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Pennsylvania-based pastel artist R. Michael Wommack takes the Overall Artist Best in Show award at the 2026 Kimball Arts Festival. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record

The Park City Kimball Arts Festival named 16 of 195 participating artists as the 2026 Best in Show recipients.

While a majority of the artists were recognized Sunday, three — Local Artist winner Johnny Adolfson, Emerging Artists Paxton Juhlin and Overall winner R. Michael Wommack — were highlighted by festival organizers Saturday night.

Photographer Adolfson is based in Heber City. Juhlin is a jeweller and metalsmith from Park City and made their Arts Festival debut in 2025.

Then there’s Wommack, a pastel artist from Langhorne, Pennsylvania, who first joined the Park City Kimball Arts Festival family in 2016.

“I was here 10 years ago, and I decided to come back and give it another go,” Wommack said. “It’s a huge honor (to be recognized), because it’s such a massively talented group of people, a top-notch group of artists. So this means the world to me.”

Wommack’s pastels-on-paper drawings stem from memories.

“These are scenes from my childhood, and they were triggered by a dream where I was swimming in pools at night,” he said. “No one I knew when I was growing up had a pool, but in my dream everyone had a pool.”

The dream also inspired the color in Wommack’s works.

“(To capture that) I started making drawings with my pastels, which I hadn’t used in a long time,” he said. “It’s the perfect medium. The colors are really vivid and very dreamlike.”

Wommack’s first artistic influence was Charlie Brown creator Charles Schulz.

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Hillary Gilson, left, and Aldy Milliken, right, award Pennsylvania-based pastel artist R. Michael Wommack the Overall Artist Best in Show award at the 2026 Kimball Arts Festival. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record

“I was so obsessed with ‘The Peanuts’ comic strip that I just started drawing,” he said. “I was probably 8 or 9, and everyone would look at my drawings and say, ‘Wow, you can really draw.’ So from that day forward, I started drawing. My parents tried to get me out of that lane, but it didn’t work.”

Festival Director Hillary Gilson said Arts Festival organizers select the Best in Show judges.

“It’s a mix of people who are involved with the Kimball Art Center and people who are involved with the arts fest,” she said. “We like to have a mix of people who are involved in the art world, those in the gallery side of things, some who are collectors and practicing artists. Of course we also have people who are familiar with the local art scene and national and global art world. That way we get a well-rounded group of people with all of these perspectives.” 

Some of the judges began their evaluations Friday night, said Aldy Milliken, Kimball Art Center executive director.

“They walked around to get a feel of things and then they started taking notes (Saturday),” he said. “Some started at 10 a.m. and took the whole day, and others took five or six hours.”

Best in Show recipients are automatically accepted into next year’s arts festival and don’t have to pay an application fee.

Gilson also hands out Best in Show banners the recipients can display anytime they are accepted into future Kimball Arts Festivals.

Juhlin, who grew up attending the festival in Park City, said the guaranteed acceptance into next year’s festival is the biggest prize. That means Juhlin has all year to work on pieces to bring. This year Juhlin was accepted off the waitlist, which only provided them about two months to “hole up” in their studio. Now Juhlin can create stress-free.

Adolfson, Juhlin and Wommack, who received their Best in Show nods Saturday night, also received a box of flowers, Gilson said.

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    Aldy Milliken, left, and Hillary Gilson award Heber City-based photographer Johnny Adolphson the Local Artist Best in Show award at the 2026 Kimball Arts Festival. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record
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    Johnny Adolphson, Heber City-based photographer, accepts the Local Artist Best in Show award at the 2026 Kimball Arts Festival. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record
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    Hillary Gilson, left presents Salt Lake City-based artist Paxton Juhlin with the Emerging Artist Best in Show award at the 2026 Kimball Arts Festival. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record
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    Aldy Milliken, left, and Hillary Gilson award Salt Lake City-based artist Paxton Juhlin the Emerging Artist Best in Show award at the 2026 Kimball Arts Festival. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record

“These were all provided by Flower Bar Co, who did arrangements in the VIP lounge, and some of our VIPs arranged the flowers to give to these three Best in Show winners,” she said.

The 2026 Park City Kimball Arts Festival Best in Show recipients

Overall Artist

Local Artist

Emerging Artist

Ceramic

Digital Art

Drawing

Fiber

Glass

Jewelry 

Metalwork

Mixed Media

Painting

Photography

Printmaking

Sculpture

Wood