Daniel M. Rodgers, assistant professor of art and design at Campbell University, was a finalist in the Tri-State Portrait Competition held in conjunction with the Portrait Society of America’s fall Portrait Academy. The competition was open to all artists residing in North and South Carolina and Virginia.Rodgers’ portrait, “Benjamin Sleeping,” is a water color of his son who was three at the time it was painted.”It’s a very personal, sentimental representation of my son.” Rodgers said smiling. “Children look most angelic when they’re sleeping.”The works were juried in an exhibition at the gallery Artspace in Raleigh. Rodgers’ painting will be featured in the upcoming edition of “The Art of the Portrait,” a publication of the Portrait Society of America.Rodgers, who designed the brochure for the competition, said he was honored to be included among the finalists.”There were 80 participants and only 17 selected to exhibit at Artspace,” he said. “Some of the artists involved in that show were very reputable internationally.”Judges for the Tri-State Competition are instructors for the Portrait Academy which was held over a two-day period and featured a weekend workshop plus a Friday evening demonstration. The judges/instructors were award winning artist and instructor Dawn Whitelaw and Edward Jonas, scultptor, painter and vice chairman of the American Portrait Society.A graduate of Bridgewater College in Bridgewater, Va., Rodgers received a Master of Fine Arts in illustration from Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Ga. Prior to coming to Campbell in 2002, he was president of BackCreek Productions in Virginia. He has also served as art director for The Inspirational Networks in Charlotte and for the former Virginia Beach advertising agency Victor King Advertising. Rodgers also served as a visiting professor of graphic design and visual communications at Illinois Wesleyan University and Ames School of Art in Bloomington, Ill.His work has been exhibited through the Southeast and in Illinois and is in private collections throughout the United States.Founded in 1887, Campbell University is a private, coeducational institution of liberal arts, sciences and professions offering undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees. The university is comprised of the College of Arts and Sciences, the Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law, the Lundy-Fetterman School of Business, the School of Education, the School of Pharmacy and the Divinity School.More information about Campbell University is available on the Web site, https://www.campbell.edu.Photo Copy: Campbell art professor Daniel Rodger’s portrait, “Benjamin Sleeping,” is a finalist in the Portrait Society of America’s fall Portrait Academy.
Rodgers is finalist in portrait competition