ART & CREATIVITY Workshops: From Purely Fun To Challenging
By Laurie Lamont Murray
What are you doing just for yourself this summer? Is there something you've been looking forward to, maybe a plan to recharge your batteries?
Another Local Girl Makes Good story: Mary Rinderle Smith serves on the board of the Delaware Valley Art League as Membership Director. She is the person who guides prospective members through the application process and then goes the extra mile to make sure they feel welcome and able to take advantage of all the opportunities that await. In her
Painter's Paradise by Blanche Levitt Torphy
Getting away for a few days always seems to offer a fresh perspective, and when it might help you professionally, who can argue against that! Blanche Levitt Torphy has wonderful memories of a workshop taught by 3 master pastelists on Madeleine Island, Wisconsin last summer. Participating artists were encouraged to take in the scenery and write down their thoughts and feelings about the atmosphere, colors and direction of light. From there, they jumped into their paintings wholeheartedly, without thumbnails or underpainting.
spare time (!) Mary has had a painting accepted into the IAPS (International Association of Pastel Societies) Convention exhibit, which is an extremely competitive field. She has also just won Best of Show in the highly respected Maryland Pastel Society. Mary would be excited just to be revisiting New Mexico, but at this point she is over the moon!
Blanche is the founding president of the Philadelphia Pastel Society, which will have its first National Open Exhibition at the Community Arts Center in Wallingford in September. Quite an accomplishment! Meanwhile, she is off to Albuquerque for the International Association of Pastel Societies (IAPS) Convention for more workshops, exhibits and Longwood Flowers by Jenn Hallgren award ceremonies.
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THE HAVERFORD NEWS
Not everyone wants to travel, so it is fortunate that many wonderful workshops can be found locally. Jenn Hallgren teaches Senior Art Camps in Fairmont Park during the summer through the Philadelphia Department of Parks and Recreation. For a nominal fee, students can experiment with a whole range of materials, and both lunch and art supplies are included! Jenn also teaches adults at the Michener Museum of Art, where she incorporates the Michener art collection into class curriculums. (The Michener Museum is renowned for its collection of impressionist landscapes and 19th century portraits as well as arts and crafts furniture, the beautiful Nakashima Reading Room and the outdoor Sculpture Garden.) Reading about Jenn's numerous affiliations is almost intimidating: She has been involved with multiple galleries, art organizations, Boards and committees. Still she manages to be a prolific painter, which she says “is pretty much all I want to do.”
Coneflower Parade by Mary Rinderle Smith
Finally, some safflower oil (yes, oil!) was used to extend drying time and thus allow some layering. Tammy now enjoys packing Cobra brand water-based oil paints when she travels, but for local plein air work she still loves her traditional oil paints.
Whether workshops and classes are local or destination getaways, the Hopefully these narratives have desire to learn something new is whet your creative appetites! If most people's plan. But what if you this article finds you in mid learn more than you bargained for? Summer without a workshop What if your fundamental available, check local schools, understanding of materials and universities and art centers for one processes you are successful with is you may not have seen. Or gear up challenged? Like most artists, for Fall? Plan a really wonderful Tammy Hutchinson knows that oil escape for next Summer? and water don't mix, ever. Except Anticipation is half the fun! when they do! Tammy is affiliated with the venerable Howard Pyle Note: Artworks shown here may studio, where she recently took have been selected by the author part in a water- based oil painting for color and subject matter. workshop. (Water based oils were developed as a healthier alternative to traditional, sometimes carcinogenic paints and they also dry faster, which makes transporting one's art much easier.) Tammy's first surprise came when the group was instructed to paint directly onto their canvases instead of toning them. Then paint was applied in a watercolor-like consistency and moved across the paint surface with a squeegee. Hagley's Water is by Tammy Hutchinson.
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