October 2014 Newsletter

Weekly critique group: Tuesday 1PM at the Santa Cruz Art League 526 Broadway, Santa Cruz. The first Tuesday and third Tuesday will be an open paint day and/or presentation day.  These have proved to be enjoyable.  Bring your supplies and join us.

Plein Aire: Thursdays (Call Shirley for location and time.)

If you would like to receive the membership newsletter for contact information on Plein Aire and other membership events, please refer to ‘contact page’ and become a member.   ($35 yearly)

 Members exhibits:

Nancy Howe  will be hanging paintings at “Carried Away”, Aptos Center @7564 Soquel Dr.  The show will run from Nov. 10 through the Holidays.

 Coastal Art Alliance ( Linda Lord, Anne Harding, Lee Taiz, Sammy Fantham, Judy Feinman, Jere Ann Hall, Marilee Gregory, Nancy Howe) is showing at the Hind Quarter

Member News:

Nancy Riedell is making a permanent move to Portland OR. She is moving on Nov. 8th. and has obtained an art studio in an old warehouse on Hoyt Street in the arts district. She hopes to be in next year’s Open Studios in Portland.

Nanct Riedell, 320 NW Hoyt Street next to the Williamette River in the Pearl District (the art district), Portland, OR.  To contact: nancy@nancyriedellfinearts.com

***

The 2014 UCSC Fall Emeriti Lecture will feature Lincoln Taiz speaking on “Agriculture, Population Growth, and the Challenge of Climate Change.”  7:00 p.m., Wednesday, November 19th, at the UCSC Music Recital Hall.  The event is free and open to the public.  Doors open at 6:30 p.m.  Free parking is available in the performing arts lot. Please refer to the events section on this website for more information.

Exhibit Opportunities:

The Santa Cruz Watercolor Society has engaged the Blitzer Gallery (Please see photos under events): 2801 Mission St. (the old Wrigley building) www.rblitzergallery.com for our 2015 annual show for November of next year. Our reception will be on Nov. 6 which will be part of Santa Cruz’s First Friday event. It is a beautiful space and we are excited to the challenges that this new venue offers.

There is a plan in place to put aside space in the 2015 annual show at the Blitzer Gallery that will be devoted to a historical perspective of the Watercolor Society. There will be a narrative telling of the history of the organization: Bernie Waymire, Bess Blodgett, Lloyd Organ, Janet Rillet, Lois Monagham, Emily Clark, Marian Goodman, Jo Juett, Jan Moss, Gail Karen, Dave Mcguire (who many credit with establishing the format of the Crit Group) and Melita Israel and Shirley Motmans who are presently holding the original plein air together. If any significant others have been left out out, please inform Aimée. Also if you have any visuals of pieces or events that would be interesting within this context, please send them to Aimée or plan to bring them to the annual meeting or Crit so that Aimée can photograph.  The postcard for 2015′s show will reflect the history. (Blitzer Gallery is assuming some of the costs for 2015′s card.)

Note to membership: The Society is considering a $10 yearly fee for maintaining artist pages on the website (to pay an annual hosting fee with Iversen Design.)  A reminder also that to have a page on the website, you must be a member, so if you haven’t yet paid your 2014 annual membership ($35), please send it soon.  Our annual meeting date will be posted soon.

Classes:

Watercolor -Thursday, Linda Lord to begin January 8

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. Levels: All  Offered: 6 Thurs. To begin again in the new year, Time:1:00- 4:00pm Fee:$145 / $125 Members Levels: All   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.

Abstract Painting & Drawing- Thursday- Larry Harden

Enjoy the excitement and satisfaction of learning to create and appreciate abstract drawing and painting. Have fun experimenting, developing and understanding the use of tools (line,shape,color,texture & value,) elements and principles of abstract design/composition.By sharing through individual & group critiques,each student will be encouraged to develop his/her own uniquely personal language as an abstract artist. You will use both wet & dry materials: India ink, watercolors, graphite, oil & chalk pastel, charcoal and mixed media.Oils & acrylics may be explored if you wish. Levels:All (no experience necessary) Offered: 6 Thurs. beginning

Oct. 30, (no class Nov. 27) Time:9:00am-12:30pm, Fee:$145 / $125 Members. First class,supplies provided for $20 material fee. Supply list provided at first class. Instructor: Larry Harden holds an MFA from Maryland Institute, Collage of Art. He has over 30 years of experience as an art instructor in public, private schools and college level. He has exhibited his work on the East and West Coasts, notably New York University, the Corcoran Gallery of Art and Addison/Ripley Gallery in D.C. Locally at the MAH, Ventana Gallery and Open Studios. See Larry’s work @http://larryharden.com/blog/?page_id=916

Botanical Art in Watercolor  – Maria Cecilia Freeeman 

In this workshop you’ll learn a practical, traditional approach to drawing and painting a botanical subject – from study to finished work. Botanical art involves both accuracy and artistic technique, but you don’t need to be a botanist, and beginners as well as experienced artists are welcome. We’ll go through a process of observation, drawing, composing, color mixing, and techniques of watercolor brushwork particular to botanical art. You’ll get individual attention as you draw and paint. We’ll work with fall colors in live plant specimens (to be provided): leaves, rose hips, a flower of the

season.Bring lunch. Bring a bag lunch. Offered: Nov.. 15 & 16, 9am-3:30pm. Level: All Fee: $150 / $130 Members. Instructor: Maria Cecilia Freeman is a professional artist with 20 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 at Kew Gardens, London. You can see her work at her website: mcf-art.com.

Foundations of Watercolor #2- JoNeal Boic

It is true, possibly…that watercolor requires more knowledge of the paints than other media. However, I believe it’s a fallacy that it is the most difficult medium! Come and learn the basics with a seasoned teacher of 40 years (wow! am I really that old?). We will review color theory and how it applies to watercolor. You will practice the techniques of wet into wet, washes, glazing, creating hard and soft edges. You will learn the most important tools for watercolor and you will see for yourself that most errors are repairable. At the end you will have 3 or 4 small finished projects to mat and frame, not to mention and have had a whole lot of fun. Oh yes, I am ALL about painting and fun!!  Bring a lunch. Offered: Dec.13 & 14. Time: 9:00 – 3:30,  Fee: $150 / $130 Members. Level: Beginner. Instructor: Jo-Neal Boic: Jo-Neal comes to us with 40 years of teaching experience, more than 20 of them working for Santa Cruz City Schools. She began painting in watercolor 25 years ago, then returned to school so that she could teach painting and art at the secondary level. During that years leave she studied fresco painting and restoration, serigraphy and oils in Florence, Italy. Her first love will always be watercolor but recently she has been painting in oils, acrylics, pastels, as well as on silk, which she also marbles. 

Painting Animals, Vanda Lavar (NEW)

The teacher will demo and give instructions in the various media, depending on mediums used in the class for the animal portraiture. If the student is a novice, Ms Lavar asks that they email their reference photo to her in advance so she might provide an outlined drawing for their benefit. Offered Oct. 25 & 26, 9-3:30, Level: All, Fee $150/$130 SCAL member. Instructor: Vanda Lavar 30 years of experience as an artist with clientele including the Bradford Exchange and Sprint Long Distance Network. She has taught At Risk kids as well as adults. Her MFA is pending at Academy of Art in San Francisco. She is an 2014 Open Studio Artist. Please email photos or questions toartistvanda1@gmail.com or call 415 939 8604415 939 8604.http://www.etsy.com/shop/artistvanda , http://www.surfcityart.net 

Fertile Ground: Art and Community in California  September 20, 2014–April 12, 2015

Fertile Ground: Art and Community in California illuminates local histories and social forces that changed the face of art in—and beyond—the Golden State. Weaving together art and ephemera from the collections of the Oakland Museum of California and SFMOMA, the exhibition tells the stories of four creative communities at decisive moments in the history of California art: the circle of artists who worked with, influenced, and were influenced by Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo in San Francisco in the 1930s; the legendary painters and photographers associated with the California School of Fine Arts in the 1940s and 1950s, including Mark Rothko, Clyfford Still, Richard Diebenkorn, David Park, Minor White, and Imogen Cunningham; the free-spirited faculty and students at UC Davis in the 1960s and 1970s, such as Robert Arneson, Wayne Thiebaud, William T. Wiley, and Bruce Nauman; and the streetwise, uncompromisingly idealistic artists at the center of a vibrant new Mission scene that took root in the 1990s through the present, including Barry McGee, Chris Johanson, Margaret Kilgallen, Amy Franceschini,  Ruby Neri, Alicia McCarthy, and Rigo 23, along with many others. Focusing equally on the artworks and the contexts that fostered their creation, Fertile Ground presents an intimate and textured history of personal relationships, artistic breakthroughs, and transformative social change.

Fertile Ground: Art and Community in California is jointly organized by the Oakland Museum of California and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.