Judges
Judges and the Judging Process
The jurist panel consists of three (3) independent judges who are selected annually from across the country for their in-depth knowledge and experience in multiple art media. In October, they will review the digital images of all applicants to select the Festival artists and the Waitlist artists. In March, the same jurist panel will review the work of the exhibitors to determine those artists they consider eligible for awards. Judging of the awards is based upon the overall quality of the artwork exhibited. After a booth is selected by a judge, the artist is responsible for selecting one piece for Saturday’s awards processing that best represents his or her entire body of work. The Best of Show, Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation Award, and the Morse Museum Award are each presented for an individual piece of art. Awards are presented solely at the discretion of the judges.
The 65th Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival 2025 Judges
Eepi Chaad
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Eepi Chaad is a multidisciplinary artist, cultural worker, and naturalist based on the Gulf Coast. She tells stories using textiles, fibers, metals, places, and people. Chaad’s practice studies human impacts and lives at the intersection of natural and built environments. Her work ranges from tiny adornments to large-scale installations to the art of making space and convening people.
Chaad has presented and exhibited work nationally and has received numerous grants and awards including residencies with CAMH and the City of Houston and most recently the BANF Artist Awards. Recent projects include a public art installation in Galveston, TX, a collaboration with the Houston Grand Opera, and exhibitions at Arrowmont and Charlotte Street Foundation. Chaad also considered arts administration a part of her creative practice and currently serves as Professional Development Program Manager with Mid-America Arts Alliance and maintains a private consultancy practice working with a variety of arts & culture nonprofits.
Liz Maugans
Cleveland, Ohio
Liz Maugans is the Director of YARDS Projects, and Curator of the Dalad Collection in Cleveland. She co-founded and was the Former Executive Director of Zygote Press, a non-profit printmaking studio located in Cleveland for over 30 years. Liz founded the Collective Arts Network, a quarterly journal, online resource and arts consortium that works to promote Northeast Ohio artists and organizations to a greater audience. She founded the Artist Trust (renamed The Cleveland Artist Registry), an open access multidisciplinary artist registry to connect Cuyahoga County Artists to each other and the greater community. Liz teaches at the Art and Design School at Cleveland State University and holds the Haddad Arts Mentor post that supports students in obtaining paid internships in the arts and museum sector.
For 40 years+, Liz Maugans has organized one-person and thematic group exhibitions featuring regional, national and internationally known artists. Her curatorial specialization is a devotion to emerging artists, social justice and local experimental practices that broaden access through social networks, inclusion and community-building initiatives. Liz is an artist with a strong studio and social practice and is represented by Hedge Gallery.
John Petrey
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Born in 1958, in Southern California, an only child to self-employed parents, John spent many afternoons watching television and movies portraying perfect people, in perfect families, living in a perfect society. These shows had a profound impact on his career path. He pursued a career in advertising design, receiving an A.S. Degree in Graphic Design from Mt. San Jacinto College, followed by a B.S. Degree from Brooks Institute in Commercial Photography.
Throughout the 80’s and 90’s, he gained national recognition winning numerous awards as a photographer in the area of food, celebrities and advertising. Throughout his career as a photographer any spare time he enjoyed was dedicated to creating art, building art furniture and restoring vintage motorcycles. In 2003 John closed his photo studio to pursue his passion for sculpture and began creating several diverse bodies of work. John’s art is included in both private and corporate collections, and has been shown in galleries and exhibitions throughout North America.
As John has grown as an artist, his work has become more of an expression of his soul. He is constantly re-formulating the process of his creative thinking. He’ll observe something that strikes a chord with him, tuck it away in his mind, and later it becomes an inspiration. As a result, his art can be lighthearted and whimsical or deeply symbolic.
