Albany artist Botini’s painting wins Best in Show at Arts Council Exhibit/Sale

ALBANY — Jabriel Davis — those in the art world know her as Botini, her “spirit name” — had, with the requirements of raising a family, gotten away from the art that grabbed her as a young girl and held her until “I walked away completely about a decade and a half ago.”

When the desire to create came calling a little less than a year ago, Davis answered.

Davis — Botini — knew she’d made the right choice when her work “Reborn” was named Best in Show in the Albany Area Arts Council’s 25th annual Southwest Georgia Regional Fine Art Exhibit and Sale. The painting, done in acrylic, is of her son Nehisi, now 7, when he was around 4 or 5.

“Botini holds the master key to all of her life,” Davis said of her artistic alter-ego. “This work and others I’ve created since I’ve started back painting are very ancestral, a reclamation of my freedom as an artist. I’m proud of this work; it delivers the message I wanted to give.”

Davis was among a number of local and area artists recognized at the 25th edition of the juried art show, 11 of which have been overseen by Arts Council Executive Director Nicole Willis.

“This show, I think, shows the potential of the art scene in our region,” Willis said. “I see the scene here grow and then recede, and I so much want to see it just take off. The best thing about this show each year, though, is seeing the seeds that we planted years ago starting to grow.

“It’s exciting to see some of these artists and the new energy they bring to arts in the region.”

The top three finishers and an honorable mention in three categories were recognized during an awards ceremony held during a reception at the Arts Council Gallery. Taking top honors in the three categories were Patrick Foster’s “Melpomene as Muse” in the Painting & Mixed Media category; Gary Dyes’ “Solitary Pause” in the Photography & Digital Art Division; and Trenton Tye’s “Vestiges of the Marsh King, Throne” in the Sculpture & Ceramics category.

Tye won Best in Show at last year’s exhibit.

Other top finishers in Painting & Mixed Media included:

2nd place — Karla Noble Lewis, “Gigi’s Boys”

3rd place — Miriam Howard, “His Eye Is on the Sparrow”

Honorable mention — Jean Eaton Gay, “Rosa’s Delight!”

Other top finishers in Photography & Digital Art included:

2nd place — Lisa Lofton, “Afterlife Wisdom”

3rd place — Steve Arnold, “Winter’s Lodge”

Honorable mention — James Malphrus, “Swamp Sandhill”

Other top finishers in Sculpture & Ceramics included:

2nd place — Yahriel Yahu, “See Me As I Am,” (stackable vessels)

3rd place — Marie Salter, “Dress in Layers”

Honorable mention — Karla Noble Lewis, “What Came First?”

Andrew Wulf, the executive director of the Albany Museum of Art, served as the judge for the Regional Fine Art Exhibit/Sale.

“This exhibit revealed to me our community’s extraordinary range of vision and voice,” Wulf said in a letter to the 50 artists who took part in the juried show. “The quality of artistic input from local and regional creators leaves me with a profound sense of admiration.”