Navjot Singh’s oil-and-acrylic painting “Krishna: Singularity Over Duality” won the People’s Choice Award at Canton Township’s 32nd Annual Fine Arts Exhibition, Canton Township announced Nov. 4.
Singh also earned a Merit Award from the exhibition’s juror earlier in the show’s run. Visitors cast ballots to decide the People’s Choice winner.
Singh describes his artistic practice as drawing “careful attention to luminous light, rich color harmony, expressive brushwork, and narrative depth.” He handcrafts a custom frame for every original painting he creates, calling the frames “integral extensions of the artwork” that help viewers engage with the painting’s narrative, according to the township’s announcement.
The exhibition ran at the Village Theater at Cherry Hill on Cherry Hill Road in Canton and closed Oct. 30. The juror reviewed 125 submitted pieces for the show.
Jennifer Collins, Canton’s fine arts coordinator, said in a township news release before the exhibition closed that she hoped visitors would stop in to “select their favorite and vote for the People’s Choice Award.” Collins called the show a showcase for some of Michigan’s best emerging artists.
Sam Knecht, an emeritus professor of art at Hillsdale College, served as this year’s juror. Knecht taught at Hillsdale for more than four decades and is a signature member of both the Portrait Society of America and the Michigan Water Color Society.
Knecht selected Richard Floyd’s “Cuban Plantation Worker” for Best of Show. J. Susan Aitken took second place for “Haven,” and Cheryl Ann Boc-Chidester earned third for “A Window into the Past.”
The Canton Fine Arts Exhibition began in 1993 as part of Canton Project ARTS. The program is now guided by the Canton Commission for Culture, Arts, and Heritage.
Information on upcoming exhibitions is available at cantonvillagetheater.org or 734-394-5300.
