Artist Round Table Bi-Monthly Zoom Session Follow-Up Newsletter
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. ll of us at Ani Art Academies wish you and yours a safe, healthy, and prosperous new year!
Congratulations to Jamie Lindholm! Her drawing David (17x11", Charcoal) was selected as a Finalist in the Non-Commissioned Portrait category in the Portrait Society of America’s Members Only Competition.
More praise for Jamie! Her painting The Interconnectedness of Perspectives (36x18.5", Oil on Polyester Canvas mounted on board) will be headed to the Custom House Museum in Tennessee for the Breaking Through: The Rise of American Women Artists exhibition. Located in the heart of Historic Downtown Clarksville, Tennessee, the Customs House Museum & Cultural Center is a non-profit 501c3 organization dedicated to the encouragement of preservation, education, appreciation, and exploration. Partially housed in the architecturally astonishing 1898 Federal Post Office, the Museum & Cultural Center encompasses over 35,000 square feet of award-winning exhibitions, interactive exploration areas for children of all ages, and beautiful spaces for special events. The mission of the museum is to collect, preserve and interpret historical, artistic, and scientific material. The show will be up in March 2022, with exact dates TBA.
This November the art world lost yet another artist - Cory Trépanier. Cory was born in Windsor, Ontario, and was a Canadian landscape painter and filmmaker best known for his detailed oil paintings of the Canadian wilderness. He was also the creator of five films documenting his extensive painting journeys. To view his amazing films, exploring the arctic please follow the LINK. Thank you Shawna for recommending Cory’s book Into the Arctic: Painting Canada’s Changing North . The book features the most ambitious body of artwork ever devoted to the Far North of Canada. Cory Trépanier journeyed to the Arctic five times between 2006 and 2018, traveling more than 60,000 kilometers to visit over a dozen Inuit communities and six national parks, sketching and painting en Plein air the stunning landscapes he encountered.
A big thank you goes out to everyone who participated in the auction, and bid on Natalie’s painting In the Love Garden (Oil on canvas paper mounted to board, 9x12"). The painting was a collaboration with the Instagram celebrity Mork Skywalker (an adorable dog who was rescued from the back of a meat truck headed to the slaughterhouse in China.) Mork’s rescue group, Road Dogs Rescue, saves and supports dogs, including many special needs puppies. The collaboration involves dogs making glitter paw prints on canvas paper, and then artists are asked to create a painting using the dog’s art as inspiration.
The book that John McCuin mentioned that sparked such a lively discussion was Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. It can be found HERE.
I would argue that It is absolutely true that changing the context of a reference source (orientation, surround, illumination, etc.) can alter your perception of it. Such contextual alterations CAN absolutely lead to certain advantages in contending with “conceptual contaminations” that may lead to “less successful” observational representational efforts. However, the overarching claim within the book (the right-left brain myth) has long since been debunked. While I have read that later edition of her book sort of “walk-back” this general idea—her WEBSITE continues to promote this framework.
There are many articles online that you can read about this if you are interested. For example:
Left-Brain Right-Brain Myth, Debunked: Foster Creativity and Logic in the Classroom
or
Right brain/left brain, right?
Or, you can go right to some of the more well-known studies on this issue like “Nielsen, Jared A., et al. “An evaluation of the left-brain vs. right-brain hypothesis with resting-state functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging.” PloS one 8.8 (2013): e71275.
If you like you can also get a basic idea as to how this idea came about by watching this animated version of Dr. Elizabeth Waters’ (Neuroscientist and Director of STEM Outreach) TED talk on the subject HERE.
Regardless of Edwards’ debunked claims, it’s important to acknowledge that the contextual alterations she promotes can indeed be useful as described above (as John also stated.) To better understand some of the points being made in the recent Zoom session regard to this issue you can always visit my article on the general evaluation of claims and practices HERE.
- Anthony Waichulis
Show Reminder!
Julie Beck will be participating in the show held at the historical St. Botolph Club, Boston, MA. The exhibit is open now and will be up until January 15th, 2022. The St. Botolph Club Foundation was established in 1967 to recognize and support artists (visual arts, music, literature) working in or associated with New England and is referred to as the Cultural Fund.
Show Reminder!
Mark your calendars for the show that Debra Keirce organized with two other fellow artists Carrie Waller and Maria Bennett Hock. They are collectively known as WAM - Women.Artists.Masters. The show is titled The Big and Small of It: Women.Artists.Masters, and will be held at the historical The Mansion At Strathmore. Their representational paintings in this exhibition highlight the ways big and small work together. Keirce’s palm-sized oil miniatures (some so small they are hidden in boxes) are often created under magnification. Bennett Hock paints on large canvases that draw viewers in, being built from bold, loose strokes in oils. Walker masterfully splashes watercolors with intricate nuances of light. Together, the work by these three artists invites viewers to both lean in and step back for the experience. The show will open on January 20th, 2022.
Devices and contraptions to dry your painting (makeup 
brushes were discussed this past session. Thank you John McCuin for sending links for the drying racks you and your wife find handy.
- No dust cover drying rack.
- With dust cover drying rack. 1
- With dust cover drying rack. 2
- Makeup Brushes Holder Organizer
- Make up Brush Holder Cosmetic Storage Box
" Another handy tool I found and got for my sister-in-law, who is an actual makeup artist is Makeup Brush Cleaner - Makeup Brush Cleaner Machine, if someone would like to try it out. Here is the one I got Anthony: Aniiche Makeup Brush Holder, Dustproof Blush Brush Storage Box."
-Anya
