The League is turning three years old. I am proud to say we are growing and thriving both as a school, and as a community of artists. We are an art school of collected individuals, an art school where no one creates artwork in the same way, and every artist has a story. This diversity makes us vibrant and dynamic. By telling stories about the individual people who are part of the League, I hope to tell part of the story of the League itself. I asked our artists to tell me some of their stories.
Wendy Lumsdaine
League Artist and Member 2018-present
Wendy Lumsdaine is an educator, artist, and mother. Lumsdaine signed up for Figure Drawing classes and Printmaking workshops at the League soon after her move from Boston in 2017. She saw classes as a way to exercise her creative skills, and a venue to meet new friends in the area. When I asked for stories, Wendy was the first to jump in.
Ruthie: What would you say if you were to give a brief bio about your work, education, interests, and art?
Wendy Lumsdaine: My degree is in education. I earned my BS in Elementary Education from Kent State and M.Ed. in a program at Lesley College in Creative Arts and Learning.
I taught in the public schools in Boston before starting a family. Eventually I home schooled my three children, while creating art history, literature and science classes that I taught from my home. I returned to teaching once my youngest was in high school, finishing with 3 years of kindergarten. During that time I began mentoring a young girl living their created and ran an art club for young girls living in The Rise, a transitional apartment for women experiencing homelessness and abuse.
During this time I joined a clay studio and took a 3D Fundamentals class at Indiana University. I met sculptor, Melanie Cooper Pennington, and became her assistant for a semester as she completed a large installation for her MFA. I continue to work with her on large pieces as an assistant when I am available.
Wendy Lumsdaine with artwork by Melanie Pennington
I moved to Seattle in 2017, when my husband changed jobs. Because I have been creating art, taking classes and creating both visual art and music, I signed up immediately for a ceramics class at the Green Lake Community Center, a stained glass class at Seattle Stained Glass and now figure classes and print workshops at The Seattle Artist League.
Embroidery inspired by work from figure drawing sessions by Wendy Lumsdaine
Since moving to Seattle I have begun to sell my ceramics and embroidery art at pop-ups and small fairs. I have done some work on commission as well.
Ceramics by Wendy Lumsdaine
I have built tiny houses for LIHI, worked in a homework club in a transitional apartment and now work as a regular volunteer at The Aurora Commons, where I am a Chaplain of Presence and serve to organize clothing donations. I host a monthly birthday party for our women guests.
I take classes to keep learning new techniques and ways to express myself during this new season of life. It is nice to be student again. I am excited to see where my art will take me and the new relationships I will develop as I continue to grow.
R: How has your experience of taking classes at the league spilled over into your day to day life?
W: Since taking figure drawing I am more observant of figures in art, media, Instagram – looking to see how someone else has expressed the figure, observing anatomy and curves.
R: How has it impacted how you spend your time? Future plans that you have?
W: When I travel I go to as many museums as I can, again looking to see how the figure has been interpreted, taking photos of art that moves me on some way. I take classes in multiple mediums and create my own work in many mediums as well, including clay, thread, paint, printmaking, and even stained glass.
Monotypes by Wendy Lumsdaine
R: Has it changed how you see your career?
W: Yes, …I have sold my work at a few pop ups and from posts I made on social media like Facebook and Instagram. Though I previously worked as a teacher, I am now moving towards the possibility of a small career as an artist, or at least selling my work in the fall during the holiday season.
R: Has it caused you to change something about your home? Have you set up a studio? Do you have a daily/weekly art practice?
W: Yes! I have a studio! I stitch every day first thing in the morning with my coffee. I go to a clay studio several times a week now for the past 3 years. I explore creating the same figure in several mediums.
R: Have you set goals for yourself? What are they?
W: After someone on a recent flight commented on the embroidery piece I was working on and asked if I had a website I realized that I need a website! I had started to create one last year and stopped. I think I am getting closer to creating pieces that I think are actually more art than craft and it feels elevating. So yes, a website and business cards or something like that is a goal for this year. Also, maybe a show after I get all my pieces framed, which I am going to learn to do since my work is not uniform in size.
R: How do you see your art practice in a year?
I hope to be still taking classes and trying out new mediums. I hope to have a community of artists with whom I also socialize with a bit too. And I look forward to focusing more deeply on one medium as a way to express myself.
Invitation to League Artists
Have you taken classes at the League? Would you like to share your story? Please send in your responses to the following questions, or talk about what being involved with the League has meant to you.
Artist bio (education, work, experience, life)
How has your experience of taking classes at the league spilled over into your day to day life?
How has it impacted how you spend your time? Future plans that you have?
Has it changed how you see your career?
Has it caused you to change something about your home? Have you set up a studio? Do you have a daily/weekly art practice?
Have you set goals for yourself? What are they?
How do you see your art practice in a year?
I can’t promise I’ll post all of your responses, but I do promise to read them.
Thank you again for your involvement with the League. We are so glad you’re here!
I’ve been talking about how to use hands as expressive elements within a drawing. I love this idea so much, both for technical practice and for powerful personal expression, that I made a class to study expressive hands and heads, and I started collecting examples. Some I collected because I appreciated the rendering. Some I collected because the artist …
This prompt produced an exceptional number of great drawings! Day 16: Create something using crosshatch. #crosshatch If your work is here, please tag yourselves in the comments on this blog page and include a link to your website or social media. Your post won’t show up immediately because we have to make sure you’re not …
The Seattle Artist League Portrait Awards encourage artists to develop the theme of portraiture in their work. The competition celebrates outstanding and innovative work in drawing, painting, printmaking, and mixed media. In this first year, we received 232 submissions from 151 artists. Throughout our selection process, the jury focused on choosing interesting work that engaged the artistic medium to convey the essence of a specific person, or …
[vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Can you guess the color? It’s just delicious fun to watch paint get mixed. Painters, notice how long it takes. It’s easy to get impatient with this part of the process when we’re painting, thinking the mix should instantly be mixed so you could get on with applying the …
League Artist: Wendy Lumsdaine
The League is turning three years old. I am proud to say we are growing and thriving both as a school, and as a community of artists. We are an art school of collected individuals, an art school where no one creates artwork in the same way, and every artist has a story. This diversity makes us vibrant and dynamic. By telling stories about the individual people who are part of the League, I hope to tell part of the story of the League itself. I asked our artists to tell me some of their stories.
League Artist and Member 2018-present
Wendy Lumsdaine is an educator, artist, and mother. Lumsdaine signed up for Figure Drawing classes and Printmaking workshops at the League soon after her move from Boston in 2017. She saw classes as a way to exercise her creative skills, and a venue to meet new friends in the area. When I asked for stories, Wendy was the first to jump in.
Wendy Lumsdaine with artwork by Melanie Pennington
Embroidery inspired by work from figure drawing sessions by Wendy Lumsdaine
Ceramics by Wendy Lumsdaine
W: Since taking figure drawing I am more observant of figures in art, media, Instagram – looking to see how someone else has expressed the figure, observing anatomy and curves.
R: How has it impacted how you spend your time? Future plans that you have?
W: When I travel I go to as many museums as I can, again looking to see how the figure has been interpreted, taking photos of art that moves me on some way. I take classes in multiple mediums and create my own work in many mediums as well, including clay, thread, paint, printmaking, and even stained glass.
Monotypes by Wendy Lumsdaine
R: Has it changed how you see your career?
W: Yes, …I have sold my work at a few pop ups and from posts I made on social media like Facebook and Instagram. Though I previously worked as a teacher, I am now moving towards the possibility of a small career as an artist, or at least selling my work in the fall during the holiday season.
R: Has it caused you to change something about your home? Have you set up a studio? Do you have a daily/weekly art practice?
W: Yes! I have a studio! I stitch every day first thing in the morning with my coffee. I go to a clay studio several times a week now for the past 3 years. I explore creating the same figure in several mediums.
R: Have you set goals for yourself? What are they?
W: After someone on a recent flight commented on the embroidery piece I was working on and asked if I had a website I realized that I need a website! I had started to create one last year and stopped. I think I am getting closer to creating pieces that I think are actually more art than craft and it feels elevating. So yes, a website and business cards or something like that is a goal for this year. Also, maybe a show after I get all my pieces framed, which I am going to learn to do since my work is not uniform in size.
R: How do you see your art practice in a year?
I hope to be still taking classes and trying out new mediums. I hope to have a community of artists with whom I also socialize with a bit too. And I look forward to focusing more deeply on one medium as a way to express myself.
Invitation to League Artists
Have you taken classes at the League? Would you like to share your story? Please send in your responses to the following questions, or talk about what being involved with the League has meant to you.
I can’t promise I’ll post all of your responses, but I do promise to read them.
Thank you again for your involvement with the League. We are so glad you’re here!
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I’ve been talking about how to use hands as expressive elements within a drawing. I love this idea so much, both for technical practice and for powerful personal expression, that I made a class to study expressive hands and heads, and I started collecting examples. Some I collected because I appreciated the rendering. Some I collected because the artist …
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This prompt produced an exceptional number of great drawings! Day 16: Create something using crosshatch. #crosshatch If your work is here, please tag yourselves in the comments on this blog page and include a link to your website or social media. Your post won’t show up immediately because we have to make sure you’re not …
The Seattle Artist League Portrait Awards 2021
The Seattle Artist League Portrait Awards encourage artists to develop the theme of portraiture in their work. The competition celebrates outstanding and innovative work in drawing, painting, printmaking, and mixed media. In this first year, we received 232 submissions from 151 artists. Throughout our selection process, the jury focused on choosing interesting work that engaged the artistic medium to convey the essence of a specific person, or …
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[vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Can you guess the color? It’s just delicious fun to watch paint get mixed. Painters, notice how long it takes. It’s easy to get impatient with this part of the process when we’re painting, thinking the mix should instantly be mixed so you could get on with applying the …