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ArtPop 2019 Billboard Competition Winners Announced

high school winner hannah hess

12 area artists, including one high school winner, to have their work featured on Adams Outdoor Advertising billboards in 2019

Exciting mediums like hand-cut stained glass, fiber art and botanical pressed flowers highlight the 12 winning works in the 5th annual ArtPop Billboard Competition presented by ArtPop Street Gallery, Adams Outdoor Advertising, Pocono Arts Council, ArtsQuest and Kutztown University. The winning artists, selected via a juried competition, will have their work displayed on Adams Outdoor Advertising billboards on major thoroughfares in the region from the week of Jan. 7 through the end of December 2019.

This year’s ArtPop competition expanded to an 11-county region, open to artists residing in Berks, Bucks, Lackawanna, Lehigh, Luzerne, Monroe, Montgomery, Northampton, Pike and Wayne counties in Pennsylvania, as well as Warren County in New Jersey. More than 170 entries were received for the competition.

Among the 12 winners is Hannah Hess of Nazareth Area High School who impressed the judges with her dynamic acrylic work on Masonite depicting a girl “Submerged” in water. Hess will not only have her work on a billboard for all of 2019, she will also be awarded a cash prize of $500 and a $2,500 scholarship to a Kutztown University art program by the Kutztown University Foundation.

“Billboards are a great way to be seen and heard, so Adams is proud to use that visibility to bring attention to the talented artists across the Eastern Pennsylvania region,” says Adams Outdoor Advertising General Sales Manager Jeffrey Chandler. We owe so much to the local art community for providing us with inspiration, culture, and for producing the skilled designers and illustrators that make up our creative teams in all of our markets across the nation.”

In addition to the scholastic winner, the official jurying panel selected 10 artists ages 18 or older to be featured on area billboards next year. The twelfth winner, Joe Edelman of Allentown, was chosen as the “People’s Choice Winner” through a public vote that ended Nov. 17. More than 4,600 people voted in the competition this year.

“The original idea for an artist billboard competition came to me when I was working in the Poconos in the early 2000s,” says ArtPop Street Gallery Founder and Executive Director Wendy Hickey. “We returned officially as ArtPop in 2015 to the Lehigh Valley and in 2016 in the Poconos, so the merging of these two markets in 2019 provides an incredible opportunity for the region’s artists to have a voice in a much larger, 11-county area.

“I’m also proud to note that we now have husband-and-wife ArtPop Street Gallery artists from #ArtPopEasternPA. We’ve had more than 290 artists featured on billboards from North Carolina to Las Vegas and this is a first. Our 2015 ArtPop Street Gallery artist Michael Hess is married to 2019 ArtPop Street Gallery artist Dana Hess.  Congratulations to them and to all of the 2019 ArtPop Eastern Pennsylvania winners.”

The complete list of ArtPop 2019 winners is:

Amy Alessi, Mount Bethel

Colours of the Highlands – Watercolor, pen and ink

John Cheer, Allentown

Beauty and Wonder – Stoneware clay, porcelain clay and glass

James Chesnick, Stroudsburg

Pulse Reaction – Acrylic

Dana Hess, Allentown

Blessed – Hand-cut stained glass, art glass and mosaic tile

Marlana Holsten, Shawnee on Delaware

Poetry in Motion – Photography

Jon Montenegro, Allentown

Sleeping Misty – Digital art

Lucille Norella, Waymart

Flower Garden – Botanical pressed flower art

Lee Riley, Bethlehem

Wandering – Glass and oil on wood

Craig Werkheiser, Bethlehem

The Snow Leopard Trio – Pastels

Mallory Zondag, Bethlehem

Growth No. 4 – Wool, silk and cotton

High School Competition:
Hannah Hess, Nazareth Area High School

Submerged – Acrylic on Masonite

People’s Choice Winner:
Joe Edelman, Allentown

Blue – Digital photography


Started by Hickey in Charlotte, N.C., ArtPop Street Gallery is a national arts initiative designed to highlight local artists and the important roles they play in the community by showcasing their work on outdoor advertising space. ArtPop Eastern Pennsylvania, now in its fifth year, is a partnership between Adams Outdoor Advertising of the Lehigh Valley, the national ArtPop Street Gallery, Pocono Arts Council, ArtsQuest and Kutztown University.

For more information on the local ArtPop program, please visit www.bananafactory.org/artpop/. For details on the national ArtPop program, check out ArtPopStreetGallery.com.