BWS Highlights Newsletter • Summer 2024

President’s Palette

Summer is in full swing! June was a marathon -- with school ending for students and teachers, graduations, weddings, and, sorrowfully, also funerals. The activities are endless, but the time and energy for all of it seem to be in shorter supply each year.

I attended an art reception today and overheard three generations of people vying for time on the family calendar for their particular interest. Hearing that a trip to the Philadelphia Museum of Art might make the top of the list made the youngest people excited. They wanted to run the “Rocky Steps” and be videoed so that they could post it on their social media. Others in the group just smiled because their reason for the trip was to walk slowly through the wonderful Mary Cassatt Exhibition featured through September 8th. The exhibition is wonderfully curated with her letters that speak of her inspiration and the sacrifices she had to make to create her art. The processes that she used in the different media she experimented with are shown and explained in detail.

A trip to a museum might mean one thing to one person and another thing to someone else. Viewing a collection of paintings in one country compared to viewing the entire collection in another country is also like this. I recently returned from London to view the John Singer Sargent Exhibition that I had seen in Boston in December 2023. The collection was presented in a very different way and the reactions of those viewing the collection were also quite different. I’m happy to say that the iridescent beetle wings in Sargent's Ophelia’s costume are still intact and as shiny as they can be. I enjoyed showing them to a little boy, who was also excited.

Artists can be influencers! Make time to share the joy about being an artist -- show your artwork and techniques to someone. Yes, we might need to talk about iridescent beetle wings that adorn a costume in one of Sargent’s paintings, or run up the “Rocky Steps” at the PMA to get young people in the door. I am willing to lace up my sneakers and run up those steps! Now, how do I create that video? I am still learning – but am also sharing my art and opinions to those who are interested.

Keep painting!

BWS President

Interested in Becoming a Signature Member of BWS?

Jurying by the Board of Governors or three acceptances in the Mid-Atlantic Regional Exhibition are two ways members can achieve signature status. August is a special month as interested artists have the opportunity to do both!

We will be accepting applications for signature status jurying beginning in August!

• 8/9 - Open for signature jurying submissions
• 10/4 - Deadline for submissions
• 10/19 - Jurying by the Board of Governors
• Notice to artists within two weeks of jurying

See the membership section of the BWS website for detailed information.

From the Archives: Notable Events in the History of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Watercolor Exhibition
by Jim Sandford, BWS Mid-Atlantic Exhibition Chair

In previous articles we’ve noted that the Baltimore Water Color Club (BWCC) and today’s Baltimore Watercolor Society (BWS) held annual exhibitions most years between 1892 and the present day, and they were mostly very good about numbering these exhibitions, making today’s historical research much easier than it might otherwise have been. Let’s take a look at some specific history.

The following notice appeared in the Baltimore Sun February 23, 1904 (via Newspapers.com) and was referring to what was to be the BWCC’s 12th annual exhibition:

A quick Google search reveals that the “unsettled conditions” referred to the aftermath of the Great Baltimore Fire, which on the 7th and 8th of February 1904 leveled 1500 buildings and severely damage another 1000 in the area we still recognize as the center of downtown Baltimore. The Arundell Club was on West Eager street, a few blocks north of the destruction zone. “Unsettled” is putting it mildly.

So the BWCC’s 12th annual exhibition was reluctantly delayed a full year. On February 19, 1905, the following announcement appears in the Sun (via Newspapers.com):

(The announcement continues through the better part of the page’s subsequent column.)

Clearly, the expression “the show must go on” has its limitations, as the leaders of the BWCC discovered in the year between February 1904 and February 1905.

You are invited to be a part of the deep history of BWCC/BWS exhibitions by submitting your work for consideration to the 2024 Mid-Atlantic Regional Watercolor Exhibition which will run October 11, 2024 through January 5, 2025 at the Arts Barn and Kentlands Mansion Galleries in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Russell Jewell (AWS, NWS, TWSA, ED.D) will be this year’s juror and workshop instructor.

The CaFÉ (Call for Entry) system will remain open for applications through August 7, 2024. Applicants may submit one or two paintings, of which one may be selected for the exhibition. A detailed exhibition prospectus and other information is available on the Mid-Atlantic web page https://bws.wildapricot.org/page-1856630.

Please watch this space for more information about the history of the exhibition. If you have information, comments or questions you’d like to submit for consideration, please feel free to contact me at midatlanticexhibit@baltimorewatercolorsociety.org.

Receive American Frame Discounts Through Our Artist Alliance Program

American Frame is a second-generation, woman-owned, family-run company, dedicated to serving artists like yourself since 1973. Our mission is to provide excellence in custom framing products, fine art printing and related services while advancing a socially responsible company that gives back to the arts. As such, we are proud to be counted among the list of donors to the BWS Mid-Atlantic Regional Exhibition. If you need design assistance or have questions about the website, we are here to help. We offer free samples, phone support as well as face-to-face ‘zoom style’ consultations via our Virtual Showroom. Our goal is to serve you in the way that makes you most comfortable.

To get your discount, log in to bws.wildapricot.org.  Click on this link:  https://www.baltimorewatercolorsociety.org/Member-Discount-Codes/12652400, sign up to register and you will receive a discount code as well as earn credit for your purchases for BWS.

Additional details on the program can be found here: https://learn.americanframe.com/artist-alliance-terms-and-conditions

All images are the property of the artists and protected by copyright. No image can be used without the written permission of the artist.

New BWS Social Media Committee Chair

Lia Nigro (pictured here with her husband, Carl) is the new Social Media Committee chair for BWS. She holds a degree in English from Yale University and had primarily editorial responsibilities during her career with nonprofit AMIDEAST, including some social media in the challenging area of standardized tests. After retiring, Lia began painting and studying watercolor with a number of BWS members: Nishita Jain, Jennifer Littleton, Zina Poliszuk, and April Rimpo. She is enjoying the range of philosophies and techniques these teachers have offered and looks forward to continuing to improve her own art as well as updating and supporting BWS members on Facebook and Instagram.

Please contact Lia with your news and ideas at lianigro@baltimorewatercolorsociety.org.

William “Skip” Lawrence - You ARE missed!

July 29, 1943 - January 13, 2024

This is my tribute to a master painter, educator, and friend.

Although I did not get to see or study with Skip within the last five years or more of his life, I was fortunate to have about a decade of experience working with him. From my first workshop immersion with Skip in 1992, through weekly evening classes at an old school in Laurel, Maryland, to his July workshops in Maine – Skip’s teachings and sense of humor live on within me.

These memories keep me humble even as my innate curiosity keeps me moving forward in my own creative evolution. In my practice and now in my own lectures and demonstrations with students as I guide them towards finding their own voice, I realize that my philosophy integrates those of my mentors, masters like William “Skip” Lawrence, Henry Niese, Serge Hollerbach, and Katherine Chang Liu.

We artists owe it to ourselves and the world to always be our truest, authentic self, evolving our artwork and personal vision as we age.

Immersion Workshop at St. Mary’s (1 week, 1992)

I was fortunate to meet Skip in the early 1990’s as I was seeking to transition from my 1980’s roots in classical oil painting to watercolors. From the moment I met him, I called him friend. Not only did Skip mentor, teach, and inspire me - and every other student in his classes and workshops - but he had a gift for making me laugh. His critiques were priceless and make me laugh to this day. I loved watching him paint his demonstration paintings, as he intuitively dipped into pigments and water. All of us sat rapt at attention, mesmerized as forms began to fill the paper’s surface.

I arrived at St. Mary’s county a rookie, a newbie, a nervous wreck! In the early days, I became increasingly frustrated when I realized that not only did I have HORRIBLE, AWFUL materials, but I was in a workshop of master watercolor painters! (If not masters, they at least all had years more experience with the medium than I did. I wanted to run away...)

My palette was a porcelain tray, raised in the middle, so (you know what is coming!) all of my paint and water pooled around the pan’s perimeter, becoming every shade and tint and tone of ugly, unnatural MUD. No surprise, my paintings were representations of that muddy doo-doo. Nowhere was pure color to be found! Oh – and did I mention that my paper was also cheap and horrid and I had no board to which I could attach the paper – because I did not know that was a thing!

I think it was on Day 2 or 3 during our daily critique sessions that I held back my pathetic work of the day. A raised eyebrow and an inquisitive look from Skip (and others) led me to walk up front with one of my muddy papers of nothingness and hold it up for all to see. With everyone’s eyes on me and my beet-red face, I said “Here is today’s best painting. As you all know, I am new to watercolor and I am still painting doo-doo. See?!? Do I really have to put one of these up for display every day so we can all nod and reach consensus, saying ‘ Yep – Elaine is still painting doo-doo! ’?” Needless to say, everyone howled, Skip probably the loudest of them all... We bonded and laughed as these kind, talented artists shared their own tales of horror from their early days learning watercolor painting. At the end of the workshop, Skip encouraged me to keep at it. Looking me in the eyes, he said: “Elaine, you are no beginner - so keep painting! That said, materials DO matter...” and he proceeded to counsel me on what to purchase (in what order, given my limited funds). I cannot thank him enough for recognizing potential in me and encouraging me to keep learning and painting! The rest, as they say, is history!

July Workshops in Maine

I believe it was at my second workshop with Skip, this time up in Maine, that I discovered “my thing” in watercolors.

For two weeks in July, some 20 students made their annual pilgrimage to Skip’s Maine Workshop in Pemaquid Point - an idyllic location where artists were nurtured and friendships were born. For those who know me, you probably will not believe it, but I began my watercolor career as a plein air painter, spending my first five or six years painting outdoors. Generally we began the day meeting at some lovely location (Round Pond, Back Cove), where we watched Skip do a demonstration painting before we chose our individual vantage point from where to paint our own “masterpiece.” As I remember it, I myself never created a winning painting on location, but rather took the visual/sensory experience and painted “memory” back to my porch (or home to my basement studio) to finish at a later date.

I loved it – except for the bugs... And the second degree sunburn I got on both of my hands one year... Blessings to my dear friend Carole, who drove me to the ER.

Most of the students were painting the scenery, whether a special spot on Back Cove, a glimpse of the sheer rocks on Pemaquid Point, the lighthouse, our Inn’s wraparound porch or flower gardens...

One afternoon during the second week of the workshop - outside the lobster shack that several years later became my “studio away from home” – I stood at my easel and painted the female figures (other students) that I had furtively sketched that morning during Skip’s demonstration painting of the Inn’s gardens.

Membership

Welcome New Associate Member

Save the Date for the BWS Luncheon on September 23rd!

Plein Air Event at the Women’s Club, Washington Grove
Tickets go on sale in August

Other Organizations’ “Call for Entries”

Philadelphia Water Color Society
124th International Exhibition of Works on Paper
Sept 17 - October 19, 2025
Malvern, PA
https://pwcs.wildapricot.org/exhibitions/124th-International-Exhibition

The Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers Society of Washington, D.C. (MPSGS)
Annual International Exhibition
November 23, 2024 - January 11, 2025
North Bethesda, MD
Application deadline: September 7, 2024
https://MPSGS.org

The New Orleans Art Association
25th National Juried Show
October 9 – November 2, 2024
New Orleans, LA
Application deadline: July 31, 2024
https://showsubmit.com/show/noaa-25th-national-juried-art-show