abstrac art

By Kelsey Roseth

Inside a bright, sunlit studio in Duluth’s Lakeside neighborhood, artist AJ Atwater works on an abstract painting while I watch in silence, taken by her process. Using fingers covered with flecks of dried, sky-blue acrylic paint, she tapes the blank canvas into sections, dips her paintbrushes into a bottle of light orange acrylic, and begins to create. She moves as though the brush is an extension of her arm –fluidly and effortlessly – and every few minutes she steps back to observe her work. It’s a sight to behold.

“To me one of the most important things as you paint, or really as you do anything, is that you approach it from an honest standpoint,” said the artist, fiction writer, and founder of AJ Atwater Art as she explained to me her

For Women

process on why she lays tape down first. “Structure is the number one, the most important art component,” she said.

Art creation is the foundation of Atwater’s life. Even as she talks about her background, she does so by using the shape of a triangle to help describe her journey to who she is today. Born near Minnesota’s

Lake of the Woods, Atwater now lives in Duluth and often travels to New York City to paint. Those three locations serve as the lines in her triangle, each one reliant on the other. Each location holds a special place in Atwater’s heart, and it’s apparent in her work.

About twice per year, she spends a couple months in Manhattan to paint at The Art Students League of New York, an independent school that provides atelier studio art classes. Some classes Atwater has taken were taught by one of Atwater’s friends and mentors, abstract painter Ronnie Landfield. In the early mornings of her New York visits, she paints from a bright studio in Chinatown and smiles when she recalls that she has painted some of her best work there. “Being [in New York] solidified a lot of things in my art,” said Atwater. “Artists typically, throughout the ages, have left where they lived…I think it’s really critical for artists to leave home and see what awaits them out in the world.”

The remainder of the year, Atwater spends in Duluth, painting in her minimalist art studio and home, and teaching private classes to women. “I bring some of that experience, and feeling, and that sense of what it’s like to paint in the art capital of the world, back to my studio art classes here,” said

Atwater.

Women who attend her two-day sessions are provided with a private, safe space where they can shed their shyness and share their voices. Atwater has designed the courses around conversation, the exchange of ideas, and “offering the opportunity for women

Sieh He nderson Grou p to find what they’re capable of,” said Atwater. One of the reasons she chooses to focus on cultivating art by women is because so many masterpieces are painted by men and have women as models – they’re not often painted by women.

In this space, questions are

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Topics of conversation include the basics of art, such as composition, balance, and structure, or why a color palate was chosen by the student. “All of these things we are going to have a conversation about, going back and forth,” said Atwater. Classes begin in her “Work Women’s Corner,” where she teaches students the traditional study of structure and art elements before moving onto the canvas. At various stages throughout the class, Atwater and her student rest in her comfortable home gallery and talk about what happened in the painting. Students are also encouraged to share why they’re called to paint.

Atwater’s classes are offered to all skill levels, from beginning painters to advanced artists. Each class is two days, back-to-back, consisting of five hours per day (10 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.). Students have the freedom to choose their preferred two days. The goal is for students to begin with a blank canvas and leave proudly with a fine art painting and a new appreciation of their talents.

Atwater’s “Paint Abstract Landscapes” class is $200, and she offers a “Paint Abstract Landscapes-Paint with a Friend” class which costs $300. To explore Atwater’s art or experience a class, visit ajatwater.com D

Kelsey Roseth is a Duluth freelance multimedia journalist and writer.