Mr. Adam Pitt, First Prize Winner

I spent most of my adult life working in corporations and hiding my identity as an Artist. I always felt out of place, but I got to observe the corporate world and the human dynamics first hand. I spent my free time creating drawings, paintings and woodcuts about my experience as a manager and a worker in a corporation. I often draw in museums. I use the art I see as a departure point for my own work. Much of the viewing and drawing is of non-western art; sculptures and objects from Oceania, Asia, Africa, South America and indigenous cultures. Many of the works I see deal with power, religious practices and human dynamics, all familiar to my experiences in the corporate work world. I fill many books with my drawn observations and then bring the work home to review. The final products from my studies are woodcut prints. I have been creating woodcut prints for over 20 years and continue to experiment with the medium using different techniques, papers and processes.