Arts Council Announces The Gino Award for Paint It! Ellicott City Juried Work

The Howard County Arts Council (HCAC) is pleased to announce a new $2,000 purchase award for participants in the juried portion of Paint It! Ellicott City 2013: The Gino Award. The award is named in honor of Gino Manelli (1915–2010), an avid artist and cyclist who maintained an art studio in Ellicott City for nearly four decades. In the span of his seventy-year artistic career, Gino created landscapes, portraits, and still lifes in a broad range of media and styles. Known for his dramatic use of color and a dynamic palette knife, he interpreted the world with a mature sensibility, creating emotional, engaging artwork.

Gino was born in 1915 in Philadelphia to Italian parents and at age 16 accompanied his mother to the Abruzzo region of Italy. There Gino became a semi-pro cyclist and used his purse winnings to pay for his art education. He was accepted at the Art Lyceum of Rome and the University of Rome School of Belle Arte and by 1950 was a recognized regional Italian artist with awards, commissions, and a wide patronage.

Returning to the United States in 1954, Gino settled in Baltimore where he began to study social realism and paint scenes of everyday life in the city. In 1972 Gino opened his art studio in Ellicott City, which he admired for its picturesque setting of hills, buildings, and atmosphere. “Ellicott City provides a wonderful inspiration for me—tenaciously clinging to the hills yet seeking, reaching the river, full of memories, spirit, soul, and character which is palpable from the folks that live here and the buildings—truly a source of inspiration.”

In Ellicott City he began to teach art, sharing his love and knowledge of drawing and painting. When not at his easel Gino continued cycling through the challenging hills and curves of the city, often with a paint box strapped to his back.

Gino passed away in 2010. His work can be found in numerous galleries in the United States and Europe.

Paint It! Ellicott City, an annual plein air paint-out sponsored by HCAC, Howard County Tourism, and the Howard County Public School System, will take place this year from July 12–14. Over the course of the weekend, juried artists will set up their easels throughout Ellicott City’s historic district and ‘paint the town’ as they vie for a minimum of $4,000 in total awards. Community artists are invited to join the fun as part of the Open Paint-Out taking place concurrently.

On July 15, HCAC will host a special reception from 6–8pm to celebrate the opening of an exhibit of the juried artists’ work at the Howard County Center for the Arts. The evening will feature the presentation of juror awards as well as a one-night exhibit of work created during the Open Paint-Out. The juried artists’ exhibit will run through August 23.

For more information on this and other Arts Council programs, email info@hocoarts.org, or call 410-313-2787.