2009 Jurors

Marita Dingus

Marita Dingus was born in Seattle in 1956. She attended Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia (BFA, 1980) and San Jose State University (MFA, 1985). Dingus currently lives and works in the state of Washington. She received a Visual Art Fellowship from Artist Trust (1994), a John S. Guggenheim Fellowship (1999), and the Morrie and Joan Alhadeff  PONCHO Artist of the Year Award (2005).

Dingus has had solo shows at Henie Onstad Kunstsenter and The Stenersen Museum both in Norway (2002, 2006) and the Museum of Glass in Tacoma WA (2005/6). Her work has been included in Nature/Culture organized by The Society for Contemporary Craft in Pittsburgh (2006-8), Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC (2006/7) and 21st Century American Women Artists at the Residence of the United States Ambassador to NATO in Brussels, Belgium (2006-10). Her work is in many regional museums and corporate collections. Dingus has been represented by Francine Seders Gallery since 1991.

For more information, visit Marita's website at maritadingus.com.

Roy Mullis

Following military service, Roy Mullis pursued a joint BA/BS degree (oceanography major) at Humboldt State University in California. He studied photography under Tom Knight and was exposed to the critiques and discussions with Ansel Adams and Imogen Cunningham. He opened an art gallery, Redwood Recovery, in Seattle's Pioneer Square in 1975, followed by The Paper Cat in 1980, and later Paper Cat Rubber Stamps.

Roy retired from business in 2006, and is currently active with the Bainbridge Island Figure Drawing Association and continues to pursue photographic interests.

Juan Rodriguez

Juan Rodriguez has been involved in art since his early childhood. He holds a BFA from the University of Washington and has shown his work in countless art exhibits, performance pieces and installations, here in the Northwest and nationally.

Juan's work is diverse, including many forms of drawing, painting, and sculpture. His "Recurring Dream" exhibit included over 25 pieces of his original paper people sculpture technique. He also sculpts with clay, wire, metal, wood and wax. Many of Juan's works portray his real life experiences such as the "Desperation of Solitude" wire pieces, a powerful reflections of Juan's work with the severely disabled. He has earned several awards and scholarships over the years, including the Artist Trust Fellowship Award funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Washington State Arts Commission.

Juan currently resides in Bremerton with his wife and the youngest of his four daughters. He is employed by Central Kitsap School District working with the autistic kindergarten program and teaching art classes. He also maintains a small gallery of pieces available for purchase. He is available for commissioned pieces and offers drawing groups and small classes.