In Full Bloom: A Celebration of Renewal Through Art

SAC
Jun 3
4 min read

Blooming is more than a seasonal phenomenon. It is a process of becoming. In Full Bloom brings together artists whose work reflects growth, resilience, memory, and change. Through painting, sculpture, photography, and mixed media, the exhibition showcases the many ways creativity can capture moments of transformation and renewal.

Winner announcements

Best In Show: Scarlet Hao, The Lion Dance — **Best In Show:** Scarlet Hao, *The Lion Dance*

2nd Place: Ruth Yang, My Lv Handbag — **2nd Place:** Ruth Yang, *My Lv Handbag*

3rd Place: Anna Gromova, Horror Movies — **3rd Place**: Anna Gromova, *Horror Movies*

Honorable Place: Tim Haugh, Sacagawea — **Honorable Place**: Tim Haugh, Sacagawea

Congratulations to the award winners of our In Full Bloom Spring Art Exhibition! This year's exhibition featured an incredible variety of artistic styles, mediums, and perspectives, making the selection process both exciting and challenging.

A special thank you to Hannah Amuka for serving as our exhibition judge. With more than ten years of experience in museum education, exhibition development, and community programming, Hannah brought thoughtful consideration and expertise to the jurying process. We are grateful for her time, insight, and support of the artists who make our creative community so vibrant.

Review on SAC’s In Full Bloom

By Sana Aslam, June 2, 2026

Springtime often brings with it the question of what we’re cleaning out and how we’re refreshing ourselves with the return of warmer air and more color. It’s a time of newness, of bloom. Suwanee Art Center’s exhibition In Full Bloom, however, reminds us that bloom also has a close relationship to the idea of renewal. While we may be asking what we’re leaving behind and clearing out, the exhibition offers us that spring is also a time to reflect on what we’d like to carry forward.

Scarlet Hao’s Best in Show piece Lion Dance is a vibrant exploration of the traditions larger than ourselves that are carried forward throughout history. The incredible perspective and use of color in the piece, with the lion marionette hovering above, bring me back to a childlike place where I’m looking up at something completely awe-inspiring, much bigger than me. Hao spoke to me about how, during Lunar New Year celebrations, Chinese traditions hold that loud sounds, bright colors, and firecrackers drive out bad luck. The lion is part of this entourage, then. Hao shared that she really enjoyed the exhibition and loves seeing everyone’s different interpretations of the show’s theme.

My Lv Bag by Ruth Yang, which immediately catches the eye with its bubblegum-pink backdrop and received second place, carries forward skillful Renaissance portrait techniques while reinterpreting the genre through contemporary subject matter. Yang painted her friend, who is of Nigerian background, dressed in a traditional blue Chinese garment. Her friend is holding a luxury purse that has personal significance for Yang, as she explained that the object symbolizes a rite of passage after attaining certain jobs, such as in her earlier career as a makeup artist. In the painting, multiple traditions are carried forward and woven together into something distinctly personal.

Maria Andrea Mendez’s painting The World Is My Oyster, My Version of Venus caught the eye of both Hao and Yang. It is the largest work in the exhibition and features Mendez’s Venus in oil, clutching an oyster with a roaring ocean in the background. Mendez shared that she is currently exploring themes of femininity and masculinity in her figurative works through reimagined approaches, carrying forward enduring conversations while reshaping them in the present day.

The show was judged by arts advocate and museum professional Hannah Amuka. Amuka shared that her judging process involves spending time alone with each piece in the exhibition, closely looking at each work in isolation before making selections.

She is particularly drawn to skillful uses of color and texture, qualities that shine through in each piece she selected for recognition. She noted that Hao’s Lion Dance stood out because, despite being a much smaller piece, it conveyed a compelling sense of movement, color, and life. She hoped it would be an unexpected choice. Of Yang’s piece, Amuka shared that the figure has a piercing presence and that the level of technical skill stood out to her, particularly in the rendering of the braids, which are very difficult to depict. Amuka’s choice for third place, Horror Stories, was selected for the intricate worldbuilding apparent throughout Anna Gromova’s works in the show. She was impressed by Gromova’s ability to render figures at such a small scale and felt that many elements deserved recognition. There was a deep sense of place in the work. For the honorable mention, Sacagewea by Tim Haugh, Amuka praised the stippling technique and the proportions of the piece. She was also impressed by its storybook qualities and muted color palette.

Amuka deeply appreciated the range of works in the exhibition from the standpoints of medium, subject matter, and skill level. She shared that the diversity of pieces in the gallery across different price ranges plays an important role in uplifting local artists and local art buyers, who come from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds.

In Full Bloom is on view until July 10. Be sure to stop by!