The work in this year’s Suffolk Art League Juried Exhibition runs the gamut from traditional landscape paintings and photographs to cicada husks made of plastic bags stretched over wire.

Just to get in the show was a challenge this year, said art league executive director Linda Bunch.

About 98 artists submitted 269 artworks. Of those, juror Michael Pierce selected 92 works by 57 artists.

Pierce is an artist, educator and arts advocate from Richmond.

“It seems that now, more than ever, I find myself turning to art that explores the beauty in our world, that expresses joy in the act of creation, and that challenges me to consider new images and ideas,” Pierce wrote in his juror’s statement. “It was refreshing to see such a diverse array of mostly handmade artworks, with such a wide range of media and styles, and of such high quality and skillfully made. Based on the work submitted for this exhibition, art-making in this region is alive with the handmade marks of painting and drawing, photographic and digital images and 3D objects.”

Watercolor painter Hank Pugh won first place in the exhibit, an award that includes the opportunity to do a one-person show in 2017. Pugh’s work included a watercolor titled
City Tree” featuring a tree in a water feature contrasting with a contemporary building and attached parking garage in the background.

“I’m always in awe of artists who just paint what’s right in front of them,” Pierce wrote in his juror’s statement.

T.S. Abbott’s photograph “Spring Storm” captured second place. “Its large scale and imposing subject matter stood out from the rest of the work in the show,” Pierce wrote. “The image can also almost read as abstraction. I couldn’t stop looking at it.”

John Alan Stock won third place with his collages, which Pierce said “made me stop and linger. The work is composed of confounding groupings of images, with attention to tonality and balance (or lack thereof).”

“Our juror was very thoughtful and thorough in his process,” Bunch said. She added that this year’s show seemed to be very representative, focusing on depictions of actual people, places and objects more than abstract work.

By far the largest works in the show were the cicada husks by Ryan Lytle, which are so large they have to be displayed on the floor.

The Suffolk Art League Board of Directors presented an award in memory of Frances Shotton. Frances was a founding member and one of the early presidents of the league. She had remained active, recently serving as co-chair of the annual antiques show and sale. This award was presented to Bob Springfield for his acrylic painting “Wild and Free.”

Other award winners are:

• Jane Butler Memorial Award: Ann Ruel for her series “Nature and Function Teapot-Motherbird,” pottery.
• Melissa Darden Odom Memorial Award: Jenny Windsor for “Bretagne, May Field,” oil
• Award in honor of Dana Adams: Russell Schools Jr. “Kiva-New Mexico”
• Judy Oswald Memorial Award: Rosemary Hill for her three mixed media works “Cairo, Then & Now,” “London Fog, Clearing” nd “Many Moons Rising.”
• Wright/Kinzinger Award: Carl Hawks, “Family,” acrylic
• Betty Glasscock Memorial Award: Mike Brewer, “Venus Visits the Homestead Resort,” oil
• Momma Jo & Poppa Jo Memorial Award: Brenda Taylor, “Out of Necessity,” pastel
• Sharon and Chip Picot Memorial Award: Mina Duffie, “Old Couple,” Hanji (traditional Korean paper)
• Richardson Award (work that included words): Mark Miltz, “Kerris at Algate Station,” oil
• Suffolk News-Herald Award: John Tobin, “Cornelius and the Purple Cow,” clay
• Embroidery Etc. Award: Pat Eelman, “The End of the Road,” photography
• The Second Floor Award: Dale Roberts, “Harvest Moon-Looking Over Trees Near Home This September,” oil
• The juried exhibition is on display through Dec. 11. Suffolk Art Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m. For more information, call the art league office at 925-0448 or the Suffolk Art Gallery at 514-7284.