One year ago in March, to protect our students and teachers from a new coronavirus, the Seattle Artist League moved our classes online. The virus was declared a national emergency, and we went into quarantine. We have now been in quarantine for thirteen months.
Through this year, we have met each other online to draw, paint, print, and share community. In a time of hardship and isolation, it was good to meet and make work together. New teachers and students – now free to teach and take classes anywhere in the world – came to join us. In the last year, the League has grown in numbers, and our artistic voice as a school has evolved.
This collection of artworks has been grouped with no association of genre, medium, artist, or online class. They have been selected and placed here so that they can complement each other, just as we hang a gallery wall for one of our all-inclusive Big League Anniversary shows.
This is one in a series of posts featuring artworks produced through this pandemic. In this terrible year, we have made some good artworks. More to come!
Kate Fluckinger, Psyche’s Tower, oil on linen, 19 x 19″
“Been loving Fran’s abstraction class. :) ” – Kate Fluckinger
Suzanne Bailie, Morning Walk, Oil on canvas, 16 x 20″ “My early morning stroll in Costa Rica and spotting a flower left on an old table”Jess Ray, Pancakes, 14 x 11″ watercolor and acrylic markerLauren Kent, Still, 48 x 36” Oil on canvasShima Bhamra, Breathe Again, 16 x 12″ acrylic and mixed media on canvas
“This piece was created incorporating the study from my composition and form class with Ruthie. I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of engaging the four corners of the canvas. At the same time, the world was breathing a huge sigh of relief as the last four years of psychological pressures began to ease. As a woman of color in a country that does not always feel welcoming, this piece describes how it feels to be isolated, and puts the past year behind us so that we can all breathe again and continue our creative journeys. My figurative forms are meant to not be identifying, and my hope is that these female forms encourage inclusivity (though the use of color) and acceptance of each other.” – Shima Bhamra
Xin Xin, Dimensions, 6 x 9″ Acrylic on linenCharlotte E. E. Hansen, Garden Collage mixed media on wood panel (old oil paintings), 24 x 12″Iris Taboh, Wedding Mints, 20 x 20″ mixed mediaJess Ray, Dragonfruit, 14 x 11″ Watercolor and acrylic markerSuzanne Bailie, The Wild Inside, 20 x 16″ Oil on canvas “Reflections on acceptable female behavior as a woman ages.” Suzanne Bailie, On-Line Learning, Oil on canvas, 8.25″ x 11.5″ “Inspired by the laptop glow while assisting children with on-line schooling.”Ann Owens, Rhythm, 16 x 12″, AcrylicHannah DeBerg, Two by TwoCarolyn Zick, Walking Diary #3, gouache and watercolor, 12” x 9” Kathy Paul, Apples, 9 x 12″ acrylic on canvas paper
“Thank you for a wonderful year in the midst of chaos!” – Kathy Paul
Jennifer Fernande, The Mission, 24 x 30″ Mixed media on canvas
“Inspired by my years living in the SF Bay Area. The Mission is a neighborhood in San Francisco full of color, grit, building and rebuilding. It suffers, like many other neighborhoods, from gentrification and a wrestling with history and modernity.” – Jennifer Fernandez
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 …
‘If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two. Eventually one discovers that it is not boring at all.’ – John Cage [image_with_animation image_url=”3394″ alignment=”” animation=”None John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher, and …
From my previous post: Daily painters are artists who start and finish a painting every day-ish. Sometimes they slow down a bit, or take holidays and sabbaticals, but the basic idea is they do small quick studies frequently. (…) Daily practice makes you more decisive, and improves your artwork fast. Notable daily painters are Duane Keiser, Julian Merrow-Smith, and Carol …
March 10-12, 2017: We put on our First Ever Seattle Artist League Show, featuring a huge variety of over 100 drawings and paintings by more than 50 League artists. With huge thanks to everyone involved, the show was an enormous success; a showcase of creative achievements. We are pleased and proud to see how things are …
Online Anniversary Show; Abstracted Colors in Quarantine
One year ago in March, to protect our students and teachers from a new coronavirus, the Seattle Artist League moved our classes online. The virus was declared a national emergency, and we went into quarantine. We have now been in quarantine for thirteen months.
Through this year, we have met each other online to draw, paint, print, and share community. In a time of hardship and isolation, it was good to meet and make work together. New teachers and students – now free to teach and take classes anywhere in the world – came to join us. In the last year, the League has grown in numbers, and our artistic voice as a school has evolved.
This collection of artworks has been grouped with no association of genre, medium, artist, or online class. They have been selected and placed here so that they can complement each other, just as we hang a gallery wall for one of our all-inclusive Big League Anniversary shows.
This is one in a series of posts featuring artworks produced through this pandemic. In this terrible year, we have made some good artworks. More to come!
“Been loving Fran’s abstraction class. :) ” – Kate Fluckinger
“My early morning stroll in Costa Rica and spotting a flower left on an old table”
“This piece was created incorporating the study from my composition and form class with Ruthie. I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of engaging the four corners of the canvas. At the same time, the world was breathing a huge sigh of relief as the last four years of psychological pressures began to ease. As a woman of color in a country that does not always feel welcoming, this piece describes how it feels to be isolated, and puts the past year behind us so that we can all breathe again and continue our creative journeys. My figurative forms are meant to not be identifying, and my hope is that these female forms encourage inclusivity (though the use of color) and acceptance of each other.” – Shima Bhamra
mixed media on wood panel (old oil paintings), 24 x 12″
“Reflections on acceptable female behavior as a woman ages.”
“Inspired by the laptop glow while assisting children with on-line schooling.”
“Thank you for a wonderful year in the midst of chaos!” – Kathy Paul
“Inspired by my years living in the SF Bay Area. The Mission is a neighborhood in San Francisco full of color, grit, building and rebuilding. It suffers, like many other neighborhoods, from gentrification and a wrestling with history and modernity.” – Jennifer Fernandez
Related Posts
Drawings of Hands: Charles White
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 …
John Cage: Chance Operations
‘If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two. Eventually one discovers that it is not boring at all.’ – John Cage [image_with_animation image_url=”3394″ alignment=”” animation=”None John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher, and …
Daily Painters: Julian Merrow-Smith
From my previous post: Daily painters are artists who start and finish a painting every day-ish. Sometimes they slow down a bit, or take holidays and sabbaticals, but the basic idea is they do small quick studies frequently. (…) Daily practice makes you more decisive, and improves your artwork fast. Notable daily painters are Duane Keiser, Julian Merrow-Smith, and Carol …
The First Ever Seattle Artist League Show
March 10-12, 2017: We put on our First Ever Seattle Artist League Show, featuring a huge variety of over 100 drawings and paintings by more than 50 League artists. With huge thanks to everyone involved, the show was an enormous success; a showcase of creative achievements. We are pleased and proud to see how things are …