Animals Have Meanings

A program where six local artists will demonstrate their individual approaches to animal painting will be held in conjunction with a museum's animal friends exhibit.

When the artists are able to create an animal theme painting in the museum galleries they then have to tell the visitors about how the styles and techniques they used were able to help them capture the image and spirit of the animals they painted.

When it comes to animals, people from different cultures and backgrounds find special meaning in them according to a museum's executive director.

What doves signify is peace while the buffalo is more of a spiritual symbol. A good omen can be associated with a red tailed hawk while dogs signify cherished friends.

All over the world, animals continue to be the favorites because since the beginning of time from petroglyphs to cave murals to oil paintings to jewelry they have been the subjects of artistic endeavor.

According to this female artist she is an avid explorer of styles, techniques, and ideas. When it comes to her methods, these have been developed through a long career of teaching, consulting, in workshop presentations, and publications.

She is listed in the west's who's who and is a founding member of a local society of watercolorists.

Another female artist, originally from southern California, studied art and watercolor before moving to her hometown in 1983. People and animal portraits are some of the themes she works with together with landscapes and floral studies.

According to the director, she has a style that results from her ability to push the watercolor medium into works of unusual size without sacrificing the brilliance of transparent watercolor not to mention her aggressive use of pigment.

For the other artist, he studied at the art center of college of design in Los Angeles and another famous college.

Formerly a graphic designer in Chicago, he has exhibited nationally, including the national watercolor exhibition in environment. Aside from creating presentations and publications in Springfield, Illinois each of the artists will also be making them in local and regional venues.

At the University of California in Los Angeles was where the fourth artist studied for some time after graduating with high honors from New York's school of art.

What she won at Washington school of art's 12th annual competition was the best of show. Because her work is full of psychological poignancy as parts of a famous director's film, a reviewer described it as having the ability to give a precious glimpse of human drama.

It was at Kansas university school of fine arts where the fifth artist earned her painting degree. Considering that she paints in her own interpretive style of realism, she provides the viewers with a feeling of the atmosphere and the subject's mood.

What she has been able to do is hold a number of one person shows, participate in the Kansas landscape which is a traveling exhibition shown at the Smithsonian institution in Washington, DC and participate in juried exhibitions.

After spending eight years studying Chinese brush painting with a noted Chinese painter, the sixth artist was able to culminate her study of art and refinement of painting skills. She was able to adapt this style of painting, lifted or erased during creation, to the northern New Mexican environment.

It was the director of the museum who said that they are honored to welcome these distinguished artists from the society of watercolorists to the museum and reiterated was their commitment to artists and designers working showing up.

When it comes to the current animal friends exhibition, it has been specially selected for the enjoyment of the young and old. Considering how the artists create portraits of their own special animal friends, visitors are sure to enjoy the workshop.

What was founded in 1992 was the society of watercolorists and it has a mission to encourage the production as well as the appreciation of professional quality watercolors on a local and national level.