SIGNATURE STATUS

Congratulations to the 2025 Signature Status recipients!
John Borowicz, Ali Cavanaugh, John Darley and Louise Weir

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Signature Status recognizes those practicing and accomplished artists who are dedicated to the educational mission and high aesthetic standards of the Portrait Society of America. The artist's work must consistently demonstrate a high level of skill.

This honorary status grants the right to use the initials of the organization (PSS-Portrait Society Signature) on all personally created works as an indication of our harmonious high standards and goals, to create, to advance and to share.

"One of the major realizations I had after my mentor died, is to understand the most powerful gift one artist can give another. Essentially, to be truly seen and appreciated by someone you’ve admired, changes how you see yourself. Similarly, to be seen and honored by the Portrait Society, reminded me how this transmission continues via our peers. It’s being told; 'I believe in you, and await what you’ll be doing next…' reminding us to be more faithful to who we are." ~ Michael Bergt, 2022 Signature Status recipient

Qualifications

To qualify for Signature Status the applying artist must hold current membership with the Portrait Society, must have received an award in a national or international competition, have made educational contributions in the field of art, and submit a body of work for consideration.

Placement in a National Exhibition
Applicants must have had work accepted and received a placement in a national or international exhibition.

For example:

Selected as a Finalist or received a Certificate of Excellence in the Portrait Society THE INTERNATIONAL Competition, held annually
Awarded a 1st through 5th place in the Portrait Society Members Only Competition, in the categories of Commissioned, Non-Commissioned or Outside the Box, held annually; or
Any other national exhibition of equivalent level (Equivalent level refers to national organizations such as Oil Painters of America, American Impressionist Society Show, Art Renewal Center, etc. not regional or local events)

Personal Educational Contributions
Applicants will need to provide a list of educational activities that are designed to cultivate a further understanding and practice of representational fine art.

This would include:

Mentoring, teaching in established art institutions
Private studio instruction or workshops
Demonstrations and or lectures
Production of any and all fine art instructional media

Quality of body of works

Fundamental consideration will be based upon the caliber of the artist’s portfolio of work. Decisions will be based upon the consistently high exhibition of skill and vision embodied throughout those works.

Signature Status members are recognized in the first quarter The Art of the Portrait journal each year.

Application Process

Submissions should consist of:

Application is made online and all materials should be submitted on or before September 3, 2024.
Ten (10) examples, digitally represented, of the artist’s own, solely created works offering the best examples of their professional work
A two-page Biography summary including qualifying exhibits or competitions and educational activities
Applicants must be an active dues paying member
Accepted Signature Members will be honored at the annual conference following the year of the designation.
There is a non-refundable $75 submission fee

2024 Signature Status recipients: Kevin Chambers, Ruth Fitton, Tina Garrett, Caleb Thomas, Seth Haverkamp, and Alexandrea Nicholas-Jennings

Judging

The process of reviewing the applications shall be conducted as follows:

A committee of three (3) members appointed by the Chairman of the Board and made up of Signature Status or Board Members
The committee will meet annually
A specific scoring rubric will be used by the committee members

Signature Status Recipients

2014-2025

Leslie Adams, Harry Ahn, Daud Akhriev, Jing An, Anna Rose Bain, Robert Barrett, Gwenneth Barth-White, Margaret Baumgaertner, Michael Bergt, Suchitra Bhosle, Ned Bittinger, John Borowicz, Mary Buckman, Elena Burykina, Judith Carducci, Louis Carr, Ali Cavanaugh, Kevin Chambers, Chung-Wei Chien, Casey Childs, Robin Cole, Ellen Cooper, Joseph Daily, Robin Damore, John Darley, Gabriela Dellosso, Stephanie Deshpande, Grace Devito, Kexin Di, Qiyu Dong, Kerry Dunn, Ruth Fitton, Katherine Galbraith, Romulo Galicano, Tina Garrett, David Goatley, Thomas Caleb Goggans, Kristy Gordon, Barbara Hack, Ben Hammond, Johanna Harmon, Liz Harris, Seth Haverkamp, Dana Hawk, Lihuai He, Jeff Hein, Garth Herrick, David Hettinger, Primary Hughes, Natalie Italiano, Jacqueline Jasper, Fengshi Jin, Vasudeo Kamath, Sam Knecht, Linda Kollacks, Lisa Kovvuri, Olga Krimon, Pramod Kurlekar, Shana Levenson, Chin-Hsien Lin, Jie Liu, Jun Liu, Shuang Liu, Ying-He Liu, Yu Liu, Howard Lyon, Kevin Macpherson, Iliya Mirochnik, Kathy Morris, Gregory Mortenson, Ricky Mujica, Mary Muller, Annie Murphy-Robinson, Richard C. Nelson, Paul Newton, Alexandrea Nicholas-Jennings, Olga Nielsen, Ted Nuttall, Carol Peebles, Evert Ploeg, Alicia Ponzio, Aapo Pukk, Kishor Purekar, Ted Reed, Mardie Rees, Tim Rees, Sally Ryan, Patrick Saunders, Oliver Sin, Nathaniel Skousen, Peter Smeeth, Sharon Sprung, Ardith Starostka, William Suys, Judy Takacs, Jianwu Tan, James Tennison, Hsin-Yao Tseng, Susan Wakeen, John Seibels Walker, Patricia Watwood, Louise Weir, Jennifer Welty, Amy Werntz, Thomas Wharton, Ernest Wood, Wesley Wofford, Ming Yu, Elizabeth Zanzinger, Stephen Zhang and Vladimir Zlotskiy