Reviews

Christine exhibits and competes in juried competitions around the world. To date she has won over 100 national awards and has been published in over 60 publications. She is a signature member of 10 national watercolor societies.

This is maybe an unexpected award - to  give this painting, Mask, a top reward. But in my mind, there really wasn’t another choice. I fell in love with this painting. I love the design where it’s yellow on one side and white on the other with that yellow beak. I love the red and white stripes. Everywhere you look on this painting there are things happening - little details, little dots of color, little surprises, little stars, a feather, a little bluebird that took me forever to realize was there. It was in such an unusual spot. I found out later that this is quite a large painting. And again, this is one that I would love to have on my wall. I think I could enjoy all of the time. When we talked about criteria, one of my major criterion was magic. To me, this whole painting is whimsical. It’s magical. It’s appealing, And when you get up close its just beautifully done - all kinds of textures, color artfully and sensitively applied to support the design. Just a winner!

Juror James Turner

31st National Online Exhibition. Red River Watercolor Society

We are blown away by your talent and feel honored to share "Shelter" in the gallery AND as Director’s Choice! It fits the theme like a glove and adds such a cool and beautiful perspective to our collection. Seriously, thank you so much for sharing your amazing skills with us. We truly appreciate it!

Amy Matteson Neill

Creative Director ART FLUENT

"She Didn’t Know"  is mark-making at its best with all the transference of energy through paint strokes and flow. It achieves amazing depth and a sense of what is there and what is not there - Presence through absence a sense of transience through the medium.

Diana Budde

Judge, WVAA Memorial Exhibition, Center for Visual Arts, Wausau

Merit Award. “The Song The Wind Sings,” 40x60 acrylic on canvas. “A highly abstracted and exploding composition, layered of quantitative forms superimposed upon an ambiguous landscape suggesting a tectonic cleft, as a storied map of describing evolution and transcendence.

Ken Bloom, Judge

Curator, Artist. Duluth, Minnesota

Three Koi In The Pond,” was selected as a finalist in the Abstract / Experimental category of The Artist's Magazine 34th Annual Art Competition.   “Three Koi In The Pond” was chosen out of over 5700 entries, it is truly an achievement that your work "Three Koi In The Pond, “was among the ones to be sent to the jurors.”

Michael Woodson

Associate Editor of Artists Magazine

"General Sherman Tree- Sequoia National Park" was awarded a merit award in the exhibition, Alive in the Arts at the Plymouth Arts Center in Plymouth Wisconsin.  "General Sherman Tree:" Bold.  Gestural painting with vigor and restraint simultaneously.  The strength and nature of the tree comes across very well indeed."

Graeme Reid, Juror

Director of Collections & Exhibitions Museum of Wisconsin Art

Christine Alfery’s works are carefree, impulsive, vivacious, sometimes monochromatic, more often colorful, and always executed with a touch of humor. A stroll through the gallery is like walking in a English garden, a place where colorful plants turn space into a freewheeling exploration of nature.

James Nelson

The Birmingham News

End of The Day” Best of Show Manito Art League, Manitowish Waters, WI. “One of the things I most admire about painters is the ability to develop a unique language to express something deeply felt but not apparent. In this work, the gestural marks work like calligraphy and refer to the Asian tradition and sensibility in which each touch of the hand describes a growth, and decay. These marks perfectly pair with the subject matter, an old tree, and even though the tree isn’t represented form one point of view with the light falling on it, I feel its life cycle, its structure, its energy and its release into surrounding space. I like how some of the lines that seem to be shed branches contain little bits of energy ready to be released. This is a very encouraging and wise work that also display, like a very adroit dancer, a great sense of timing, an elegance of movement, and knowing mark-making that bravely delves into the medium’s fluidity and freedom, and yet hits the mark right on every time it meets the surface."

Diane Budde, MFA, Judge

University of Wisconsin Marathon County

Robert Burridge Experimental Acrylic/Mixed Media Award. “Golden Nuggets.” 44th Annual Western Federation of Watercolor Society. “Golden Nuggets has a lot of different techniques – line, color, texture. It’s very fun and expressive.”

Kathleen Conover, Juror

Christine Alfery’s energetic brushstrokes, subtle colors and delicate line work metaphorically vibrates the life that exists and is growing in the “Eagle’s Nest.”

Kathryn Petke

MFA

Best of Show. “Ringmaster’s Coat,” Watercolor and acrylic on paper. “The perspective in this painting is abstract and compelling. You can feel the hum and vibrancy of the circus, combined with a vibrant depiction of the ringmaster as he controls, or ties to control the chaos. 

Anne Katz, Judge

Executive Director of Arts Wisconsin

Queen Of Illusions” was one of the finalists for the International Society of Acrylic Painters. It did not make the national exhibition but the juror stated this about “Queen Of Illusions,” a little vulgar, but with some stylistic eloquence.” The work did not make the final draw.

Andrew Kent-Marvick, Juror

Art Historian, Abstract Painter

"Summer Grasses" as Best Of Show. “Christine Alfery’s piece "Summer Grasses" is an expressive take on the traditional still life/landscape painting motif. Bright circles of color dance within deep black scrawls, while black and white stripes dart between drippy white washes. The aggressive marks create dense pockets of activity and then die out into the white void. The painting easily slips between abstraction and representation and then back, revealing new depths with each visit. The evidence of the artist's hand is present throughout the piece, from frantic gestures to long finger swipes through the background. The personal scale of the piece creates a one-to-one relationship with the viewer, confronting you as you stand before it. I felt compelled to trace the artist's hand, retracing the record of activity. The overall painting mixes a formal grace with direct application of the materials to create stunning and mature work. "Summer Grasses" is my choice for Best in Show for tackling a traditional subject and imbuing it with a skillfully- executed and fresh perspective.

Scott Stullen, Judge

Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN

Colored Leaves In The Grass” “This large scale watercolor is an exceptional mix of spontaneity and expressiveness, combined with the ethereal beauty of a colorful garden. It seems simultaneously carefree and carefully composed, and the palette is both understated and lush.” 

Laura Fiser

Curator of Collections & Exhibitions Paine Art Center, Oshkosh, WI

Through the artist’s use of line, texture and bright color, simple “organisms” almost literally bounce and wriggle through a watery patch of sea green, gold, brick red and murky violet. The visual play is very entertaining.

Julie Ganzer

University of Wisconsin-Madison

“Winter Light: Downey’s and Birches” won an Award Of Excellence at the 22nd Annual Midwest Seasons Exhibition. “Winter Light, Downey’s and Birches is the kind of piece that just draws you into a different world. The layers of subtle color, along with the expressive, active line work results in a piece you can spend some time with.”

Denise Presneill-Weidner

She works in a variety of paint mediums, including watercolor and acrylic and creates abstract floral images. Her images seem to grow organically across the canvas in a palette that can only be described as the happiest of colors. Alfery’s exhibit promises to be a patch of spring as we in the U.P. begin to eagerly await the end of winter.

Keweenaw Peninsula Chamber Of Commerce

"This award was the most difficult to choose because I had to select from two marvelous pieces by the same artist. “Campfire" is equally compelling as a painting in a different medium. "Campfire" was given an honorable mention, but it could just have well been best of show. Ultimately, "Fish'n" was chosen for its playful use of the watercolor medium. Christine experiments successfully with a broad array of media-handling techniques her assured gesture, use of line and color keep the viewer's eyes actively moving across the surface, and contrast of transparent and opaque color masses resulted in a painting that both makes one think and is visually pleasurable." Nancy Lamers stated that the "acrylic gesture, of "Campfire" united to give the impression of the campfire. Without a title to aid the viewer, the painting is just as fine. Mark making, dragging the tool energetically through paint, is a delightful kinesthetic experience for the viewer, surely as it was for the artist while creating. Light, dark contrast and textural changes, from barely noticeable to dynamic, add complexity.

Nancy Lamers, Judge

Professor of Art at Alverno College, Milwaukee, WI

Celebrate – Celebrate – Dance To The Music.” “The combination of color and texture create a unified composition with both abstract and pictorial elements. There is an almost whimsical quality to the line work.”

Brian Borchardt

Smith Scarabocchio Art Museum.

Christine “has the ability to use strong merging color from warm to cool The eye plays with the curved shapes. There is a nice use of linear components which blend with the background colors.’’ 

Robert Stowers

University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, WI

Alfery does not possess the demons of her predecessors and, in fact, believes that her acrylic and watercolor paintings are divinely inspired. She says “there is something extremely beautiful and powerful within me that emerges when I paint. “She embraces it and treasures it. Her art is more about the emotional experience than the physical reality.

Gay Scheffen

News Of The North

So much energy.

Nate Wilson

Nicolet College, Rhinelander, WI

Christine’s work is “playful and has a nice energy.” 

Stephen Quiller, AWS

The Blanche Ames National Juried Art Exhibition. “Lovely festive, like many songs of the heart.”

Viewer’s Choice Award Comment

"Sunshine and Rainbows"  received the Glady's Gibson Bronze Medal Award. "This is a delightful  abstract that is a strong value painting.  The artist has brought in just enough color to feel the sunlight, rainbow and passing storm.  I especially like the use of the line in this painting."

Lynda Hoffman-Snodgrass

Juror, Gladys Gibson Award

Merit Award, "Building A Dam - Changing The Natural Flow," 30x30 Water media on clay board "Full of expression from the artist’s rich inner world, this painting, about entrapment and the freedom that comes from escaping, vibrates with rhythm and action. Thin black lines punctuated with dots, and white dots creating spiral lines that seem to extend like stars into a dark blue sky seem almost musical in their proclamation of independence. Indeed, Alfery creates enough visual space for all to feel a sense of liberation in this work."

Judge- Manito Art League

Merit Award

Jamboree on the Beach," caught my attention with its abstracted forms and whimsical playful manner, quite different from anything else in the exhibition. 

Bruce Bobick

NWS 50 Stars Exhibition