored to be given the opportunity to share the results with you.