Greetings, you are receiving this newsletter because you are registered for our Artist Round Table Bi-Monthly Zoom Sessions. We will be sending a follow-up newsletter like this after each session to highlight the key points discussed during the roundtable.
Show Extended!
Deborah Kommalan’s show was extended until February 4th, 2022. Five of her works are included in the show titled 21 Artists in ‘21. The exhibition is held by Crystal Moll Gallery, Baltimore, MD. To view a fantastic flipbook of the current show please, scan the QR code above, or follow this LINK.
Guys, Debra Kierce needs your help! The reception of the show she and fellow artists Carrie Waller and Maria Bennett Hock organized is going virtual. The Big and Small of It: Women.Artists.Masters, and will be held at the historical The Mansion At Strathmore. Two-hour reception, which will be from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Zoom Thursday, January 20th, 2022, is going to be mostly them answering questions about their art and show. Debra has asked if you guys can send her questions to keep the reception entertaining. If you have a question in mind, please email it to Debra to this EMAIL.
Congratulations to Debra! She will be traveling to Florida this month to attend a show at The Miniature Art Society of Florida, where she participates every year. Miniature art is a specialty art. It is often highly detailed work, exquisite in color with a strength of composition that can more than compete with larger paintings. A compositional guide requires a gentle, no more than 1/6th scale of the actual subject. This year, not only is Debra exhibiting, but she is also a juror for The Miniature Artists of America. She will be one of several selecting new signature members for the society.
A big congratulations to Julie Beck! She will be one of the honorable judges for the Duxbury Art Association’s Annual Winter Juried Show this year. The show is known as one of the most prestigious juried competitions in the region of Boston.
We do not know how Natalie does it! She is in two shows that are running consecutively at Providence Art Club Providence, RI. (and we are sure she has a million other things going on 
Show #1: Class and Instructor Exhibition 2022. Natalie’s painting A Doggone Good Party (11x14", Oil on Panel) is on view in Maxwell Mays and Mary Castelnovo Gallery. This show will feature works created by students who participated in some of the Art Club’s 60+ classes and workshops over the course of 2021.
Show #2: New Year, New Members Exhibition 2022. Natalie’s painting Under Lock and Key (10x13", Oil on Panel) is On view in Dodge House Gallery.
Both shows are on display from January 9th until January 20th, 2022.
Big congratulations go out to Jamie Lindholm! Her painting Roots of Universal Optimism (36x24", Oil on Panel) was selected for inclusion with The New Vanguard: Explorations into the New Contemporary III exhibition at Keep Contemporary Gallery, Santa Fe, NM. The exhibition will run from January 17th to February 19th, 2022
Compliments to Dennis DeLomba! He has sold the majority of his twelve-painting collection of lemon studies at the recent 117th Annual Little Pictures Exhibit at the Providence Art Club, Providence, RI. The show ended on December 23rd, 2021, after a two-month run. First held in 1904, the Little Pictures Show & Sale is the oldest and largest exhibition of its kind in the United States. For more on the history of the show, follow this LINK.
This week the Bates Method came up in discussion and Anthony was quick to look into it. He writes, “I had honestly never heard of it before. When I did begin to research why it had never crossed my desk I immediately found out why—it exists in the realm of pseudoscience. From the basic Wikipedia description: “ The Bates method is an ineffective and potentially dangerous alternative therapy aimed at improving eyesight. Eye-care physician William Horatio Bates (1860–1931) held the erroneous belief that the extraocular muscles affected changes in focus and that “mental strain” caused abnormal action of these muscles; hence he believed that relieving such “strain” would cure defective vision.[1][2] In 1952, optometry professor Elwin Marg wrote of Bates, “Most of his claims and almost all of his theories have been considered false by practically all visual scientists.”[3][4]
No type of training has been shown to change the refractive power of the eye. [5] Moreover, certain aspects of the Bates method can put its followers at risk: they might damage their eyes through overexposure to sunlight, not wear their corrective lenses while driving, or neglect conventional eye care, possibly allowing serious conditions to develop.[3][6] ”
There is also a lengthy entry on the pseudoscience debunking site RationalWiki HERE.
Alexandra Smith was kind enough to send along some of the links for proponents of this method if you would like to investigate the method and the claims that surround it further:
Bates Method
Articles about Eyesight
Z Health Vision Gym
Z Health Vision Training Blog Post
The topic of re-working older works also grew into a good discussion this week after Anthony spotted a social media post (via Tim Newton) about Dan Sprick’s editing of older work. (image above)
Many engage in edits like this, including illustrator Donato Giancola who made many rather playful additions on this piece (image below) for the Rehs Contemporary show “Imagine.”
Thank you, Natalie Featherston, for recommending Holbein Painting Knives. The knives she is swearing by and has been using one for more than 25 years. Holbein Series S 1066S Painting Knives are made in Japan, and Natalie likes #32 and #39. Check them out, see what # is best for you.
For anyone who would like to try the method of flattening paint topography by introducing a flattening agent as mentioned this week, Alexandra Smith recommends Who Gives a ■■■■ toilet paper. Who Gives A ■■■■ toilet paper is made from 100% recycled paper with no dyes, inks, or scents.
Thank you, Julie Beck, for sharing a link to the Makeup Wedges Sponges that can be used for the same purpose.
Thank you Lorena Pugh for sharing the Judging Rubric that she uses when judging each piece of artwork. The Rubric is just a rough example of how she judges the pieces to be chosen for a show.
Anthony is sending a HUGE thank you to Sharon Lloyd Hourigan! Sharon recently painted this custom work for Anthony and the subject matter could not be more appropriate. For Anthony , (5x7", Oil on Panel).