September 2024 Announcements | |
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Happy Labor Day, Monday, Sept 2, 2024
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"The Gleaners" by Jean-François Millet, 1857, depicts three French peasant women cleaning a field of left over stray stalks of wheat after the harvest. The painting portrays a realistic view of poverty and the lower working class. The French middle and upper classes did not like this painting, as they thought it glorified the lower class.
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Because the lower class outnumbered the middle and upper classes, if they were to revolt, the upper classes could easily lose their status. Remember, the memory of the French Revolution was only 58 years old at this point.
Also in the U.S. during the middle of the 19th century, workers began to protest and in some cases riot because they didn't feel like they were valued by management. America was advertising for workers and we received many from Europe and Asia. Labor became cheap and plentiful, consequently wages were very low. In addition, there were many workers available following the Civil War and workers began to take part in strikes and rallies to demand shorter workdays and better working conditions. After about two dozen states created a day to honor labor, the U.S. Congress declared the 1st Monday in September a national holiday to honor the nation's workers and their contributions to the well-being of the country.
There have been several paintings, including murals, celebrating the labor done by a variety of workers. Many are on exhibit in town halls, state museums, and various other public buildings.
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"Fanfare for the Common Man"
by Winold Reiss, 1931
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"Workers" by
Carol Hubner, 1930
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"Migrant Workers"
by Louis Macouillard, 1946
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"Happy Summer Fellow Artists"
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We hope you are enjoying this wonderfully relaxing and rejuvenating time of the year!
Have you ever arrived at the art studio excited to do some painting only to find it locked up and dark? We have! It is very disappointing. We really don’t like to disappoint people!
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So, here is how your SRAL Board is working with these two wonderful individuals to resolve the issue. | Meet Paula & Patti our very hard-working monitoring team. | |
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We have set an Art League monitoring goal!
- From October 1st through March 31st, the art studio will be open and monitored Monday – Friday, from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. Set hours and set days!
- To meet this goal, we are implementing a morning time slot and an afternoon time slot. The two daily 3-hr time slots will enable us to reach the goal!!!! THE STUDIO IS OPEN!!
- SIG groups (Special Interest Groups) are especially busy during our winter season. A person within each group usually assumes the monitor responsibilities. Occasionally, they will need a designated monitor so that everyone can fully participate in the work session.
- If you are a trained monitor, please sign up!
- If you are not, contact Paula Richards at: joyfulpr55@gmail.com to schedule monitor training. It is really very easy! Remember, a 3-hr shift each month will keep the studio open and will evenly distribute some of the responsibilities.
- Paula or Patti may be calling you to help fill the open monitoring time slots.
LET’S REACH THIS GOAL!!!
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As presidents of and for your Art League, we strive to make this the best art coterie possible. As members, you are the recipients of all the experiences and benefits the organization provides.
Please be generous with your time when you are asked to help.
For all our seasonal members, we look forward to seeing you upon your return this fall. Your uniqueness is like a spark that contributes to the creative energy we all share. We patiently await your safe arrival.
Jeani and Arlene
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"New Members Meeting"
Are you new to the Santa Rita Art League?
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We all then scream, "Welcome to the Art League!"
"We are so delighted to meet you."
We will have a get together for all new members on Thursday, September 5th,
at 2:00 pm in the SRAL Studio. And then from 3-5 pm, we shall have our monthly "Mix and Mingle" get-together. So stick around and meet a few more members. ................................(See Below)
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At the Art Studio
Thursday, September 5th
from 3-5 pm
Back to School Theme
Bring artwork made in a class.
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If you can, bring a snack to share and beverage of your choice.
........Hope to see YOU there!
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.Very
..Important
.. ..Announcements
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Special Note to Everyone about Coming Art Exhibits
All the upcoming exhibits (to date) have been listed on the bottom of the ART EXHIBITS webpage. To zip over to check out the coming shows, Click Here.
We shall alert you as more shows are added.
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**Amber Pierson**
Will Be Our September Demo Artist
“The Colored Pencil as a Viable Artistic Medium”
September 12, 2024 from 1 pm to 3 pm
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Amber Pierson is a colored pencil artist who lives in Tucson, Arizona. She has been drawing and painting ever since she can remember. After many years of teaching, she quit to do art full time. In 2016 she took a colored pencil course at the Sonoran Desert Museum and became enchanted with the medium. Colored pencil as a fine art medium allows her to merge her love of drawing and painting. | |
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She is inspired by the color, light, and history of the Desert Southwest.
Amber has been published in several Colored Pencil Magazines and has received Signature CPX Status from the Colored Pencil Society of America. She shows her work at the SAAG (Southern Arizona Arts Guild) Gallery and The Tucson Gallery.
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"Luscious Succulent"
Colored Pencils
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"Crested Saguaro"
Colored Pencils
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"Tucson Barrio Patio"
Colored Pencils
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In this demonstration we will learn why you would use colored pencils and discuss their advantages and disadvantages. We will discover types of professional artist grade colored pencils and look at different papers and how they may affect your end product. We will learn how an artist colors, shades, and layers to produce realistic images. Let’s get excited about this medium! Resources to learn more will also be available.
More information can be found on the Monthly Demo page of SRAL’s website by clicking here. (https://santaritaart.org/monthly-demos/)
Have questions? Email Arlene (ArleneS@SantaRitaArt.org)
or Jeani (JeaniG@SantaRitaArt.org)
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Current Art League Shows
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"The Fall Open Exhibit"
at the
GVR Desert Hills Social Center
This Show will run until November 8th.
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Director Jan Harnish has again selected some of the finest paintings created by talented members of our Art League. The show is presented in the new auditorium of the Desert Hills Center. (GVR has had the center modernized during the summer months and it looks much more fitting for such beautiful paintings.)
Here are just a few of the special pieces in the show.
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"Arbor Art"
by Keith Senecal, mixed media
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"Fruit Lady"
by Deanna Brooks, watercolor
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"Mountain Magic"
by Laurel Sponseller, acrylic
Jan encourages the most outstanding artists in the Art League to display their paintings. It is always a joy to visit the Desert Hills Center and spend a wonderful afternoon (or morning) enjoying an exhibit of exceptional pieces.
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Up Coming Art Shows
that You May Want to Enter
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2024 Members’ December Exhibit
Monday, December 2 –
Tuesday, December 31, 2024
"Between Light and Shadow"
At Canoa Hills GVR Social Center
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- Non-refundable Entry Fee: $10
- Entry Form Deadline: Postmark no later than Wednesday, November 20, 2024.
- Art Due for Hanging: Monday, December 2, 2024, from 10:00 – 11:00 am.
- Reception date: TBD from 5:00 – 7:00 pm.
- Location: Canoa Hills Center, 3660 S Camino Del Sol, Green Valley, AZ 85622.
- Prizes: Six Artists' Choice Awards.
For more Information & Entry Form Click Here
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10 FREE SESSIONS on ABSTRACT DESIGN
For those interested in an introduction to the general field of abstract art design, Nan Lux and other artists will be offering a series of Fall guided work sessions starting on Monday, October 7th.
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All mediums are included! Each member simply brings whatever supplies they want to work with.
Want to loosen up your art?
Another goal is to increase interest in participating in the upcoming SRAL abstract art exhibits (juried with prize money) next January and again in February.
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Again, all work sessions are from 9 am to noon every Monday, starting on October 7th, for 10 weeks. Please email Nan at nlux@me.com with questions and interest. | |
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"The 1st
Ellen Sussman - Eva Briggs
Abstract Art Competition"
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Presented by The Santa Rita Art League
Premiering January 2, 2025 at CPAC
The First Annual Ellen Sussman-Eva Briggs Memorial Abstract Art Competition will be held in January 2025. Choose your media: watercolor, oil, acrylic, pastel, collage, and/or mixed media! The caveat: Only SQUARES are acceptable! Submissions can be in any medium: Acrylic, Watercolor, Oils, Pastel, Collage, & Mixed Media. All substrates (canvas, wood panel, paper or cradle board) must measure 12" X 12", 20" X 20", 24" X 24", 30" X 30",
36" X 36", or 48" by 48". The maximum dimensions of a framed piece shall not exceed more than 2" above the substrate's size.
If you can’t decide on the size? Paint two! For the $40.00 entry fee, two paintings can be entered into the show. That has the possibility of the judge seeing a lot of squares, but the spectacular artwork is bound to delight all the viewers! Prize money awards are BIG for this show, but personal satisfaction and gratification is BIGGER! Jump into the most expressive and mind-expanding journey of abstract painting! “Entry forms with complete details are now available online. Paper copies are currently available in the studio.”
For more information on the SRAL website, CLICK HERE
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"The 20th Annual Eva Briggs Abstract Art Competition"
January 31, 2025 at CPAC
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The Eva Briggs Abstract Art Competition is open to all SRAL members and is a judged show, which is held at the Community Performance and Art Center in February. This exhibit was established by Eva Briggs with her bequest for twenty years of prizes to SRAL in 2003. She stipulated that all artwork entered must be abstract and created on a 36″ X 36″ substrate. | |
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The prizes include first, second, and third place awards, plus three honorable mentions and a people’s choice award. Each of these prizes includes a ribbon and a cash award. The awards are presented at a reception.
For more information on the SRAL website,
..........................CLICK HERE
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The Impact of Artists and their Art.
"Art can Influence our
Thoughts, Emotions, and Behaviors."
"Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” .-- Vincent Van Gogh
"Art cannot change the world, but it can contribute to changing the consciousness and drives of the men and women who could change the world."....................................................................-- Herbert Marcuse
"Any form of art is a form of power; it has impact, it can affect change - it can not only move us, it makes us move."
-- Ossie Davis.
There are several examples of how art and artists have influenced societies for the better. But for this essay, let’s look at our own country during a very active time --- the 19th century. Many believe that art was a major influence in the expansion of the United States.
For America much was happening: the Louisiana Purchase from France in 1803 (which would later become territory for 14 new states), the Guadalupe-Hidalgo Treaty in 1848 (Mexico ceded a vast amount of territory to the U.S., land for another 6 states), the war between the states (1861-1865), the Transcontinental Railroad (1863-1869), the California Gold Rush (1848-1855), The Homestead Act (1862, 160 acres for every settler), migration on the Oregon Trail (1830-1869), and completion of the Transcontinental Railroad (1869), to name a few.
Between 1800 & 1900, the size of our Nation more than tripled in size. However, at the beginning of the 19th century approximately 90% to 95% of our population lived in the states that bordered the Atlantic Ocean.
Eventually with help from the government, railroads spread out across the Nation.
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The Great Northern and Northern Pacific, the Union Pacific and Central Pacific, and the Southern Pacific and Texas Pacific were the major railroads. Railroad companies worked to encourage folks to buy tickets and move west. At this time passenger traffic was their main focus --- it changed later. | |
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This movement was helped when author and newspaper editor, Horace Greeley, said, “Go west, young man, and grow up with the country.”
The railroad companies needed a way to catch the imagination of the public and entice paying customers to travel out West. Very few citizens even knew what the West was like. So, the executives from the various railroads decided to hire noted artists to draw and paint scenes of the beauty of the West. They began recruiting artists from the Hudson River School, and later from the Taos Society of Artists, and other up and coming artists which eventually turned into hundreds of artists to travel throughout the West and capture its natural splendor on canvas so people back home could see what awaited them.
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"The Big Medicine Man" by Paul Frenzy, 1878
These artists were to create romantic, idealized, inspiring paintings of our American landscape, show the natural beauty of the country, and the unique character of its people; all to celebrate the nation’s identity and to promote a sense of national pride.
The railroads’ objective was simple and.straightforward – to persuade tourists, potential settlers, sportsmen, and health-seekers to book passage on company trains.
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The railroads used these paintings for all sorts of advertising, such as on stationary, postcards, calendars, timetables, guidebooks, and advertisements. They enlarged the images and reproduced them as lithographic prints to display to the public in train depots and ticket offices. The paintings were exhibited in cities like New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. where you paid 5-cents to view a large selection of the various art pieces.
Note: Although the paintings purchased by the railroads should be shown in their large format, we shall print a few to give you examples of what the artists accomplished.
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“Cliffs of Green River, Wyoming,”
by Thomas Moran
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"Mount Corcoran" (California)
by Albert Bierstadt
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"Looking Down Yosemite Valley"
by Albert Bierstadt
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"Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone"
by Thomas Moran
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By the end of the 19th century, regions west of the Atlantic states had more than 50% of our American population. Americans were moving west. Paintings by the artists helped to convince the U.S. Congress to establish our national parks, followed by States creating state parks all to preserve the beauty and space for future generations to enjoy.
Art by these skilled artists definitely affected the development and economy of our country by helping to spread the population across the entire continent which resulted in more farms, factories, and businesses; and placed America in line to be a very productive part of the world economy.
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An editor's note: For those of us artists living in the vast Southwest, I'm not sure we have yet to completely show the beauty, charm, allure, and magnificence, of our surroundings, including the vistas & panoramas, or the broad diversity of individuals that make our part of the Nation so wonderful......................................-- Rich Metcalf... | |
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SRAL LOCKERS AND SLOTS FOR RENT
Lockers and slots for storing art supplies, canvases, etc. are available for rental in the SRAL studio. Yearly fee for a locker is $20, and $15 for a slot.
There are a limited number of lockers and slots. If all are rented, a waiting list will be kept and filled as available.
Fees can be paid by filling out a rental application (available in the studio or on the website by clicking here) to include with your cash or check payment; both should be left with the studio monitor.
For more information, please contact Valerie St. Marie: Click Here
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Art History for Everyone
The art historians on our staff researched some of the notable contributors to the craft that we love the most --> "A R T"
We hope you remember and celebrate each individual.
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Birthdays -- September
2 Romare Bearden 1911........................15 Jean Hans Arp 1887
7 Jacob Lawrence 1917......................23 Louise Nevelson 1900
7 Grandma Moses 1860......................25 Mark Rothko 1903
12 Ben Shahn 1898..............................26 Théodore Géricault 1791
13 Robert Indiana 1928........................28 Caravaggio 1573
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"Jamming at the Savoy"
by Romare Bearden
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The Red Stairway"
by Ben Shahn
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"The Raft of the Medusa"
by Théodore Géricault
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"Sugaring Off"
by Grandma Moses
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"The Entombment of Christ"
by Caravaggio
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SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS (SIGs)
There are 10 Special Interest Groups and all of them are open to the members of the Art League.
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- ABSTRACT BRIGGade
- ASSEMBLAGE
- COLLAGE/MIXED MEDIA and ACRYLIC
- FIGURE DRAWING
- OIL PAINTING & PASTEL
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- OPEN STUDIO
- PLEIN AIR
- PORTRAIT
- PRINTMAKERS GUILD
- WATERCOLOR
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On the SRAL website there is a complete description for each SIG.
If you wish to learn more about any of the SIGs, Click Here
Below is additional INFO not on the SRAL webpage.
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ABSTRACT BRIGGade
There are no special skills required to join in with this friendly group. Attendees always find artist support, often with live demos, workshops, and critiques.
We shall start our season again in October.
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Reminder: 10 Abstract Design Work Sessions, this Fall
Nan Lux and other award-winning artists will be holding 10 FREE informal drop-in guided work sessions every Monday beginning on October 7th, from 9 am to noon at the SRAL studio. These sessions are for our members who are interested in participating in the upcoming abstract art exhibits in January & February.
For more info see 10 FREE SESSIONS on ABSTRACT DESIGN above.
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ASSEMBLAGE
The Assemblage Group continues to meet throughout the summer and fall. Second and Fourth Fridays from 1-3 pm in the Studio.
Thanks to everyone who continues to offer us great stuff to use. Trash to treasure…recycle...reuse…great fun! Thank you!
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Our September challenge is to make a mask that hangs on the wall. We will be exhibiting these and other recent work at Desert Hills Rec Center in October. We are also working on Day Of The Dead inspired pieces.
Should be fun!
You are certainly invited to come and have fun with us in a creative, collaborative environment!
All SRAL members are welcome.
See you in the Studio!
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COLLAGE/MIXED MEDIA and ACRYLIC
This SIG will resume meeting at the SRAL studio on Wednesday, September 4th, from 1 pm to 3 pm. The SIG Coordinator, Janet Johnson, wishes to discuss what the group would like to outline for the 2024-2025 season. Janet would also like the members to bring in an art piece that they either completed or are in the process of completing so all members can take a look..
Get ready for a terrific year.
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FIGURE DRAWING
The first session of the 2024/2025 season will be held this coming fall.
Hope to see you.
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OIL/PASTEL
This group meets every Monday from 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm. We are a friendly, supportive, and informal group that allows our members a scheduled time to paint, share ideas, and techniques. We welcome both beginner and accomplished artists alike!
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PLEIN AIR PAINT OUTINGS
We shall resume our activities in November!
Hope to see you for our beginning Plein Air Season in November.
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PRINTMAKERS GUILD
Our first meeting of the new season will be on September 25 at 9:30 am (always on the 4th Wednesday of the month) in Studio Room A, when John McGraw will teach us how to do screen printing with stencils. All are welcome, materials provided.
Be sure to look at the prints displayed in the Studio “gallery” during the month of September.
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WATERCOLOR
The Watercolor Group meets year-round in the SRAL studio on Fridays from 9-noon. We are an informal, social group working on our own watercolor projects, while sharing ideas and support. All levels are welcome from beginners to those who have painted for years. The SRAL library also has many books on watercolors for your reference.
FYI: Some members meet via ZOOM on Friday mornings, 9 to 12 (AZ time). However, the ZOOM folks will not be meeting for the first 2 Fridays in September (9/6 & 9/13), but plan to meet again on Sept. 20th and for the 4 Fridays (9/20, 9/27, 10/4, & 10/11) til mid-October.
Anyone not receiving the Zoom invite email, but want to receive it, can contact Valerie St. Marie. Click Here
Please Come and Join Us.
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