Tag Archives: San Antonio Art League

A studio visit with Jane Dunnewold – SAALM Artist of the Year 2019

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If you haven’t heard of Jane Dunnewold, then Fiber Art hasn’t been on your radar in the last decade. And it should be – it’s hot and it’s trending!

A nationally-renowned fiber artist, Jane teaches and lectures internationally, and has mounted numerous solo exhibitions. Her pioneering book on the practice of art, Creative Strength Training, is hugely popular with artists in all media who want to develop their unique voice and make creating art a regular habit.

Jane just made history by being the first fiber artist to have been chosen as Artist of the Year by the San Antonio Art League & Museum. It’s a decisive moment for the 107-year-old Art League, which has traditionally selected painters for this honor. Jane’s portfolio of work wowed the three well-known out-of-state jurors with its depth of content and maturity of style. She was chosen from a field of ten nominees and three finalists.

I visited Jane’s spacious studio last week with Steve Smith, last year’s SAALM Artist of the Year and this year’s committee chair, to talk about her upcoming 2019 Artist of the Year exhibition. Her work on the studio walls was dazzling!

Jane at her work table in front of large panels of innovative surface design on fabric and fiber

Natural light from a narrow window enhances surface textures

I fell in love with several of her long panels characterized by calligraphic marks and lines resembling music staffs. In the first photo, below, Jane used a flour paste resist to create the fine crackles, and in the second photo, you can see that she incorporated strands of rice paper.

Jane is a generous master teacher whose video lessons can be found on her You Tube channel. One of my favorites is Mastering Thermofax Printing: Gold Leaf. She does a step-by-step explanation of the process that is engaging and easy to follow.

Her books are just as straightforward. Jane is one of those artists who shares her processes and inspirations freely with the kind of openness that one finds in a confident master art professional with an impressive body of work.

In my own library, I have Jane’s 15 Beads: A Guide to Creating One-of-a-kind Beads, Art Cloth: A Guide to Surface Design for Fabric, and Creative Strength Training. Each one is a treasury of inspiration and innovative process.

Below are just a few of the images that Jane included in her portfolio for the Juror Panel’s consideration. When you see the range of color, theme, and confident composition, you’ll see why Jane was chosen. Outstanding art has no material limitation – it speaks to humanity in every medium.

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As SAALM Artist of the Year, Jane will be honored with a retrospective exhibition and an accompanying catalogue. Dates for the exhibition are September 8th – October 27th, 2019 at the San Antonio Art League & Museum, 130 King William Street.

Mark your calendars now – everyone at the Art League is so excited about this show! I am a huge fan of Jane’s work, and you will be, too, after you see this gorgeous array of artwork.

 

On and off Fred

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Dale Jenssen

Heads up! One of the best studio tours of the year is coming up this weekend, and six of the best artists I know will be at Dale Jenssen’s studio showing and selling their work. The tour is called On and Off Fredricksburg Road – here’s the info.

Dale’s work is gorgeously edgy (you may remember her workshop at my studio), and her 5 guest artists –  Michelle Belto, Lesta Frank, Thelma Muriada, Linda Rael, and Alison Schockner –  represent the best in diverse mixed media.

Alison Schockner

Linda Rael

Dale’s studio at 1651 W. Woodlawn will be open Saturday the 18th, from 11-6, and Sunday from 12-5. Catalogs with directions to all of the studios will be available at the tour.

And be sure to take in the opening Autograph Party at Bihl Haus Arts on Friday night. 6-9 pm, 2803 Fredericksburg Road, across from Tip top Cafe. Music by Los Nahuatlatos, hors d’oeuvres & libations.

Hope to see you on and off Fred! Meanwhile, I’m headed back to the studio to finish a painting in time (hopefully) for the San Antonio Art League’s 87th Annual Artists’ Exhibition.

y painting in progress - 30x40" - who knows what this one will look like when it's finished!

My current painting in progress – 30×40″ acrylic on canvas – who knows what this one will look like when it’s finished!

Hey, and check out the San Antonio Art League’s new website if you have a chance – I designed it – and it’s another work in progress!

 


 

Painting with Gloria

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gloI love painting with Gloria Hill – we’ve been doing it long enough (on Wednesdays for several years) that we’re comfortable with critiquing each other’s work and giving suggestions without judgment.

Pretty cool – and what’s also cool is that we learned today that both of us had our paintings accepted into the juried San Antonio Art League Annual Exhibit. It’s notoriously competitive, but I had two of my three pieces accepted and Gloria – tah dah – had all three of her paintings accepted! That’s rare. I am so proud of her! You just never know with jurors, but we couldn’t be happier with this one (Michael David Leslie, who is the Curator of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma). The opening reception is on April 12th, so come see the Lyn and Glo show 🙂

So besides congratulating ourselves until we got silly, we had a great painting session this afternoon. For once, I remembered to take photos, and I put them together in a little video. It’s always interesting to me to see how paintings develop – here’s how our work went this afternoon. Both Gloria and I were pretty pleased with the end results (although they may not be totally finished – ya never know).

Sunday at the Art League

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I am one lucky artist – yesterday’s opening at the SA Art League was exciting. Miguel Cortinas, fellow painter in the exhibit, did a beautiful job of hanging the show, and the pottery pieces by Eloise Stoker and Nancy Pawel complimented the paintings and mixed media works. The whole occasion made me feel like a real grown-up painter! Thanks to everyone who came out – and here’s a video of me trying to explain some of the work. There seem to be a lot more questions than answers. I guess that’s how the old art game works sometimes.

PS – Congrats to Dinah Robinson, winner of the Friendship Bridge Friday Freebie!