Are You "In" or are You "Out"?

SAA member Lyn St. Clair offers her insights on entering competitions. This is about "Birds In Art" at the Leigh-Yawkey Woodsen Art Museum, but it applies to all competitive shows, including our own "Art and the Animal."

Are You "In" or are You "Out"?

Today hundreds of artists are turning on their computers and checking email with a mix of anticipation and dread. The jury results for the Leigh Yawkey Museum's "Birds in Art" are in and the email notifications have been sent out.

Rejection is one of the most difficult things artists face.   What we create is deeply personal...it comes from our hearts, our minds and our souls…the true artist creates work as unique as they are.

Beyond the ability to draw/paint/sculpt...artists must have the willingness to expose themselves to criticism, mockery, judgement, rejection and a public that sometimes simply might not "get" what it is we do.

Being an artist is not so simple as having "talent".  It means having fortitude, grace, determination, compassion, an open mind and a very thick skin.

The rest of the world views our work from their own perspective.  They look at it through eyes that see things differently than we do…maybe a little differently, maybe a lot.


Still, we strive to create something that describes what we want to say about our world...because that is who we ARE.

It is important for artists to remember that art is subjective...
everyone sees something different in a piece based on their own set of life experiences.

Try not to let a jury decision (bad OR good) carry too much weight...

Though it is tempting to try to fit into the niche you want to be a part of….being an artist means being true to that uniqueness within your own soul.

Sometimes it is brutally difficult to "own" your individuality…ask any high school kid!

Regardless of the endless work, the pain, the hard knocks, the string of rejections…nothing matters more than pouring your heart completely into what you do and being true to your own perfectly unique vision.

It is worth it...and soulful intent will shine through in the work you do.

The technical end is relatively easy…most anyone can learn the craftsmanship of making art.  Most anyone can copy a style or a photo and create something that someone somewhere would be happy to have in their home.

The hard part, what separates the wheat from the chaff, is being willing to step outside the box, out of your safety zone…and choosing to leap boldly off the edge without looking for a net.

As Agnes DeMille said:
"The artist never entirely knows.  We guess.  We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark."

THAT is what makes the truest of artists:  no matter what style they embrace, from abstract to impressionist to representational...
they honor their unique way of expressing themselves through their art.

And no matter how many times they fall...they keep leaping!

Living your creativity in such a way means finding a delicate balance between being true to your vision and learning to find the positive in criticism and rejection.  This is how we become better artists.

One of the things I love most about art is that you never get "there"...
there is always something new to try and there is always room for improvement.

In hindsight, I wish I'd saved the plethora of rejections that have landed in my mailbox (it would be an impressive stack of "no"!)…but it would also be a reminder of the sheer determination that is a big part of my foundation as an artist.

Over the years I have won over 90 awards for my art and my work hangs in museums and collections all over the world...

Along the way, I have also been rejected from more shows than I can count.

If I miss out on an award or get a rejection...I work harder to push that envelope next time.

If I win an award or get "in"...I work harder to push the envelope next time.

Ribbons or rejections...either way, it changes nothing.  I am an artist...and no jury decision can change that.

No matter how many rejections come my way...I will continue to try to break free of my comfort zone and make art straight from the heart.

This is a journey, my friends.  The true artist's path is no yellow brick road…it is fraught with washouts, thorny patches, ruts and blind curves.

Choose your steps carefully, trust your heart, listen to your muse and find joy in the fact that there could be something wonderful to learn just around the next bend.  

"In" or "out", I am grateful for shows like Birds in Art that give us reason to raise the bar and take flight as artists.

Heartfelt thanks go out to the fabulous staff of the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum for, to paraphrase Pooh, giving us something that is so hard to not get into!

Congratulations to ALL of the artists who spread their wings to even TRY for this show...

every one of you is "in" in my book!

By the way...
ALL of the paintings that illustrate this post represent just SOME of my Birds in Art "rejects" over the 20 years I have applied...(and, yes, there were some others that DID get in!)  :-)

Re-posted from Lyn St. Clair's blog: "Wandermuse"

Exhibits at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute

 

The Roger Tory Peterson Institute will host Environmental Impact  from May 24 – July 6, 2014 followed by

Exquisite Miniatures by Wes & Rachelle Siegrist from July 12 – October 31, 2014

 

The mission of the Roger Tory Peterson Institute is to honor and continue the work of Roger Tory Peterson to foster understanding, appreciation and protection of the natural world.  Roger Tory Peterson (1908 – 1996) was a long-time member of The Society of Animal Artists, and the pre-eminent American naturalist who illustrated and chronicled the natural world to the public in the 20th century. Over a long career that began with nature study in the seventh grade in Jamestown, New York, he observed, recorded and published for lay audiences the incredible beauty and diversity of plants and animals from North America and around the world. He is best known for his seminal 1934 Field Guide to the Birds, and subsequent Field Guides of all kinds.

 

 

The Roger Tory Peterson Institute is a short drive from The Chautauqua Institute which, in 1992, hosted a world-wide conference on wildlife art organized at the behest of Roger Tory Peterson by Dr. David J. Wagner to mark the opening of new facilities for The Roger Tory Peterson Institute and the premiere in Jamestown of the 32nd Annual Exhibition of The Society of Animal Artists.  David Wagner recently arranged to have the Society of Animal Artists 55th Annual Exhibition at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute again in 2015.

 

Value in American Wildlife Art, The Transcript from the 1992 World-Wide Forum Sponsored by The Roger Tory Peterson Institute held in Jamestown, New York and The Chautauqua Institute, is available at: http://www.amazon.com/Value-American-Wildlife-Art-Proceedings/dp/B002JLT47I I

SPECIAL EDITION EXHIBITION OF THE ART OF 

CAREL PIETER BREST van KEMPEN

 

A Special Edition Exhibition of The Art of Carel Pieter Brest van Kempen will be displayed as the featured attraction at The Mari Sandoz High Plains Heritage Center at Chadron State College in Chadron, Nebraska from June 1 until September 30, 2014 in celebration of the 50th anniversary of President Johnson's signing of the Wilderness Act on September 3, 1963.  The exhibition is produced by David J. Wagner, L.L.C., David J. Wagner, Ph.D., Curator/Tour Director.

Mari Sandoz High Plains Heritage Center, Chadron State College,1000 Main Street,Chadron, NE

Carel Pieter Brest van Kempen is a painter of Dutch descent, who explores the rich diversity of the natural world from exceptionally unique perspectives.  The artist’s self-stated goal is to say as much as he can about how organisms live and interact with other organisms and their environments.  Brest van Kempen, who is also interested in prehistoric subject matter, paints from first-hand experience and knowledge.  He has traveled across Africa and Central and South America, and studied both threatened and extinct species and their ecosystems in detail.

            Since he was a child, Brest van Kempen has always been a student of nature.  He spent his youth exploring untracked back country along the Wasatch Range of the Rocky Mountains; drawing, studying, and collecting native flora and fauna.  As a boy, Brest van Kempen practiced falconry and bred lizards.  He began drawing wildlife when he was only three years old and created his first painting at the age of twelve.  At the University of Utah, his studies focused on biology, which he hoped to teach, and field work.  By 1988, his interests in art and nature matured to the point where he could pursue a full-time career of painting.  Though Brest van Kempen is among the most highly accomplished technicians in the entire art world, and among the most creative, he is essentially self-taught.  Brest van Kempen paints in a highly realistic manner.  Unique in the world of wildlife art, Brest van Kempen’s approach is reminiscent of the art of Salvador Dali, which has always fascinated him. There is no other wildlife artist who paints like Carel Pieter Brest van Kempen; his approach and style is truly unique.

                              ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS (Acrylic/Illustration Board, 20x26)



Carel Pieter Brest van Kempen has exhibited his works throughout the world and earned numerous awards.  He is a member of the prestigious Society of Animal Artists which has awarded him awards on multiple occasions, including their highest honor, the Award of Excellence, in 1994, 1996, 1997, 2004, and 2010.

      STRANGE FRUIT-- IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKER (Acrylic/Illustration Board, 37x27)

Public collections containing his works include the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, the Springville Art Museum, the Woodson Art Museum, The World Center for Birds of Prey, and Vermont’s Bennington Center for the Arts.

            REANIMATION— COMMON POORWILL (Acrylic/Illustration Board, 36x26)



            A book entitled, Rigor Vitae: Life Unyielding—The Art of Carel Pieter Brest van Kempen, which was written by the artist, and includes a Foreword by Belgian painter, Carl Brenders, and an Introduction by Curator, Dr. David J. Wagner, was published by Eagle Mountain Publishing and is available at Eagle Mountain Publishing at (801) 789-4149 or empub@msn.com.

     BIODIVERSITY IN THE ART OF CAREL PIETER BREST van KEMPEN

was previously displayed at The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, AZ; The Wildlife Experience (museum) in Denver, CO; The Wildling Art Museum near Santa Barbara, CA; and The Hiram Blauvelt Art Museum in the great New York City area, and The Kenosha Public Museum near Chicago.

THREE MORE WORLDS—RAINBOW TROUT & OSPREY (Acrylic/Illustration Board, 35x26)

David J. Wagner, L.L.C.
Member/President
by David J. Wagner, Ph.D.
Curator/Tour Director
http://www.davidjwagnerllc.com/
Office Phone: (414) 221-6878
Cell: (414) 712-0863
Skype: davidjwagnerllc
For e-mails with large attachments, e-mail: davidjwagnerllc@aol.com
Recipient of the 2010 SKBF Black-Parkman Award for Art Industry Leadership

      

 Differing opinions of Elephants

Elephant! 20x30" acrylic, by Alison Nicholls

Elephants provoke strong opinions. Tourists want to see them on safari, and usually encounter calm, relaxed elephants in protected national parks, viewing them from the relative safety of a vehicle. However, rural-dwelling Africans are more likely to encounter elephants on foot, outside protected areas, in places and situations where elephants are more wary of, or aggressive towards, people. Children who have to pass elephant herds on their walk to school, or families whose crops are trampled and eaten by hungry elephants may feel fear and distrust rather than admiration and wonder when they see elephants.

Elephant! resulted from a conversation I had with Maasai men in Tanzania, while I visited the African People & Wildlife Fund (APW). The men looked through my sketchbook, seeing sketches of people, cattle and homesteads, but their first question to me was ‘are you afraid of elephants?’. The question made me think more about their encounters with elephants and resulted in this painting, which illustrates two contrasting views. The large head on the left of center is an elephant cow, painted in a relaxed pose, with her long, gently curved trunk leading to smaller images of the herd and a safari vehicle containing tourists. The washes of color used on this side of the painting have soft edges and there is a circular flow, down the elephant’s trunk, around the herd and towards the vehicle. In contrast the large elephant head on the right is an agitated bull. His ears are raised and his trunk curled, while his upturned tusks point towards 2 more bulls in similar poses, and a man attempting to keep the elephants away from his maize crop and home. On this side of the painting there are stronger reds and hard-edged washes, while the smaller elephants are angular and facing opposite directions.

Many of Africa’s elephants live or spend time outside protected reserves, alongside a growing human population, and as competition increases between people and wildlife over access to natural resources, human-wildlife conflict increases too. It is African people who will ultimately decide the fate of Africa’s wildlife and determine whether to accept the hazards of living beside Earth’s largest land mammal, so finding solutions that allow people & wildlife to share natural resources amicably is a high priority. Part of APW’s mission statement is to “support the collective management of natural resources for the mutual benefit of people and wildlife” and with the majority of their staff being residents of the local area, they are well placed to assist the community with plans to alleviate poverty, conserve biodiversity and reduce human-wildlife conflict – outcomes which will benefit both people and elephants.

The original of Elephant! is available for sale and a significant percentage of the sale proceeds will be donated to APW. Limited edition giclées are also available with a 20% donation to APW from the sale of each piece. Please contact Alison Nicholls for further information: www.ArtInspiredbyAfrica.comwww.artinspiredbyafrica.com

Alison Nicholls AFC SAA
Art Inspired by Africa
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SAA ARTISTS WES & RACHELLE SIEGRIST BRANCH OUT INTO AMERICAN STILL LIFES

An Exhibition Dedicated to James E. Parkman,

Founder & Chairman, Susan Kathleen Black Foundation

Premiere: The R.W. Norton Art Gallery
Shreveport, LA: March 4 - May 25, 2014

Produced by David J. Wagner, L.L.C.

On-Line Catalogue
 

Wes Siegrist
"A Few Things I've Found I"

AMERICAN STILL LIFES is a new traveling exhibition which features works by a range of artists recognized for their brilliant compositions and dazzling technique. Exhibiting artists include Daniel Mark Cassity, Loren DiBenedetto, Camille Engel, Berry Fritz, David Gray, Sharon Lloyd Hourigan, Jane Jones, Charles Gilbert Kapsner, Janet Laird-Lagassee, Laurin McCracken, Brian O'Neill, Soon Warren, and SAA Members, Wes Siegrist and Rachelle Siegrist!

Rachelle Siegrist
"Mmmm … Chocolate!"

The exhibition features several works by each artist to demonstrate the breadth, depth, and versatility of their individual output.  While historians generally view the 17th century as "the golden age" of still-life painting in Europe, today's American masters not only remain as enthusiastic as ever about the artistic possibilities of depicting inanimate objects for the sake of their qualities of form, color, texture, and composition, but also build on traditions developed by artists who worked in the Netherlandish Lowlands, in new and interesting ways.  Common place objects such as plants, fruit, vegetables, dishes, and bottles, and even occasionally the depiction of skulls, candles, and even allegorical subject matter in so-called "vanitas," remain as popular as ever today, but often in new aesthetic contexts shaped by twentieth-century innovations and movements such as Cubism, Pop Art, and Photorealism.  In what can only be described as an eclectic, layered ethos, many artists today remain rooted in tradition, while others see still life painting as a vehicle to explore new artistic possibilities or to convey political or social meaning.  Today's still life artists still orchestrate innate objects and direct light to create visual interest, but often as not feature contemporary subject matter portrayed in a variety of palettes and contemporary styles.  A relatively pure, even abstract, form of art, still life remains as popular a genre as ever.  And the work contained in this exhibition embodies the diversity, range, and achievement in American still life painting today.

Rachelle Siegrist
"Still Life With Granny's Pheasant"

Wes Siegrist
"A Few Favorite Lures"

Rachelle Siegrist
"A Gift Bouquet"

Wes Siegrist
"A Captured Moment In Time"

Wes Siegrist
"A Few Things I've Found II"

AMERICAN STILL LIFES, David J. Wagner, L.L.C.

(414) 221-6878; davidjwagnerllc@yahoo.com

davidjwagnerllc.com

Member: American Alliance of Museums & International Council of Museums