The 2025 Westport Fine Arts Festival jury panel consists of:

• Sue Brown Gordon, Westport Fine Arts Festival Director and Gallery Director, Gordon Fine Arts

• James Brunelle, Instructor Director of Southington Community Cultural Arts

• Eric Heitmann, Painter of Contemporary Art inspired by nature from the Hudson Valley

• Kiersten Heitmann, Mixed media artist of Contemporary Art specializing in fabrics from Florida

JURY PROCESS

The Westport Fine Arts Festival used the Zapplication platform to jury the annual event. In 2024, 258 artists competed for 142 coveted spaces. Artists submitted images of their work, which were scored on a scale of 1 to 5. Scores were then tabulated for each artist. The highest scores in each media category were invited to participate in this prestigious show. Congratulations to the 2024 artists who made the show!

The 2025 Westport Fine Arts Festival judges panel consists of:

Kathleen (Kathie) Bennewitz, Executive Director of Edward Hopper House Museum and Study Center, Nyack, NY

• Kathie has extensive experience with Connecticut museums and nonprofits.

• Over her career, she has curated exhibits on American art and artists in Connecticut at the Lockwood-Matthews Mansion Museum, Norwalk Historical Society, Westport Historical Society, Westport Library, and as Town of Westport Curator with the Westport Public Art Collections.

• Kathie earned art history degrees from Princeton University and the University of Delaware.

Miggs Burroughs, Co-Founder of the Artists Collective of Westport

• Miggs is a graphic artist and lifelong Westport resident whose award-winning graphic artwork can be seen all over Westport and beyond.

• Miggs has designed the town flag, public schools’ logo, Levitt Pavilion logo, and Tunnel Vision, among other projects, in Westport. The local works are among a wide range of other creations, including a U.S. postage stamp, TIME Magazine covers, the public access TV show “Miggs B on TV,” and a book of questions titled “What If?”

• Burroughs is a member of the Westport Arts Advisory, Levitt Pavilion for the Performing Arts Committees, and Artist in Residence at the Westport Library. He graduated from Carnegie Mellon University.

Eve Gianni, Fine Art Dealer and Gallery Manager of Clarendon Fine Art USA, Westport, CT

• Eve has over 20 years of experience in the visual arts, with a strong background in creating art-forward interiors and curating art exhibitions.

• Before joining Clarendon in November 2022, she had her own art and design company, Eve Gianni Art + Design, for nearly two decades. She was also Gallery Director at RJD Gallery in Bridgehampton, NY.

• Eve holds a BS in Design and Merchandising from the University of Vermont.