GILMANTON — The award-winning work of a local artist is on display at the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester.

Rebecca Ronstadt of Gilmanton was one of eight artists in the state to be recognized with an award from the New Hampshire Arts Association. Her work, along with 49 pieces from artists living in New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont and Massachusetts, is on display at the Currier through Feb. 16, where the Art Association holds its annual art show.

She won the James and Eugenia Georgopoulos Memorial Award for Drawing for a hand-painted lithograph.

Ronstadt said she was honored to receive the award, as well as to be part of an exhibit that includes so many talented New Hampshire and New England artists.

The piece for which she received the award is a lithograph of a Peruvian flycatcher. She has another hand-painted lithograph of the flycatcher at home.

Ronstadt said she became interested in learning about birds and other animals through working at the New Hampshire Audubon Society, so she decided to do a series on birds called "Birds with Attitude."

Ronstadt said every bird is unique with its own personality.

"I've done them like one would do a profile on a person," Ronstadt said.

She said that, to her, the flycatcher she drew seemed to be saying, "What do you have to say about that?"

Another project Ronstadt is undertaking is creating a new edition of wildlife lithographs for the Audubon Society of America.

After publishing The Birds of America hand water-colored lithographs, John James Audubon, founder of the Audubon Society, completed a series of the mammals of North America called "The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America."

The mammal series, which includes 150 different animals, was produced between 1845 and 1848 and there has never been a second edition.

Ronstadt decided to change that after working with the Audubon Society of New Hampshire to help them curate their extensive collection of Audubon's mammal lithographs. She added that the group, headquartered in Concord, has 105 of the 150 images in the series.

Ronstadt said she is creating her new edition of lithographs by using the same lithography and hand-watercoloring techniques used by John James Audubon himself.

"In a way I'm recreating John Audubon's artistic journey," Ronstadt said. "I'm learning so much, sometimes I feel like he [Audubon] is looking over my shoulder and guiding me."

Ronstadt said that, after high school, she studied art at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts School and, with an eye toward one day running her own gallery, attended Harvard University's Institute of Arts Administration. She also has studied at the University of Oregon, Boston University, the University of Maryland and Simmons College.

But after college and a stint in the Peace Corps, she and her husband, Robert, founded a college textbook publishing company, Lord Publishing, Inc. That job, which entailed being a chief executive officer and a software packaging and book designer, was more than enough to keep her busy for more than 20 years, so she didn't create much independent art during that time.

In 2000, the couple moved to Texas and Ronstadt found a print studio and gallery there that got her creative juices flowing again.

Ronstadt said she realized that print art was a perfect art form for her, as it combined the things she loved with her extensive knowledge of printing techniques.

"It brings together paper, image, fine art and nature," Ronstadt said.

In addition to creating hand-painted lithographs of birds and other animals, Ronstadt said she likes to create images of objects that define the New Hampshire or Northern New England character.

She said images of Shaker benches and chairs, lamp posts and maple syrup buckets are examples.

"Things that say 'old New England', beautiful objects from times gone by," Ronstadt said.

Trevor Smith, curator of contemporary art at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass., was the juror of the New Hampshire Art Association's exhibit at the Currier and he decided which artists would receive prizes.

The awards were presented Jan. 16 at the New Hampshire Art Association exhibit opening and the exhibit, now in its 61st year, runs through Feb. 16 at the Currier Museum of Art.

There are 50 works in the exhibition representing work in all media, including painting, watercolor, photography and sculpture.

The artists chosen to be in the exhibition represent 33 New Hampshire communities from all corners of the Granite State, from Peterborough to Exeter and from Nashua to Gorham. Three communities in Maine and one community in Vermont also are represented.

Smith, a native of British Columbia, has worked in museums in Australia and served as curator at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York.

In a written statement, Smith explains how he judged and chose what he thought were the best pieces for the exhibit.

Smith writes about how, being new to New England, he lacked familiarity with the work of regional artists, though as a curator he has experienced art from around the world.

He adds that he seeks the extraordinary in art, not the commonplace.

"Instead of looking for art that confirms my suspicions about how things work, I want my conventional understanding challenged," Smith said. "I want to have my attention drawn to overlooked places and new perspectives drawn on timeworn subjects."

He added that he stands by his decisions of which pieces to award and which to show, "Because they somehow made me look anew," Smith said.

Other artists recognized include Ryan Lefebvre of Manchester who won the Currier Museum of Art "Best of Show" Award; Jane Kaufmann of Durham who won the Forrest D. McKerley Award for Sculpture; Susan Siegel of Auburn who won the Friel Award for Watercolor; Claudia Rippee of Manchester who won the Ezekiel A. Straw Memorial Award for Photography; Allan B. Hall of Brentwood who won the Miriam S. Sawyer Memorial Award for Painting; Robert Johnson Jr. of Bow who won the Dr. Paul and Duddy Costello Memorial Award for Mixed Media; and Ron McClure of Canterbury who won the Rosmond DeKalb Memorial Award for Pen/Pastel.

For more information about the Currier Museum of Art, call 669 -6144, ext. 108, or visit www. currier.org

To learn about the New Hampshire Art Association, call 431-4230 or visit nhartassociation.org.

DARYL CARLSON/CITIZEN PHOTO Gilmanton artist Rebecca Ronstadt is working on creating a second edition of famous wildlife artist John James Audubon's North America Mammal series.

DARYL CARLSON/CITIZEN PHOTO Gilmanton artist Rebecca Ronstadt is working on creating a second edition of famous wildlife artist John James Audubon's North America Mammal series