Upcoming ART RETREAT in Estes Park, CO

I'm so excited to announce . . .

Painted Prism Art Retreat

in Estes Park, Colorado

July 14-17, 2016

Join us for 3 days and 4 nights in the Rocky Mountains 

to paint and create, to rest and rejuvenate, to learn and share.

This Art Retreat will offer you a unique opportunity to immerse yourself in art --

in an incredibly beautiful setting 

for a truly special experience!

PRICE:  $450, which includes tuition & supplies

Early Bird Special:  $375 (before May 15)

TO REGISTER, with a deposit of $150, click here.
The balance of $300, will be due by July 1st.

Your Tuition includes:
- All materials and supplies for the 3 days of workshops
- Breakfast and lunch every day
- Snacks, water, coffee, and tea -- throughout the day
- Wine and cheese, for the evening gatherings
- 3 days of Art Workshops with Pat Howard
- Opening and closing gatherings, every day
- Yoga sessions every morning (optional)
- Time for yourself -- to meditate, play, walk, hang out, nap
- Unlimited fresh mountain air, laughter, and friendship

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The Retreat will flow through yoga, writing, drawing, and painting,

with a few surprises thrown in, each day.

In addition to lots of watercolor painting,

your days will be a nice balance of learning, connecting, creating, reflecting, and sharing.

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At the Painted Prism Art Retreat, you will:

- Fill your sketchbook/journal with sketches, Super Doodles, and writing.

- Work with watercolor, pencils, pens, liquid acrylic, markers, and collaging.

- Complete 2 or 3 Painting Projects -- including Mandalas, Aquabord, Negative Painting

- Come together for Group Activities -- with intention, meaning, and fun, of course.

We will be staying and painting and playing here at Aspen Falls, a beautiful private mountain retreat in Estes Park -- set on 30 acres, with a lake and gorgeous Rocky Mountain views.

LODGING:  Available on-site, at an additional cost

If you choose to stay with us on-site, at an additional, but very affordable, cost --

you'll have the option of staying in the main house, in one of the 4 cabins on the property, or in the barn/studio.  Lodging information, with prices and details, is available.  Contact Pat at thepaintedprism@gmail.com

ITINERARY

Thursday, 7/14 -- Check in between 3 and 6 pm.  Welcome Reception at 5 pm.

Friday through Sunday, 7/15-17 -- Our days will begin with a light breakfast, coffee, and tea.

Then, relaxing and energizing movement -- yoga session, a jog, or a walk around the grounds.

The Art Workshops will start each day at 9:30 am.  We will be involved in art lessons and projects for 5+ hours each day -- with time out for lunch.

At the end of each day, we'll gather together at the main house -- for sharing, reflecting, story-telling, connecting -- and enjoying a glass of wine.

Monday, 7/18  -- The Retreat will end after breakfast on Monday morning.

This Retreat will be small -- limited to 16 women -- 

with personal attention and time for each of you,

as we accompany you on a journey of discovery.

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About the Retreat Leaders:

Pat Howard is a watercolor artist and teacher, who lives in Durango, Colorado.  Her artist/teaching blog, The Painted Prism, averages 1,000 visits a day.  Pat's Watercolor Workshops, in Colorado, Ohio, and California, are always full, and she currently has 30 on-line mentoring students, from all around the world!  Pat's watercolor paintings can be seen at Columbine Gallery, in Loveland, CO.

Cheryl Miller Thurston is an award-winning author, editor, and musician, who lives in Loveland, Colorado.  She founded and ran a successful publishing company, Cottonwood Press, for 24 years.  Her plays and musicals have been performed all over the country.  Cheri writes the material for, directs, and plays the accordion for, the popular musical comedy performing group, Moonlighting Teachers.

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Questions?  Contact Pat at:  thepaintedprism@gmail.com

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To Register for the Painted Prism Art Retreat:

- You can secure your spot at this retreat, by paying a deposit of $150, HERE.  The balance of $300 will be due by July 1st, 2016.

- You can also register by contacting Pat Howard at: thepaintedprism@gmail.com

- Once you register for the retreat, you will receive an e-mail from us, describing how to book your lodging for the retreat.

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Hope you can join us in July, 

for 3 days and 4 nights of creativity and fun

in Estes Park!

  

WOMEN ARTISTS: Giovanna Garzoni

Still Life with Bowl of Citrons, c. 1640's.  
(Current location: The J Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles)

An Italian painter, who was prominent in Europe during the Baroque period, Giovanna Garzoni is the featured artist for February, in my Woman Artist Series.  She is considered to be one of the greatest Italian miniaturists of the 17th century.

She has been a favorite of mine for a long time -- and has been a huge influence on my own work.  One of the first women artists to practice the art of still life painting, Giovanna Garzoni pursued her career with intensity.

GIOVANNA GARZONI (1600 - 1670)

Here are 10 things to know about Giovanna, along with images of her beautiful paintings:

Giovanna Garzoni, Self-Portrait, c. 1650,
watercolor on paper

1.  Born in 1600 in Ascoli Piceno, in the Marche district of Italy, Garzoni's talent was first noticed when she apprenticed with a pharmacist in her hometown.  

Her parents, Giacomo Garzoni and Isabetta Gaia, were of Venetian origin and both came from families of artisans -- but were not artists themselves.  They could provide no training for their daughter, as was typical for many women artists of the period -- but she received some art training from her uncle, Pietro Gaia, a painter, sometime before 1615.

2.  After residing in Rome for the first 15 years of her life, in 1616, Garzoni started her art career when she accepted a commission from chemist, Giovanni Vorvino of Rome, to paint a herbarium.  

Four years later in 1620, Garzoni arrived in Venice and painted Saint Andrew for the Venetian Church.  Garzoni stayed in Venice for a few more years and during that time, attended the Calligraphy school of Giacomo Rogni.  Shortly after her studies with Rogni, Garzoni produced a book of cursive characters.  This early work, a 1625 calligraphy book, included capital letters illuminated with fruits, flowers, birds, and insects.

She was also influenced, artistically, by Jacopo Ligozzi, a fellow botanical painter -- but, any more details about Giovanna Garzoni's art training are unknown.

3.  In 1622, Giovanna married the Venetian artist, Tibero Tinelli, but the marriage only lasted for two years, due in large part to her vow of chastity.  She was often called the Chaste Giovanna due to her vow to remain a virgin.

Tinelli and Garzoni separated in 1624.  There were others who suggested that Garzoni's father, Giacomo, suspected that his son-in-law was practicing witchcraft and magic, and encouraged his daughter to end the marriage.  The marriage ended by annulment, rather than divorce, because they had never consummated their marriage.

Dish with Plums, Jasmine, and Nuts
(location: Pitti Palace, Florence, Italy)

4.  In 1630, Garzoni left Venice for Naples, along with her brother, Mattio -- where she worked for the Spanish viceroy, the Duke of Alacala.  The artist was 30 when she moved from Venice to Naples.  She painted numerous miniatures for her patron, the Spanish Duke of Alacala.

She professed to being unhappy in Naples, preferring to work and die in Rome.  So, Garzoni remained in Naples for only one year, until she moved to Rome in 1631.  

Garzoni is notable for being one of the few women who opted to travel throughout Europe and receive an education during the 17th century, instead of settling down and starting a family.  She would travel with her brother, Mattio, throughout her career as an artist.  

5.  Garzoni's stay in Rome was short lived, because of Christina of France's persistent efforts to have the artist come to Turin, to serve as the miniaturist for the court of Turin.  So, when the Duke of Alcala returned to Spain, Garzoni used the opportunity to accept the invitation of Christina and the Duke of Savoy to move to Turin.

Portrait of Carlo Emanuele I, Duke of Savoy
(Tempera on Vellum, c. 1632-1637)

Garzoni reached Turin in 1632 and lived and worked there for five years.  In 1637, the commencement of the War of the Two Ladies forced her to leave.  

6.  Garzoni traveled back and forth from Rome to Florence, until 1651, where her primary client became the prominent Medici Family -- particularly Grand Duke Ferdinando II and Grand Duchess Victoria.  She was the official miniaturist painter at the court of the Medici in Florence, in the mid-17th century.

Garzoni's refined interpretation of plants and animals suited the taste of her aristocratic patrons, like the Medici family, and could be found decorating their villas.  She painted many botanical and zoological specimens for the Medici court.

Many of her surviving still-life paintings were commissioned by Medici patrons, chiefly Prince Leopoldo and Cardinal Giovan Carlo.

7.  After serving the Medici Court, Garzoni decided to settle in Rome in 1654 -- where she renewed her activity with the Academia di San Luca, an association of artists, founded in 1593. Although it was not customary to admit women to the organization, she enjoyed many of the same benefits as male members (including cakes brought to her when she was ill).

8.  While Garzoni earned success during her lifetime for her miniatures, only a few examples of those survive.  It is her carefully rendered watercolor still-lifes of flowers and fruit, and her portraits, that have earned the artist lasting recognition.

These botanical subjects were to become her specialty, and what she became famous for -- and tempera on vellum was her preferred medium.  Her use of watercolor, gouache, and tempera, instead of oil, adds a sense of delicacy and immediacy to the paintings.  Also, the inclusion of insects, birds, lizards, shells, and even mice, serve to further enliven the compositions.  Her works have a fresh presence and almost surreal quality that explain her immense popularity in her own day.

9.  Although her artwork was critiqued by her contemporaries for its subject matter (portraits and still-life were viewed as lower forms of art, in comparison to figure painting and historical themes), Garzoni's paintings were hugely popular among her clients.  In fact, her paintings were so well-received that she could sell her work "for whatever price she wished".

Her fame and skill also endowed the artist with a large degree of autonomy.  She had the option of working with various patrons throughout Italy, and she also traveled to London and Paris.

10.  In 1666, prior to her death, Giovanna devised a will that left her estate to the Church of Santa Martina (the church of the Academia di San Luca), on the condition that she would be buried in the church.

Garzoni died four years later in Rome, in February of 1670, at the age of 70 -- after enjoying a life of steady work and constant success.

Today, Garzoni's tomb remains at the Church of Santa Martina, but it was not interred there until 1698, nearly 29 years after her death.

Along with her tomb, is a portrait of Giovanna Garzoni, by Roman painter, Giuseppe Ghezzi.

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I had the good fortune to visit the Pitti Palace in Florence, Italy, two years ago, and was able to see some of Giovanna Garzoni's beautiful paintings.  

Since they were enclosed in a glass cabinet, I didn't get the best pictures . . . but, it was fun to see them, "up close and personal"!

Upcoming Watercolor Workshop in Northern Colorado -- April 2nd & 3rd

I'm excited to be offering a Two-Day Watercolor Workshop in Berthoud, Colorado -- April 2nd & 3rd. It will be held at the Wildfire Community Arts Center, from 9:30 am to 4 pm daily.

There are still a few openings for this class -- all skill levels welcome -- and there is still time to get the discounted price of $160 for the two days.  (If you register and pay before March 1st.)  This price includes a light lunch and beverages.


If you're interested in this two-day workshop and want to sign up, or if you have any questions about it, you can comment below, or you can send me an e-mail -- thepaintedprism@gmail.com or howard@frontier.net

Upcoming One-Day Workshop in Durango - February 17th

Back by popular demand!


Come join me for "A Day of Art Nouveau", on Wednesday, February 17th -- at my home/studio here in Durango.

Let me know if you want to sign up for the class -- I still about 5 openings left.  Contact me at thepaintedprism@gmail.com, or at howard@frontier.net

The cost is $90 for the one-day workshop, which includes a light lunch and beverages.

2016 Workshop Schedule

2016 WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

February 17th -- COLORADO

One-Day Workshop at my home/studio in Durango, CO

"A Day of Art Nouveau" -- back by popular demand

April 2nd & 3rd -- COLORADO 

2-Day Workshop at the Wildfire Community Art Center, in Berthoud, Colorado

"Negative Painting of Trees & Leaves" and "Floral Painting on Aquabord"

May 25th -- COLORADO

One-Day Workshop at my home/studio in Durango, CO

"From the Ground Up" -- Fantasy Landscapes

July 14, 15, 16, & 17 -- COLORADO

Women's Creativity Retreat in Estes Park, Colorado

Four days at a beautiful private resort, with Cheri Thurston and Pat Howard as facilitators and instructors.

August 18th & 19th -- OHIO

2-Day Workshop at the Wolf Creek Winery in Norton, OH

September 16, 17, 18, & 19 -- COLORADO

Annual 4-Day Workshop at my home/studio in Durango, CO

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More details to come for each of these workshops -- but, please leave a comment below, if you are interested in any of these, and/or have a question about them.  Or, contact me at thepaintedprism@gmail.com

WOMEN ARTISTS: Alma Woodsey Thomas

A prominent abstract painter of the 1960's and 70's, Alma Thomas was the first African American woman to have a solo art exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in NYC, in 1971.  She is the featured artist for January, 2016, in my Woman Artist Series.  

Alma Thomas was a successful Washington Expressionist painter and art educator, despite the barriers presented by her race and gender.  She did not, however, turn to racial or feminist issues in her art -- believing rather that the creative spirit is independent of race or gender.  She viewed nature as a colorful, abstract mosaic.

ALMA WOODSEY THOMAS

Here are 10 things to know about Alma Woodsey Thomas, along with some of her paintings, and images of Thomas herself:

1.  Alma Thomas was born in Columbus, Georgia, in 1891, and moved with her family in 1907, to a house in Washington, DC, where she would reside for the remaining seven decades of her life.  

Alma was the eldest of four daughters of John Harris Thomas, a successful businessman, and Amelia Cantey Thomas, a dress designer.  Alma showed artistic tendencies as a child, when she used local clay to make homemade puppets and sculptures.  

Thomas' childhood was instilled with the importance of education.  Although her hometown prohibited black people in public libraries, Thomas' aunts, who were schoolteachers, often brought professors and traveling lecturers to the Thomas home, including Booker T Washington.  

With the desire for a better education for his daughters, and concern over the 1906 race riots in nearby Atlanta, John Thomas moved his family to Washington, DC, in 1907.  They settled in a house that Alma would occupy for the next 71 years, and that remains in the Thomas family to this day.

Though segregated, the nation's capitol still offered more opportunities for African Americans than most cities in those years.

2.  In 1924, Thomas earned her BS in Fine Arts from Howard University -- the first graduate of the fine art program at the university.

Shortly after her family relocated to Washington, DC, in 1907, Thomas attended Armstrong Technical High School, where she took her first art classes.  She also excelled in math and science, as well as demonstrating a strong talent in architectural drawing.  Although she considered becoming an architect, art captured her imagination more thoroughly.  By the time she graduated, she had taken every art class the school offered.

Upon graduating, Thomas attended the Miner Teachers Normal School, specializing in early childhood education.  She earned her teacher's certificate in 1913.

After six years of teaching, Thomas entered Howard University in 1921 as a home economics student.  During her first year at Howard, Thomas met Professor James Herring, the founder of the school's Fine Art Department.  Herring persuaded Thomas to abandon the idea of costume design and to enroll as the first student in his new curriculum.  Herring would be a lifelong friend and mentor to Thomas.  Thomas was the first graduate of Herring's Art Department (and it's only graduate of 1924).

In 1934, she earned her Masters in Art Education from Columbia University.

3.  Alma Thomas was an art teacher for 35 years, before publicly exhibiting her own work, at the age of 68.

Thomas taught kindergarten and arts & crafts at the Thomas Garrett Settlement House for six years in Wilmington, Delaware, before returning to Washington in 1921 to enroll at Howard University.  While at the Settlement House, she experienced the joy of teaching and encouraging creativity in young people.  She also staged carnivals, circuses, and puppet shows.  

After graduation from Howard with a Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts, she became an art teacher at Shaw Junior High School in Washington -- remaining there until her retirement in 1960.  "I devoted my life to the children, and I think they loved me -- at least those did who cared about art", she said.  While at Shaw JHS, she started a community arts program that encouraged student appreciation of fine art.  The program also supported marionette performances.  

In 1930, Thomas began spending her summers in NYC, working toward a masters degree in Art Education at Columbia University.  She focused her studies on marionette plays.  She also studied with Tony Sarg, the world-renowned marionette maker and puppeteer.

4.  When Thomas retired from teaching, she devoted herself to painting full-time, and was given her first one-person show at the Dupont Theater, an art cinema in Washington, DC.  She was 68 years old when she first publicly exhibited her own work.

Alma Woodsey Thomas' first retrospective exhibit was in 1966 at the Gallery of Art at Howard University, at the age of 75 -- where she debuted her abstract work.  

In 1972, she was the first African American woman to be given a solo show at the Whitney Museum of American Art, in New York.

Thomas, at her opening in the Whitney Museum, 1972

5.  For more than twenty-five years, Alma Thomas created representational images.  She first painted rudimentary still life paintings that served as a springboard for later, more adventurous works. 

"What I would rather do is to paint something beautiful."  

She spent many hours visiting museums, where she studied Western classics, as well as examples of Byzantine and Asian art.  She derived inspiration from the styles of Cezanne and Matisse and from her long study of color theory.

She had a special affinity for watercolor, and her professional debut consisted of works in that medium.  Upon classes at Howard, and training under James Herring and Lois Jones, her work became more abstract.

6.  Thomas studied painting at American University under Jacob Kainen. from 1950 to 1960 -- at night and on weekends.  

It was there that she took courses in creative painting and color theory.  She began to incorporate strong design, large scale format, and pure colors into her abstractions.  

Studying under one of the leading Expressionist painters, Jacob Kainen -- who thought of her as an artist, not a student -- introduced her to member of the Washington Color Field group.  Kainen encouraged Thomas to focus on color in her paintings.

She completed her studies at American University in 1960 -- the same year she retired from teaching.

7.  In 1943, Alma Woodsey Thomas helped found the Barnett-Aden Gallery in Washington, DC.    James Herring and Alonzo Aden, an art curator, asked Thomas to help them establish the Gallery, so she joined the venture as vice president.

The Barnett-Aden Gallery customarily featured talented artists, regardless of race or sex.  It was the first private gallery in Washington to exhibit modern American art, as well as the works of relatively unknown black artists.  

It was there that she became involved with the "Little Paris" group of artists in 1946.  Primarily black public school teachers and civil employees, the "Little Paris" group sketched, painted, and encouraged each other.

8.  Thomas worked out of the kitchen in her house -- sometimes even working on her lap.  In the late 1950's, she developed the confidence and knowledge to pursue the highly-colored abstract style for which she is known.  

During the 1960's, Thomas emerged as an exuberant colorist, abstracting shapes and patterns from the trees and flowers around her.  Her new palette and technique -- lighter and looser than in her earlier representational works and dark abstractions -- reflected her long study of color theory and the watercolor medium.  She was in her 70's when she developed her signature style -- the large abstract paintings filled with dense, irregular mosaic patterns of bright colors.

In Washington, DC, where she lived and worked, Thomas became identified with the Color Field painters active in the area since the 50's -- including Morris Louis and Gene Davis.  Her close relationships with these Washington Color School Painters, whose works emphasized abstract color shapes, assured her acceptance in that circle.  Like them, she explored the power of color and form.  

Thomas studied and assimilated the styles of artists she admired, merging them with her own profoundly independent vision.  The Color Field painters used staining techniques and masking tape in order to give their work a hard edge.  Thomas, however, spoke proudly of her pencil-drawn rectangles and wedges which she then colored individually.  

Another influence on her art at the time was a book by Bauhaus artist, Johannes Itten, The Art of Color.  

Starry Night

9.  Alma Thomas retired from teaching in 1960, at the age of 70, to focus on what she called her "serious painting".  This is when she evolved her signature style and was finally recognized as a professional artist.

For her retrospective exhibition at Howard University, she created her Earth Paintings, a series of nature-inspired abstract works, and her "Space Paintings" series.  These paintings have been compared to Byzantine mosaics and the pointillist paintings of Seurat.

The space series was inspired from the heavens and stars, and "my idea of what it's like to be an astronaut, exploring space".  Two of the paintings have titles, using the astronauts' nickname for the moon vehicle -- "Snoopy Sees a Sunrise" and "Snoopy -- Early Sun Display on Earth".

Though her chronic arthritis made working increasingly difficult, Thomas continued to paint, and exhibited her canvases through the mid-1970's.

10.  Thomas was an important role model -- for women, for African Americans, and for older artists.  In 1963, she walked in the March on Washington -- though she would be the first to tell you she was not a "black artist".  

 In 1972, at the age of 80, Thomas had what she called her "banner year".  Both the Whitney Museum of American Art (the first black woman to have a solo exhibit there), and the Corcoran Gallery of Art held solo exhibitions of her work.  

In 1977, she was invited to the White House by President Jimmy Carter, in recognition of her achievements.  She exhibited her paintings at the White House three times.

In 2009, two paintings by Alma Thomas were chosen by First Lady Michelle Obama, to be exhibited there during the Obama presidency.  

Today, Alma Thomas' work can be found in many important private and public collections -- including the Akron Art Museum in Ohio, the California African American Museum in Los Angeles, the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC, the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, in New York.

Thomas died on February 24, 1978, while undergoing open heart surgery at Howard University Hospital in Washington, DC.  She was 86, and was living in the same house that her family moved into, upon their arrival in Washington in 1906.