Villas resident to receive prestigious global awards in Italy
NORTH CAPE MAY — A fundraiser Jan. 30 at Nauti Spirits benefited artist Sydnei SmithJordan, who is set to receive two prestigious awards from ArtTour International Magazine.
The Villas resident hopes to travel in July to Ferrera, Italy to receive her third Top 60 Masters Award and first Art Titan Award. SmithJordan has now won three Masters Awards in a row, putting her in elite company.
“I am always honored because when you see the caliber of the art there, it is mind-blowing to think that I deserve to be there,” she told the Star and Wave.
SmithJordan said she was “pleasantly surprised” about winning for a third year in a row, but noted that it’s expensive to travel to Italy and that she was hoping to raise about $5,000 during the event. The awards were presented in New York the past two years.
At the fundraiser, Smith Jordan was selling her art amid live music and food from Matt’s Family Taste the Love Food Truck.
Known as “The Oscars of the Visual Arts,” the Top 60 Masters Awards are intended to honor the world’s most talented visual artists.
The event has recognized and promoted artists for the past 12 years, making it a significant night in the art industry.
Each year, only 60 artists receive awards, which according to ATIM celebrate exceptional talent and dedication to the arts.
SmithJordan said the Top 60 Masters Awards are presented based on merit and talent as exhibited in the artist’s portfolio for the year. The Art Titan Award, however, is based on an artist’s overall body of work as well as how it is perceived by the public.
“They watch what you do in the studio but also monitor what people say about you,” she said.
Recipients of the Titan Award also get a documentary shot about them. SmithJordan said a crew is set to arrive at her home in February to shoot it.
“I don’t know which is more exciting, it all just gives me butterflies actually,” she said.
SmithJordan, who owns SmithJordan Arts and Mad Munkei Ink, is a freelance artist/illustrator with more than 25 years in various fields.
According to her website, she began her career as a desktop publisher, then moved on to gain attention in the art market as a medical illustrator. Since 1995, she has chosen to assert the majority of her attention to fine art and illustration.
SmithJordan has worked for both commercial and private venues nationally and internationally. Educated in fine art at College of Design, Art, and Architecture at Santa Monica College, she also studied illustration at Rhode Island School of Design.
Her works have been collected by such celebrities as Park Overall, Whoopi Goldberg, Patti La Belle, Forest Whitaker, Denzel Washington, Damien Escobar and Sylvester Stallone.
SmithJordan first learned from watching her mother draw.
“She could meet a person once, leave and then draw them with such accuracy. I envied her talent,” she said. “Little did I know that the pain of my tumultuous environment would lead me to escape through art. I would doodle for hours, losing track of time.”
As she developed her skills, she turned doodles into designs with meaning, evolving them into pen and pencil drawings. In high school, she mastered markers with “an impeccable blending technique.”
In college, she fell in love with oil painting.
“When I am painting, I imagine beginning with a simple line drawing and allowing the oil to breathe life into it. When I am creating, I am tranquil, losing track of time,” she said. “My paintings take me to a place of hope, forgiveness, joy and serenity.”
Since her love affair with oil began, SmithJordan has raised the bar by adding collage, metal and fabric to her work, which is characterized as “Pop Fusion.”
“This style is a dance of graphics, abstraction and collage meshed with traditional mediums. It integrates reality and fantasy. My paintings are autobiographical dialogues that capture both dreamscapes and reality,” she said. “I take what is ugly or horrible and make it beautiful. I take that which is beautiful and magnify it.”
SmithJordan said she has never been to Europe.
“This will be my first stamp on my passport,” she said.
When she returns, she will be bringing an award presented posthumously to friend Jan Bendyna, another Villas artist who passed away a couple of months ago.
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Cape May Star and Wave
