Picotte wins ‘Best in Show’ in art contest

By Ken Luchterhand



Renita Picotte, West St. Paul, was chosen as the winner of the 2015-2016 Best in Show in the 6th Annual Exhibit and Awards of the National Arts Program.
The contest was open to all employees of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
Picotte, who lives in West St. Paul, MN, is a member of the Ho-Chunk and Yankton Dakota Sioux communities.
At an awards ceremony held Friday, Dec. 4, the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport ARTS@MSP Program Steering Committee and the National Arts Program organization recognized 126 artists who are taking part in the 6th Annual Exhibit and Awards of the National Arts Program for MSP employees, volunteers and their families.
Jeff Hamiel, executive director for the Metropolitan Airports Commission, and Robyne Robinson Arts & Culture Director for Airport Foundation MSP and chair of the ARTS@MSP Steering Committee, presented awards to the winning artists, as well as recognized all participants.
“What makes our news more exciting is Renita’s brother Sam works as a TSA Agent at MSP Airport, and enters the contest every year as a professional artist,” Robinson said. “He entered a work-on-paper, “Beauty, Grace and Speed.”
The sixth annual MSP Airport Employee Art Exhibit, located on the Thomson Reuters Concourse C Art Gallery at Terminal 1-Lindbergh, includes artworks created by 126 artists from 13 companies operating at MSP Airport. Artworks include mixed media, sculpture, painting, photography, craft, and works on paper.
The exhibit was curated by and Robyne Robinson, ARTS@MSP Director at Airport Foundation MSP, and juried by two independent judges from the creative arts and media community: Carolyn Payne executive director at SOO Visual Arts Center in Minneapolis, and Joan Vorderbruggen, Cultural District Arts Coordinator for Hennepin Theater Trust in Minneapolis. Sixteen winners were chosen from 126 entrants and awarded cash prizes.
This exhibit gives employees, volunteers and their family members an opportunity to display their artwork to an international audience of thousands. The exhibit opened November 23 and will continue to be on display through April 15, 2016.


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