Weekly Critique group: Tuesday 1PM at the Santa Cruz Art League 526 Broadway.
The third Tuesday will be an open paint day and/or presentation day. These have proved to be enjoyable. Bring your supplies and join us. *note: We have eliminated the first Tuesday as an open paint day.
A reminder: Please send your SCWS annual $35 dues to Dale Johnson. Also, if you have a gallery page on this website, please remember to also send a $10 fee to take care of the annual hosting fee with Iversen Design. Also reminder: you must be a member to have a page on the website. If you are needing a refresher on posting on your page, please contact Aimée.
Plein Air: Thursdays (Call Shirley for location and time- Shirley’s phone number appears on the membership calendar on this site.)
If you would like to receive the membership newsletter for contact information on Plein Air and other membership events, please refer to ‘contact page’ and become a member. ($35 yearly)
Show Opportunities:
Santa Cruz Watercolor Society annual show at the Blitzer Gallery for the month of August:
Now is the time to secure your entry. Please send entry fees to Dale Johnson 709 Walnut Ave Santa Cruz 95060
Membership and $100 for essentially a ten foot hanging space, $35 for single entries and $25 for 2nd and 3rd entries. (Guidelines for the ten foot spaces can be found in the SCWS April 2016 Newsletter on this website.) We encourage your entries to be for sale. When you are pricing please remember that the gallery holds 20% of the sale price. Please commit to entries by June 30, 2017. I will need your name, the entry fee the titles, sizes and prices of your entries. Sometime in June I will email a form for the entries. Please just type in the information within the format so that I can paste it all together in a consistent manner. All pieces need to be framed and ready to hang. *Please use white matting. If your framing varies from this, please consult with Linda or Aimée. The hanging committee will attempt to make the show cohesive if there is any variation. The option for matted entries will also continue. If you have reserved the ten foot option, you may also share a bin for up to 10 matted entries. Last year’s show included 5 shared bins. We need to continue sharing bins. Otherwise the show becomes too crowded. I will also need a record of the matted pieces, their titles and prices for cataloging.
List of entries will be received in June (sent to: Aimee Nelson 229 Fridley Drive Santa Cruz 95060)
Classes:
Santa Cruz Art League:
Watercolor – Linda Lord – Thursday
This class is geared to facilitate those who have never painted and those who have advanced their skills. Most class sessions will include a demo and then time to work on the elements of the demo. Information on materials, including colors and “gimmicks”,and tools is given throughout the six-week period. The goal of this class is to encourage the joy of painting, while improving skills and knowledge.This is a “fun” class, so bring a sense of humor and whatever materials you have and enjoy. Instructor: Linda Lord is a self-trained artist and illustrator with over 16 years teaching experience in her studio and via the SC Watercolor Society; an Open Studio artist whose exhibits include Cozumel, Mexico. Linda also publishes with a decorative art publisher.
Level: All. Offered: 6 Thurs., beginning: June 22nd, 1 to 4pm Fee: $155 / $135 Members
Botanical Art in Graphite, Watercolor and Colored Pencil- Mondays
Traditional botanical art involves accuracy as well as artistic technique and creativity. It brings out the beauty in detail and leads to a new perception of our plant subjects. But you don’t need to be a botanist, and artists at all levels are welcome (some drawing experience helps). We’ll work with graphite pencil, watercolor and colored pencil. You’ll get plenty of individual attention as you draw and paint, to challenge and encourage you at your own level of skill. You may bring plant subjects of your choice or you may choose to work with botanical specimens that will be provided. Instructor: Maria Cecilia Freeman is a professional artist with 25 years of experience bridging scientific illustration and botanical fine art. Her award-winning drawings and paintings have appeared in solo and juried exhibitions across the U.S. and in Europe. You can see her work at her website: mcf-art.com.
Workshops:
Bonnie Carver
See her flyer under ‘events’
Greetings to Fellow Watercolor Societies from the National Watercolor Society,
We are pleased to announce two upcoming workshops, one with Bob Burridge and the other with Geoffrey McCormick, and our Call For Entry to the National Watercolor Society International Exhibit. I have enclosed copies of these three events for your use in your newsletters and/or to show to your members at your upcoming meetings. We hope you will encourage your members to enter the International Exhibit. We expect the awards to again be very high and magazine publicity for the First Place Award. If you have members interested in either workshop to be held in San Pedro, CA, our headquarters, I can tell you that the town has nice hotels and restaurants, is on the water with picturesque marinas and a major Port, numerous small art venues and is in proximity to Los Angeles. If you have any questions, the information and phone numbers can be found on our website. Thanks so much for your interest.
Beatrice Trautman
“Improvisational Watermedia”
Contemporary materials for contemporary times
Robert Burridge Workshop
Workshop: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday May 22,23,24, 2017 • 10am–3pm Demo/Lecture: Sunday May21,2017 • 10am–Noon
NWS Gallery, San Pedro, CA
Register online – www.nationalwatercolorsociety.org
This powerful painting course will cover the latest in avant-garde watermedia materials and techniques that Bob is currently doing. The new Burridge bright and vibrant Color Wheel and Design Composition principles are emphasized. You will learn how to create with higher intentions and personal stuff. Be ready to create a huge frenzy of painting on paper or watercolor canvases in a variety of subject matters. Watercolor varnish techniques included. Plenty of time for personal critiques; daily demos and handouts included. Not your normal watercolor techniques class! Think experimental, contemporary
Aquamedia Painting. Bob Burridge – robertburridge.com
Workshop and Demonstration held at
Further inquiries contact Penny Hill: Phone; 760-908-3389, eMail; NWSAnnualExhib@gmail.com
Enrollment will be processed in order received. Register online – it’s easier & speedier. To register by mail, send the form below with a check payable to NWS to:
NWS Workshops, c/o Penny Hill, 1145 Barham Drive #130, San Marcos, CA 92078 ————-
Be prepared for a different approach to water media in Geoffrey McCormack’s latest three-day workshop at the NWS. Geoff is an emerging master of aqua-media, best known for his Rock series and Cardboard Box series: images with startling realistic textures, colors, perspective, lighting and shadows. His compositions form an intriguing interplay of shapes and
contrasting values, often with objects appearing to float on multiple planes. 2016 saw Geoff shift his
focus to an abstract series using all the features of his preceding series. He will share studio practices and techniques he developed or learned over fifty years as a professional artist. He will demonstrate an array of new materials, tools and techniques, revealing just how and why he creates such distinctive paintings. Geoff will focus on designing paintings with an engaging point of view, using rich color triads, unique textural effects, and dramatic lighting. You will combine these techniques and tools with your favorite aqua-media in a series of exercises and paintings. You will get several demos daily, personal instruction and critiques, plus plenty of painting time. Advanced beginners to masters will benefit from applying these new techniques and materials, suitable for abstract and representational painters. Special masking materials and films will be supplied the instructor.
aws, nws, cws www.mcsurf.com
Workshop and Demonstration held at the NWS Gallery 915 South Pacific Ave, SanPedro, CA 90731. Further inquiries contact Penny Hill: Phone; 760-908-3389, eMail; NWSAnnualExhib@gmail.com Enrollment will be processed in order received. Register online – it’s easier & speedier.
A Series of Good Ideas….That Work!
Geoff McCormack Workshop Workshop: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 24, 25, 2017 • 10am to 3pm Demo/Lecture: Sunday, Oct. 22, 2017 • 10am–Noon NWS Gallery, San Pedro, CA Register online – www.nationalwatercolorsociety.org
Exhibits Around Town:
At the MAH
The Museum is located in downtown Santa Cruz at
705 Front Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Phone: (831) 429-1964
Fax: (831) 429-1954
Museum Hours
Tuesdays – Sundays: 11am – 5pm, Fridays until 9pm.
Community Festivals on the 1st and 3rd Friday evenings each month.
Closed Mondays,
We Who Work: Prints and Tapestries by Hung Liu: March 3rd 2017 – June 25th 2017
Honor laborers past, present and future with vibrant portraits from Hung Liu alongside tools from Santa Cruz County workers and stories by Working for Dignity.
Explore tapestries and mixed media prints by artistHung Liu— one of the most renowned Chinese artists living in United States today. Raised in China during the Cultural Revolution, Hung Liu creates vibrant portraits that honor workers– shoemakers, soldiers, farmers and more. Based off historical Chinese photographs, Liu’s prints and tapestries (many never seen before) not only celebrate workers (particularly women) but also expand the idea of what it means to “work.” Alongside Liu’s work will be tools from Community members and photos of local day workers from Working For Dignity artists Edward Ramirez and Leo Alas.
Hung Liu was born in Changchun, China in 1948, growing up under the Maoist regime. Trained in Socialist Realism, Liu studied mural painting at the Central Academy of Fine Art in Beijing before immigrating to the US in 1984 to attend the University of California, San Diego. A two time recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in painting, Liu also received a Lifetime Achievement Award in Printmaking from the Southern Graphics Council International in 2011. Hung Liu lives in Oakland, and exhibits internationally. We Who Work presents a collection of prints, tapestries, and cast resin paintings Hung Liu created in collaboration with master printers atPaulson Bott Press, Magnolia Editions, and Trillium Graphics.
Also at the MAH:
Miguel Arzabe: April 2017 – January 2018 (Stairwell Installation)
View colorful paper weavings by Miguel Arzabe as you climb the museum stairs.
Miguel Arzabe transforms discarded paper into colorful weavings. Honoring his Andean heritage, Miguel’s patterns celebrate cultures that preceded and continue to survive colonization. He uses promotional materials from contemporary art exhibits and fairs. By collecting, cutting, and remixing images of artworks that are not his own, Miguel questions authorship and how value is created in contemporary art.
Miguel Arzabe is a San Francisco-based visual artist who works across media, including painting, video, and paper weaving. Arzabe’s work has been featured in such festivals as Hors Pistes (Centre Pompidou, Paris) and the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma (Montreal); and in museums and galleries including RM Projects (Auckland), FIFI Projects (Mexico City), Marylhurst University (Oregon), Berkeley Art Museum, Albuquerque Museum of Art, the de Young Museum, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He has held many residencies including Headlands Center for the Arts, Montalvo Arts Center, and Santa Fe Art Institute. He holds a BS from Carnegie Mellon University, an MS from Arizona State University, and an MFA from UC Berkeley.
Exhibits In Bay Area:
Legion of Honor
https://legionofhonor.famsf.org/exhibitions/monet-early-years Monet: The Early Years February 25, 2017 – May 29, 2017
ROSEKRANS COURT, SPECIAL EXHIBITION GALLERIES 20B-F
Monet: The Early Years will be the first major US exhibition devoted to the initial phase of Claude Monet’s (French, 1840–1926) career. Through approximately sixty paintings, the exhibition demonstrates the radical invention that marked the artist’s development during the formative years of 1858 to 1872. In this period the young painter developed his unique visual language and technique, creating striking works that manifested his interest in painting textures and the interplay of light upon surfaces.
This exhibition is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience Monet’s mastery before Impressionism, and includes paintings that are profoundly daring and surprising. Depictions of moments both large and small, with friends and loved ones, in the solitude of forests and fields and in the quiet scenes of everyday, offer new revelations about an artist that many consider to be ubiquitous.
With a selection of works gathered from some of the most important international collections – the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and other public and private collections worldwide – Monet: The Early Years authoritatively demonstrates the artist’s early command of many genres, not only the landscapes for which he has become so renowned but also still lifes, portraits and genre scenes.
This exhibition follows the Legion of Honor’s strong history of showing highly important moments in French Impressionism. By following Monet before Impressionism, visitors can see the emergence of his style and how he helped shape the movement. Monet: The Early Years will be on view at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco from February 25 through May 29, 2017. This is the first of two exhibitions curated by George Shackelford, Deputy Director of the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas to examine the full artistic career of Claude Monet. The companion exhibition, Monet: The Late Years, will come to San Francisco in 2019. Esther Bell is the curator of both exhibitions for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
Legion of Honor
https://legionofhonor.famsf.org/exhibitions/degas-impressionism-and-paris-millinery-trade
Degas, Impressionism, and the Paris Millinery Trade
June 24, 2017 – September 24, 2017
ROSEKRANS COURT, SPECIAL EXHIBITION GALLERIES 20B-F
Degas, Impressionism, and the Paris Millinery Trade is a groundbreaking exhibition featuring 60 Impressionist paintings and pastels, including key works by Degas—many never before exhibited in the United States—as well as those by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Édouard Manet, Mary Cassatt, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and 40 exquisite examples of period hats.
Best known for his depictions of Parisian dancers and laundresses, Edgar Degas (French, 1834-1917) was enthralled with another aspect of life in the French capital—high-fashion hats and the women who created them. The artist, invariably well-dressed and behatted himself, “dared to go into ecstasies in front of the milliners’ shops,” Paul Gauguin wrote of his lifelong friend.
Degas’ fascination inspired a visually compelling and profoundly modern body of work that documents the lives of what one fashion writer of the day called “the aristocracy of the workwomen of Paris, the most elegant and distinguished.” Yet despite the importance of millinery within Degas’s oeuvre, there has been little discussion of its place in Impressionist iconography.
The exhibition will be the first to examine the height of the millinery trade in Paris, from around 1875 to 1914, as reflected in the work of the Impressionists. At this time there were around 1,000 milliners working in what was then considered the fashion capital of the world.
This exhibition is organized by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the Saint Louis Art Museum. Presenting Sponsor: John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn and Diane B. Wilsey. Patron’s Circle: Marion Moore Cope.
The catalogue is published with the assistance of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Endowment for Publications.
Interesting articles/websites:
Interesting Articles and Websites:
Lee Taiz emailed these beautiful and inspiring photographs. I do not know the source or the photographers of these but am thoroughly enjoying looking at them.
Aimée
Note from the numbering that there were more, but these particularly caught my attention:
1 | A tree growing through an abandoned piano
2 | Overgrown palace, Poland
In 1910, this grand palace was built as a home for Polish Royalty. The rest of the century proved uncertain for the country and under communist rule the palace became an agricultural school, as well as a home for mentally handicapped adults and children. The former palace was deserted following the fall of the USSR.
3 | Jet Star Rollercoaster, Seaside Heights, New Jersey
The Jet Star Rollercoaster was left submerged in the Atlantic Ocean after Superstorm Sandy in 2013. It stood rusting for six months, until it was plucked from the sea.
4 | Abandoned House in the Woods
5 | Church in St. Etienne, France
6 | An abandoned church with a few lingering parishioners, Netherlands
7 | Doll factory, Spain
8 | Tree growing around an abandoned bicycle
10 | Floating forest, Sydney, Australia
11 | Movie theater in Detroit, Michigan
13 | Victorian-style tree house, Florida, USA
1
14 | Forgotten Bugattis
16 | Chemin de fer de Petite Ceinture, France
17 | Spreepark, Berlin, Germany
Spreepark, opened in 1969, was the only amusement park in East Berlin during Soviet rule. When the wall fell, bigger and better parks opened, leading to Spreeparks closure in 2001.
18 | Library, Russia
19 | Island Home, Finland
22 | Staircase to nowhere, Pismo Beach, California
Once giving access to the beach, the walkway that connected this staircase to the bluffs has long since rotted away.
23 | Nara Dreamland, Japan
Nara Dreamland was built in 1961 after Disneyland took the world by storm. The entrance to the park was almost identical to Disneyland and included its own version of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle. The park closed in 2006 because of low visitor numbers.
25 | Abandoned Jetty
27 | An abandoned waterpark
28 | Boathouse, Obersee Lake, Germany
31 | Church in the snow, Canada
33 | Soviet naval testing station in Makhachkala, Russia
34 | Church steeple peeking out of a frozen lake, Reschen, Italy
Lake Reschen is an artifical reservoir which submerged several villages and a 14th century church.