Sizzling sauté pans, Southern California sunsets, mesmerizing kaleidoscopes, hot air balloons, cartoonish garlic bulbs in cowboy hats and gregarious chefs in striped pants: The six judges sifting through approximately 24 entries in the Gilroy Garlic Festival annual Art Poster Contest had their work cut out for them.
The top three submissions for 2012 boiled down to bright watercolors on wood, acrylic on canvas and an eye-popping Photoshop collage – but it was Gilroyan Whitney Pintello’s “shapely garlic set against a purple jewel-tone background” that snagged first place and a $750 cash prize.
“I like a lot of high contrast. Garlic is such a beautiful, muted tone,” noted Pintello, 43, of her acrylic, moon-hued garlic bulb that cuts a stark silhouette amid swirling strokes of fuchsia and royal purple.
After keeping an observant eye on the competition for the past several years, Pintello said she noted a scarcity in red hues. A light bulb went off.
“I feel like it’s something we haven’t seen in many of the posters for awhile,” she said, when queried as to the origins of her color choice inspirations.
The vibrant tones of Pintello’s painting certainly caught hold of the judge’s admiration, according to Festival Retail Chair Janet Krulee.
“From the other people I talked to, I think it was hands-down,” she said. “That was the one.”
As a seasoned artist who took 2nd place and the People’s Choice Award the very first time she entered the poster contest in 2007, this isn’t Pintello’s first rodeo.
She has submitted her artwork for the past five consecutive years; a substantial testimony to the “try, try again” axiom that eventually saw her artwork to the top dog seat.
“That’s the reason I kept trying,” said Pintello, referring to the confidence that came with earning 2nd place the first time she entered the contest. “It was exciting for me. I felt like anybody – everybody should try.”
Pintello is a full-time artist who specializes in painting the glass panes of old, antique windows.
She submitted a glass painting last year, “and it broke” Pintello chuckled.
Rather than trash her masterpiece, however, Pintello doctored it back together with Scotch tape. It won the People’s Choice Award.
When she isn’t tinkering away with paintbrush and palette in hand, Pintello stays busy selling her creations at various regional festivals, channeling her inner diva onstage at the Pintello Comedy Theater on Swanston Lane (which her parents own) or uniting happy couples as a professional wedding officiate.
Speaking of weddings, Pintello – who has lived in Gilroy for 23 years and will be getting married in June – said she and her fiancé joke about the hullaballoo of her win overshadowing the excitement of their upcoming nuptials.
“People are going to ask where we’re honeymooning, and I’m just going to say, ‘the Garlic Festival,’” she joked. “Even before I had a booth here, we would always volunteer. It’s just a great community. I love it.”
Prints of the winning poster will be on sale for $10 each during the festival, where Pintello will be on hand to sign copies.
The 2012 Gilroy Garlic Festival will run from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. July 27-29 at Christmas Hill Park in Gilroy. Admission costs $17 for adults, $8 for seniors ages 60 and older and $8 for children ages 6-12. Children younger than 6 will be admitted for free. Parking is also free.
2nd place: Izumi Kurokawa of Sherman Oaks, Photoshop collage. Wins $400.
3rd place: Tamara Piper of Ventura, watercolor on wood. Wins $200.
Festival goers will have the opportunity to vote in the “People’s Choice” contest from a pool of up 10 non-winning entries, excluding the first place winner. The entry with the most votes in this category wins $200.
