2020’S BEST ABSTRACT SCULPTORS NAMED BY 25 GALLERIES:

Thom Bierdz
6 min readNov 14, 2020

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TESA MICHAELS, LOLLIE ORTIZ, ASHRAFI SULTANA, VALERY OKARSKY, DMITRY ZOTOV

Painters, photographers, sculptors and digital artists from 62 countries competed in the most prestigious online art call, AMERICAN ART AWARDS, https://www.americanartawards.com/, where America’s 25 best galleries and museums score art in 50 categories. In this column, I’ll reveal the world’s best contemporary artists of 2020 one category at a time.

Winners in this category are from USA, Bangladesh and Russia.

BIO OF FIRST PLACE WINNER: TESA MICHAELS

Art and creativity are deeply rooted in Tesa Michaels, a fifth generation artist and third generation fine artist. From a young age she was immersed in a creative atmosphere that offered constant inspiration and a family that nurtured her artistic endeavors.

At the age of 12 her mother taught her oil painting, and she began painting murals for local schools. At age 16, Tesa was accepted into her first national show.

After High School, Tesa attended The Art Institute of Colorado, studying fine art and graphic design. Upon graduation, she worked as an art and marketing director for a health products company, and in advertising at J. Walter Thompson as an art director working on Ford Motor Company commercials. Realizing she had moved too far from her roots as a fine artist, Tesa began a new career as a professional fine artist focusing on oil paintings.

As a Colorado native, Tesa has always been fond of lakes and mountains, and has always been inspired by nature. Tesa now lives in the San Diego area, where she enjoys the ocean and beach. Creating is Tesa’s life; it is who she is! It is interwoven in every fiber of her being.

Tesa is known as “The Semi Precious Stone Artist” because she incorporates a multitude of varieties of semi precious and precious stones such as diamonds and rubies into her paintings. She integrates fine art with elements of the earth that she gets from all around the world.

As a mixed media artist, Tesa uses her own unique process of combining her intuition, artistic creativity and imagination to then seamlessly incorporate the semi precious stones with the painting itself. In doing this she adds such depth, texture, dimension and character to her paintings that they showcase an opulence of their own. Creating the end result of a unique, one of a kind painting that will move you and touch you on all levels.

Tesa is represented nationally and has collectors from all around the world. People continue to be profoundly moved and in awe of Tesa’s work, which brings her immense gratitude and joy in being a fine artist. https://tesamichaelsart.com/

Each May the American Art Awards organization selects the 25 Best Galleries and Museums in America, then in autumn these revered art institutions vote on online art to decide the world’s best contemporary artists.

Last month America’s 25 Best Galleries scored almost 2,000 works in 50 categories from 62 countries: Afghanistan, Armenia, Australia, Bangladesh, Belarus, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Croatia, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Haiti, Hong Kong, India, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Republic Of Korea, Romania, Russia, South Korea, Serbia, Singapore, Spain, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Uganda, UK, Ukraine, USA, Venezuela, Zimbabwe.

COLLECTORS wanting to acquire these pieces or contact the artists can get direct links here: https://www.americanartawards.com/2020-winning-art/

Enter here: https://www.americanartawards.com/register-to-enter-3/

CONTACTS FOR CATEGORY 50 — SCULPTURE — NON-REPRESENTATIONAL

1ST PLACE TESA MICHAELS USA https://tesamichaelsart.com/
“Celestial Moon” 36x36" Acrylic on panel with semi precious stones.

2ND PLACE-TIE LOLLIE ORTIZ USA www.lollieortizartgallery.com
“Swish Delight” 10x10x1/2" Acrylic materials on wood hanging frame.

2ND PLACE-TIE TESA MICHAELS USA https://tesamichaelsart.com/
“Beauty In Chaos” 20x48" Acrylic on panel with semi precious stones.

3RD PLACE-TIE LOLLIE ORTIZ USA www.lollieortizartgallery.com
“Rainbow Fusion / Rainbow Sticks Collection” 36x24x7/8" Acrylic plastic materials on wood hanging frames.

3RD PLACE-TIE ASHRAFI SULTANA BANGLADESH www.ashrafi-sultana.com “Suffocation” 26x18x24" Ceramics.

4TH PLACE VALERY OKARSKY RUSSIA valery.okarsky@yandex.ru
“The Soul Is Held Captive By The Mind” 44x32x12cm Copper, brass.

5TH PLACE-TIE TESA MICHAELS USA https://tesamichaelsart.com/
“Inter Galactic” 16x36" Acrylic on panel with semi precious stones.

5TH PLACE-TIE VALERY OKARSKY RUSSIA valery.okarsky@yandex.ru
“Medusa” 30x21x22cm Copper, brass.

6TH PLACE-TIE DMITRY ZOTOV RUSSIA https://www.instagram.com/zotov_diz_art/ “Robomother” 64x40x8cm Plastic, metal, kit modified.

6TH PLACE-TIE LOLLIE ORTIZ USA www.lollieortizartgallery.com
“Rainbow Joy / Rainbow Sticks Collection" 36x24x7/8” Acrylic plastic materials on wood hanging frames.

100 ARTICLES and 50 VIDEOS on the 50 CATEGORIES of the 2020 AMERICAN ART AWARDS WINNING ARTISTS will be at this link: https://www.americanartawards.com/press-on-2020-artists/

American Art Awards 25 Best Galleries & Museums for 2020, in alphabetical order of state, who were asked to vote on this year’s art submissions:

Arizona / EXPOSURES INTERNATIONAL GALLERY OF FINE ART

California / CODA GALLERY

Colorado / CLYFFORD STILL MUSEUM

Delaware / THE DELAWARE CONTEMPORARY

Florida / MAC ART GALLERIES

Georgia / WESTOBOU GALLERY

Illinois / KOMECHAK ART GALLERY

Louisiana / ARTHUR ROGER GALLERY

Kansas / EVA REYNOLDS FINE ARTS

Maine / PORTLAND MUSEUM OF ART

Massachusetts / QUIDLEY & COMPANY

Missouri / KEMPER MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART

Nebraska / KIECHEL FINE ART

New Hampshire / ROCHESTER MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS

New Jersey / EVALYN DUNN GALLERY

New Mexico / ANDERSON MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART

Ohio / DAYTON ART SOLUTIONS

Oregon / ROGER YOST BAY STREET GALLERY

Philadelphia / PHILAMOCA

South Carolina / MARY MARTIN GALLERIES OF FINE ART

South Dakota / SOUTH DAKOTA ART MUSEUM

Utah / LOGAN FINE ART GALLERY

Virginia / LAZARE GALLERY

West Virginia / PARKERSBURG ART CENTER

Wisconsin / THE MADISON MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART

MORE INFO ON THIS YEAR’S WINNERS

HOW TO ENTER

OR GET AN OFFICIAL GALLERY RATING: www.AmericanArtAwards.com

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Thom Bierdz

One of Medium’s TOP ART CONTRIBUTORS, award-winning author, actor, film-maker, painter. 12 books: 6 on art. President of WAA & AAA & ACCA.