Newton artist takes top state fair prize

Newton artist Judd Hoskins wasn’t initially planning on being in the Iowa State Fair fine arts show.

It was only after some prompting from friends and fellow artists and a little help transporting his artwork to Des Moines that the 32-year-old Newton man entered the competition.

He’s glad he did.

Last week, Hoskins won Best of Show in the Iowa State Fair Fine Arts adult division for his charcoal drawing “Flower,” which depicts the face of a young woman illuminated as she looks at an open book — or at least what appears to be a book.

“It’s up to your interpretation,” Hoskins said.

“Flower” is a high contrast piece with an almost photo-realistic quality. Its large size — 60 inches tall including mat and frame — gives it an impressive presence, so much so that the group who transported the drawing had more than a few people trying to look at it even while they were moving it.

Despite submitting such a phenomenal work, Hoskins was still shocked to win the top honor.

“I was surprised, admittedly,” he said. “I was excited and happy to be able to do it, and happy to make a success for myself and also for a couple people who have been working with me at the Centre for Arts (and Artists) in town.”

Hoskins is a studio artist at Newton’s Centre for Arts and Artists and credits CAA and the people there for providing workspace, help and encouragement. He’s been drawing for most of his life but picked it up again more seriously about four years ago.

Before he started working at CAA, Hoskins used to push tables together at the Midtown Café to create a big enough surface on which to work. Hoskins mostly prefers to draw people, typically taking photos of models that can be blown up to large sizes to emphasize key details.

“I come up with an idea, and I bring in a model who I believe fits what I want to do most accurately and have a photo shoot with them,” he said. “Then, I crop the picture when it’s done and make photos of each part.”

A typical drawing will take about 80 hours, but the State Fair winning piece took all summer to complete.

CAA Executive Director Linda Klepinger is one of Hoskins’ fans. She was among the people who helped transport Hoskins large drawing to the fair and recalled all the buzz “Flower” got even as it was being brought in.

“We got it into the car and couldn’t get it out,” she said, smiling. “Quite frankly it was an honor to walk in with it. Everybody just stopped dead in his tracks.”

The real joy for Klepinger, however, is seeing artists from CCA succeed. Providing space and encouragement for local artists is at the heart of CCA’s mission.

“For him now to have enough space (to work) and validation from other artists is really what an art incubator is all about,” she said. “He’s just amazing.”

For his part, Hoskins is grateful for all the help from Klepinger and the other artists at CCA and was happy that his success reflects well on Newton’s art community. Best of Show from the State Fair is a big honor.

“The caliber of work the last five years or so at the state fair — I think the bar has risen greatly,” Klepinger said. “Some tremendous Iowa talent there.”

Count Hoskins among them.