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World’s Best Animal Impressionists: SCHMIDINGER, FINCH, PENN, CHANTRY, POALUCCI, CHOI, SHAN, MOFFATT, HENNINGER, BLUME, LEE & THACH LAM / 2025 AMERICAN ART AWARDS

5 min readOct 31, 2025

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Artists from 63 countries competed in the 2025 AMERICAN ART AWARDS where 20 of the most revered galleries in the USA were sent online images to score in drawing, painting, sculpture, digital and photography. The 300+ winning works, 1st to 6th Place (and ties) in all 50 categories, will be featured in an upcoming movie and 75 articles.

See all winning images:

Art collectors can see the hundreds of winning artworks and corresponding contact info to the best contemporary artists in the world here: https://americanartawards.com/2025-winning-artists-american-art-awards/

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The WINNERS in CATEGORY 20 represent AUSTRALIA, USA, CANADA, GERMANY & VIETNAM.

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BIO OF 1ST PLACE WINNER: Otto Schmidinger

Otto began his artistic career at 16 in an art studio in North Sydney as a photo retoucher. At 21 he began working as a freelance Illustrator specializing in hyper realistic airbrush illustration. His clients included most of the large Advertising Agencies in Australia. Since retiring he has concentrated on establishing himself in the fine arts through major art competitions in Australia.

Otto has been a finalist in over 50 art competitions including the Dough Moran, Heysen, Glover etc.. He has won first prize in eight including the D’Arcy Doyle and several second and third prizes. His artworks are in collections mostly in Australia and more recently overseas.

Otto has no preference for the medium or the subject of his work, painting mostly landscapes and portraits with an occasional still life, abstract or sculpture when inspired his art covers all genres and styles. Between commissions, he is entering competitions and teaching regular art classes in Nerang and Broadbeach. https://www.facebook.com/StudioOttoArt/

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CONTACT THE ARTISTS: CATEGORY 20. IMPRESSIONISM — ANIMAL

1ST PLACE OTTO SCHMIDINGER AUSTRALIA https://www.facebook.com/StudioOttoArt/ “The Alpha” 101x101cm Oil on canvas.

2ND PLACE — TIE TANYA FINCH USA https://www.facebook.com/graphite.artist.tanya.finch “Looking Cute” 9x12" Graphite on paper.

2ND PLACE — TIE PAKAN PENN USA www.pakanpenn.com “Into The Clearing” 48x48" Oil on canvas.

3RD PLACE — TIE CARLA CHANTRY USA https://www.carlachantryart.com “Cardinals Appear When Angels Are Near” 20x20” Paper, acrylic, canvas.

3RD PLACE — TIE THERESA POALUCCI USA https://www.artisttheresapoalucci.com/ “Gentle Souls Of An Arid Land” 40x30” Mixed media digitized and printed on acrylic.

4TH PLACE — TIE EMMA CHOI USA emma.c131412@gmail.com “Quiet Reflection” 14x11” Acrylic on board.

4TH PLACE — TIE LINDA SHAN USA artistbonkoo@gmail.com “Afternoon Light” 16x22” Acrylic on canvas.

5TH PLACE — TIE LYNDA MOFFATT CANADA www.LyndaMoffatt.com “Lifted By Dreams Bound For Light” 48x24” Charcoal, oil, collage.

5TH PLACE — TIE ALEXANDRA HENNINGER USA https://sites.google.com/view/ahartworks/portfolio “The Pursuit” 9x12” Color pencil on paper.

6TH PLACE — TIE BEATE BLUME GERMANY www.beateblume.de “Three Cool Fellows” 40x30cm Acrylic on canvas.

6TH PLACE — TIE HEATHER LEE USA heatherclee0924@gmail.com “A Still Memory” 11x14” Acrylic on canvas.

6TH PLACE — TIE NGUYEN DUC THACH LAM VIETNAM thachlam1105@gmail.com “Companionship” 70x50cm Oil on canvas.

In 2025, AMERICAN ART AWARDS had submissions from these 63 countries: Angola, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia/Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Korea (Republic, South), Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Macedonia, Norway, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, USA and Vietnam.

American Art Awards 20 Best Galleries for 2025 (in alphabetical order by state) asked to score art:

Best in Arizona: Exposures International Gallery Of Fine Art

Best in California: 111 Minna Gallery

Best in Florida: Art Fusion Galleries

Best in Idaho: Sun Valley Contemporary Gallery

Best in Illinois: Jackson Junge Gallery

Best in Kentucky: Moreman Gallery

Best in Louisiana: Stella Jones Gallery

Best in Maine: Maine Art Hill

Best in Michigan: Water Street Gallery

Best in Minnesota: All My Relations Gallery

Best in Mississippi: Studio Waveland + Gallery

Best in Missouri: Fresh Gallery

Best in Oklahoma: Exhibit C Gallery

Best in Pennsylvania: Paradigm Gallery + Studio

Best in Tennessee: Lilienthal Gallery

Best in Texas: Thornwood Gallery

Best in Utah: The Compass

Best in Washington: Ryan James Fine Arts

Best in West Virginia: Paragon Fine Art

Best in Wyoming: Gallery Wild

Enter Your Art | World Art Awards & American Art Awards

American Art Awards https://www.americanartawards.com/ annually awards 20 galleries who award nearly 300+ deserving contemporary artists from 60+ countries: painters, photographers, sculptors and digital artists.

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Thom Bierdz
Thom Bierdz

Written by 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.