CATHERINE BERGMANN 

As both exhibiting artist and museum curator, Catherine Bergmann brings with her a solid foundation on which to build accurate and astute judging decisions.  Although trained as a printmaker at Florida State University, her sculpture and mixed media assemblages have been extensively reviewed and exhibited, and have brought her countless accolades and awards.  Her dual position as Curator of Exhibitions and Director of Adult Education at the Dunedin (Florida) Fine Art Center adds to that perspective and provides Ms. Bergmann an even greater depth of understanding in the arts.  

In 2007, Ms. Bergmann was the impetus behind The Dunedin Project, a yearlong photographic project that documented the values of the various cultures that define Dunedin.  The project’s accompanying exhibition remains permanently in the Dunedin community and has received extensive press because of its profound sociological implications.  Saying that she is “…drawn to the poetry of artwork,” she goes on to say that, “Art has the power to move and sustain us.  It is as nourishing and essential as food and as healing as nature.”  Ms. Bergmann resides in Dunedin with her daughter.

JOHN KAPLAN

John Kaplan is one of America’s best-known visual communicators.  After winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1992 for Feature Photography with The Pittsburgh Press, he went on to win the Robert F. Kennedy Award for Outstanding Coverage of the Disadvantaged for the second time in 2003, after first having won it in 1990.  He has twice served as a Pulitzer Prizes juror.  Additional accolades include winning the Overseas Press Club Award and the award for National Newspaper Photographer of the Year in Pictures.  Currently a full professor at the University of Florida, his academic honors include being named a Fulbright Scholar and the university’s International Educator of the Year. 

Most recently, Mr. Kaplan has written and produced a documentary based on his survival of cancer.  Not as I Pictured and its companion short film Pulitzer Pride have won more than 20 film festival awards and nominations, with the former scheduled to air on PBS stations nationwide.  Mr. Kaplan resides in Gainesville with his wife and two children.

LINDA PIPER

In her capacity as Events Coordinator for Cultural Affairs for the City of Gainesville since 1994, Linda Piper is responsible for all of the city’s major cultural events.  She has propelled the Downtown Festival & Art Show into the national spotlight, where it ranked #30 in Sunshine Artist’s annual survey in 2010.  Under her direction, the city’s Hoggetowne Medieval Faire has grown to be one of the best medieval faires in the country.  Actively supporting all of the arts in Gainesville and AlachuaCounty, Ms. Piper serves as City liaison for the county’s Arts Association and for the University of Florida, where she manages student interns entering the field of event management.  She has been named Department Employee of the Year three times. 

Ms. Piper’s reputation for integrity, veracity, and concern for the welfare of artists precedes her.  She and her husband reside on a lake surrounded by four acres, 30 minutes east of the city, in a quiet place she calls “Piper’s Paradise.”  In her spare time, she raises puppies for the Southeast Guide Dog Association.