March 2024 Newsletter

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Hello Fellow Artists,

By the time you receive this we will be well on our way to Spring, which seems unbelievable after the snow squalls that visited us last month, but I did see a fat robin hopping in that snow, so there you go! I have been awaiting cataract surgery since November, and now it has been postponed a week due to a lack of communication, so I’ve decided that I must need a lesson in patience, which is always a hard lesson. Not being able to see or focus very well has also been hard, but it makes me very thankful for what I can see in my day-to-day life and appreciate how beautiful the world is, if we choose to see it. As artists, I hope we make that choice for there is so much to see, isn’t there?

I am looking (did you notice the choice of words?) forward to our next meeting on Tuesday, March 5, at 7:00 pm, when Peggy Bowman will be presenting our art demo on journaling. I paint with Peggy on Thursdays and have perused many of her travel journals and they are absolutely beautiful. She has such a talent for portraying her travels with paint, each page thoughtfully laid out with lovely lettering and vignettes that give one a taste of what her trip was like. I especially like the different feathers she illustrates… they are so lifelike I feel like I could lift them from the page. I encourage all of you to try and attend and support our FAA friend.

I always like to thank someone for all their hard work, and this month I want to recognize April Coppess, our corresponding secretary. She took this role three years ago when I asked her to work alongside me as president, and I think she has done a super job. She met with Jackie Albright to learn the ropes as to our newsletter and website and has continued to glean more knowledge in both areas, as well as other duties, so THANK YOU my friend, for always being there to help and support me whenever needed.

Take care and keep creating!

Linda Brandenburg, President

FAA DEMO ARTISTS AND WORKSHOPS 2024

MARCH’S GUEST ARTIST – PEGGY BOWMAN

Introduction

Peggy sketched and painted as a young girl, and enjoyed art electives through college. A high school teacher encouraged her to write, a skill that would pay dividends when she became a public affairs officer in the US Air Force. Her 23-year career fine-tuned her writing skills, but it moved sketching and painting to the back burner. She retired in 1995 with a master’s degree in journalism, 23 years of writing experience, and a keen desire to return to art.

Peggy began her journey of keeping a sketchbook journal in 2011 to document travels with her husband Rich and their two cats.  

When travel stopped during lockdown in 2020, she began daily entries to document her “journey through the Pandemic!” Sketching and writing grounded her, connected her to life in her own backyard, and gave her a place to list her many blessings during isolation. She shared her pages electronically with friends and fellow artists to preserve that important connection and to stay inspired.

During lockdown she took on-line classes with Australian artist Liz Steel whose Sketching Now classes introduced Peggy to urban sketching and sketchbook design. She noticed a dramatic transformation in her journal pages, and hasn’t looked back!!

She has explored different media – pencil, pen, colored and watercolor pencils, ink and wash, and traditional watercolor. And different sketchbook surfaces and formats. Through trial and error, she has a kit that travels well, and works to tell her stories.

Her creativity spills into other areas, too. Peggy spins her own yarn, and weaves and sews garments with her hand-spun, handwoven yarns. Her garments have been juried into international weaving shows; one garment won a regional award. In 1995, she and Rich created and led an Auxiliary of volunteers to support the Beavercreek Fire Department after their house fire in 1994. The Bowman’s were honored for that continuing service last year when they were inducted into the Ohio Senior Citizen Hall of Fame.

Peggy is an accomplished pencil sketcher, and an occasional watercolorist – Rich would love to steer her back to those media – but journaling is her chosen path for now. She is a member of Fairborn Art Association and Western Ohio Watercolor Society.

Journaling:  Sketching Memories; Telling Stories

A journal can be anything you want it to be: a visual diary; a place to explore ideas for studio work; a record of important life milestones; a calendar to track a process like gardening or medical treatment; a safe place to vent or doodle. Journaling is a very personal and adaptive activity.

For Peggy, journaling is a gift of down time, a chance to be present, engage her senses, record a memory and tell a story.  She enjoys capturing moments in time, the events or “things” that stopped her in her tracks when she hikes, or goes about her everyday activities. An acorn attached to a limb with fresh leaves, a sunrise with deliciously bright, happy colors, or best of all…a feather, those little miracles that adorn birds and accommodate flight.  

Sketching and journaling give her permission to be present somewhere magical; they transport her to a place where time and life’s demands recede, and the moment is etched in her memory. If you sketch it, you’ve really “seen” it. Re-reading her journal pages takes her right back to the original time and place.  

Peggy will share her journals and talk briefly about her journey from early labor-intensive pencil sketches limited to travels, to daily journaling during the Pandemic, to experimenting with watercolor pencils and paints, and ink and wash, to her present day journaling and sketching. She will talk about how she identifies “the story,” and will demonstrate how she uses a set of design elements to create her journal page(s). A journalist by profession, narrative is as important to her journals as sketching, so she tries to find balance between them on her pages.

Tools are an important part of journaling, and who doesn’t love tools and materials?!?! Peggy will have her current “kit” on display. It has evolved from carrying the contents of her studio to a more realistic, minimal kit. She’ll provide a handout with information about her tools and their sources, and helpful websites for learning more about sketching and journaling.

MEMBER NEWS

Bonnie Kuntz has paintings in the Woodbourne Library March exhibit. She is also teaching a children’s workshop at the opening reception on March 5. The show is titled “Creature Kaleidoscopes.” There are 3D creatures included in the show which add to the fun must-see experience. The library is located on Far Hills in Centerville.

Connie S. Gifford and her daughter, Brandi N. Harris, will have an art exhibition at the Beavercreek Lofino Art Gallery the entire month of March 2024. There will be an artist reception on Monday, March 4, 2023, from 4:00–6:00 p.m. The Gallery at Lofino Plaza is located inside the Beavercreek Senior Center, 3868 Dayton Xenia Road, Beavercreek, OH 45432. The Gallery hours are 9:00 am to 7:00 pm Monday through Thursday, 9:00 am to 4:00 pm Fridays and 9:00 am to Noon Saturdays.

Clarice Moore had a successful show of her artwork at The Main House Events in Fairborn during the month of February in celebration of Black History Month, and she also donated a painting to that organization. Her work was displayed at the Edward A. Dixon Gallery in February, as part of the African American Visual Artists Guild Traveling Art Exhibit, a two year rotating exhibit. The next venue for the AAVAG Traveling Art Exhibit will be the Five Rivers Health Center, Edgemont Campus, March 6–April 26, 2024, with an artists’ reception on March 13 from 4:30–6:30 pm. Clarice’s work will also be hanging at the Lathrem Senior Center, 2900 Glengarry Drive in Kettering, in March, 2024.

FAA SCHOLARSHIPS NEWS

FAA sent a letter to school guidance counselors/art teachers asking for scholarship candidates from graduating seniors. If you know of a senior who might qualify in Greene County or any of the immediately surrounding counties/communities, please contact one of the FAA board members or Jim Gifford and request an application form. If you know a guidance counselor or art teacher, share it with him or her. The letter we mailed reads as follows:

The Fairborn Art Association has three $1,000 scholarships available for graduating high school seniors who are planning to pursue art in college. An application is included with this letter. Please duplicate the application and use it for as many students as you desire to recommend. Please ask art teachers to share this announcement with their classes. Applications must be mailed to the above address and postmarked no later than APRIL 1, 2024. For additional information, email:  [email protected] or [email protected]. Also, if you have an e-mail account to which we can send a reminder, please e-mail it to the same address. Thank you.

FAA MEMBERS’ FINE ART SHOW IN MAY 2024

We are getting excited for the Members’ Fine Art Show in May! We are very lucky to have Trish McKinney for our judge this year! The prospectus is available in the Gallery and as a link on the website for all the details. We will have volunteer sign-ups at the March meeting. You can volunteer to help on the registration/drop off day or volunteer to sit the gallery on a Sunday. We appreciate any help you can give us. There will also be flyers available at the March meeting so take a couple and hand them out to family and friends. We look forward to seeing you in March.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact us:  Cindy Sayeedi, [email protected] and Linda Perry, [email protected] 

MAY 2024 WORKSHOP WITH TRISH MCKINNEY

Coming in May 2024 is a fun workshop with guest artist Trish McKinney as the instructor. “Party On Your Paper – Painting On Delicious Prepared Surfaces!” will be held May 6–8, 2024, at the FAA Gallery.

Who doesn’t love a great party?! Who doesn’t love having complete freedom and fun painting? Using seemingly random, deliciously colorful, and wildly patterned gel printed papers is a recipe for FUN. Painting on top of them? Well, that is a party on your paper! 

Learn the exciting world of monoprints by using Gel-Press Plates with unusual textural elements on non-traditional surfaces to create layers of FUN! They will use one of these prints as the collaged, prepared surface for the background of their painting. 

Learn the exciting process of how Trish creates prepared surfaces with texture, lines, and exciting patterns – the party! – and then paints on top of them. Students will learn the concepts of negative painting, lost and found edges, color theory, and strong design – all in one class! So, who wants to have a party?! 

Trish McKinney is a national and international award-winning artist, instructor, graphic designer, and published author and illustrator. Her unique mixed watermedia paintings are about being aware of a moment then sharing her wonder by telling the story. The passion that drives it all for this artist is to inspire – both through paintings, writing, and teaching. Trish especially loves the unpredictable surprise and spontaneous nature of watercolor and combining layers of meaning in her painting through words and unexpected shapes. She loves to ask “what if” when working in her studio because that always leads her to a new discovery.

Trish McKinney is a Signature member of the Ohio Watercolor Society and has juried multiple exhibits. Her paintings have been juried into several international and national exhibitions – National Watercolor Society, Pikes Peak International Watermedia Exhibition, Rocky Mountain National Watermedia Exhibition, Kentucky Watercolor Society, International Society of Experimental Artists, and Ohio Watercolor Society – to name a few. She has consistently won numerous awards in several national exhibitions since 2011.

Trish is a published author, illustrator, and artist and has been featured in Confident Color by Nita Leland, Splash 12 – Celebrating Artistic Vision, The Artistic Touch 4, Do Trees Nap? Children’s Book, and Art Journaling Magazine.

She is also a StencilGirl Artist Designer, a GOLDEN Artist Educator, and a member of the Gel Press Creative Team.

Trish finds joy teaching and sharing her experience through giving programs, demonstrations, workshops and retreats for all ages both locally and abroad. She has been teaching and traveling since 1991 in Italy, Greece, Croatia, Ephesus, France, and throughout the United States.

One of her favorite quotes is – “Instructions for living a life. Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” By Mary Oliver – because this perfectly conveys all that is required to be an artist.

The registration form for the May 2024 Workshop is available in the Gallery, and on our website.

REMINDERS

Our next meeting will be on April 2, 2024. The deadline for submitting articles to be included in the April Newsletter is Monday, March 18, 2024. Please call or email your articles to April Coppess.

Please note that, for privacy reasons, the Fairborn Art Association will not post personal email addresses or phone numbers in the newsletters or on our website unless we have the respective member’s permission. Consult your FAA Directory for contact information for members. For non-members, we will provide the contact information we are given for them.