Flagler College art professor wins Best in Show

Flagler College reported to Historic City News that assistant professor of art, Sara Pedigo, recently won “Best in Show” for her paintings at the Fifth Annual 100 Percent Pure Florida group show.

The show was held at the Fifth Avenue Gallery in Melbourne, Fla.

Artwork in the show consisted of varied subject matter and mediums, and it showcased some of the state’s top artistic talents. Pedigo’s works, “At the Lake” and “Late Summer,” were oil on panel.

The award means she will have a solo showing at the Fifth Avenue Gallery in June 2011.

Pedigo’s paintings and drawings are most associated with figurative realism that captures moments of her family and the southern environment. She notes that her work explores the notion that the very nature of painting is based, to some extent, in the creation of fictional realities.

“I use photographic references to create representational paintings that edit, embellish and alter existing information to create new images,” she said. “My paintings use coloration, mark and texture to create worlds that are both out of the ordinary and based in the familiar.”

Pedigo is a recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA Grant, and she has exhibited throughout the United States. Most notably, she was included in the 2006 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery and in exhibitions at the Cue Foundation. She has been invited to participate in the Affordable Art Fair being held in New York City this fall.

Pedigo received her master of fine arts from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, and her undergraduate degree from Flagler.