WOW women award prize to watercolor artist from Toccoa

An artist in Toccoa won the Award of Excellence prize from the Women of Watercolor for a piece of watercolor art on exhibit at the Member’s Exhibition art show at the Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation.

The award and a $75 gift was made to Gail Watson, a native Virginian, who has lived in Stephens County with her husband for the past 32 years.

The Women of Watercolor, who operate under the acronym WOW, are a group of seven local women who meet each week at OCAF to paint. Four WOW members had artwork on display at the Georgia Watercolor Society’s Members Exhibition held last fall in Norcross.

The winning piece by Watson was a painting of pigeons perched on a lamp and wall called “Busy Bodies.” The painting, along with numerous others by OCAF members, remains up through July 7.

WOW member Susan Hicks was in charge of a committee to select a winner for the Award of Excellence.

“Three of us ranked our top five choices independently then compared our selections. We then walked through the exhibit, discussed the composition, color, values and if the painting engaged the viewer. We ranked our top choice. You were the winner,” Hicks had informed Watson in an email.

“I was excited because there are a lot of really good watercolors in that group and at OCAF,” Watson said about the award.

Watson’s painting is a traditional watercolor she said was inspired by a scene she photographed on one of her trips to Italy. She used kosher salt to gain texture on the rocks and the ironwork, she said.

Watson said she has been involved in art for many years, but has emphasized it during the last 15 years when she began entering shows.

She joined the Currahee Artists Guild, the Georgia Watercolor Society, the North Georgia Arts Guild and OCAF.

“It’s a good way to get your art out there and you meet a lot of different groups and artists,” Watson said.

She also teaches classes in watercolor, including Batik, a technique using hot wax and rice paper.

People familiar with Watson know that birds are a frequent subject for her art.

She and her husband live on 10 acres, where she sets out feeders to attract birds of many species with a wide variety of colors and personalities.

“I’m a bird lover,” the artist said.

Resource : http://onlineathens.com/oconee/features/2017-06-19/wow-women-award-prize-watercolor-artist-toccoa

Local artist to host first hometown art show June 15

Local artist Marty Scharpf will be hosting his first hometown art show called Partially Hydrogenated: A Retrospective on Thursday, June 15 beginning at 6 p.m., at SOFA Art Gallery in historic downtown McAlester.

Scharpf received his bachelor of arts degree in studio arts with a concentration in clay and painting from Southeastern Oklahoma State University and has been living and working in Texas since graduation until recently deciding to move back to his hometown and share his work.

“I have always just done art for myself but now I am at a point where I am ready to share it with an audience and my hometown,” Scharpf said.

Scharpf said the upcoming show will be based on exploring the different styles from Scharpf’s past and present work.

“I painted a lot when I was kid because my grandfather, Ted Welch, was a painter and I would always go into his studio to spend time with him,” Scharpf said. “I always tried to paint realistic things, like he did, until one day I decided I didn’t really like painting that way and so I started basically putting marks on paper instead.”

Scharpf said there is some humor in his work, but also a lot of seriousness.

Scharpf said his influences are Arshile Gorky, an Armenian-American painter, who had a seminal influence on Abstract Expressionism and Wassily Kandinsky, who was a Russian painter and art theorist and was credited with painting one of the first recognized purely abstract works.

“They opened me up to what I am doing now,” Scharpf said. “The feeling or confusion you get from art is what art is about to me.”

Scharpf said he draws his inspiration for his art in everything around him.

“Most of my work comes from everything,” Scharpf said. “Sometimes it comes from an emotion or even inspiration from something silly.”

Scharpf said he might go to McDonald’s and see the play pit and admire its shapes and lines and take inspiration from that and put that into small pieces of his work.

“I think the key is to keep your mind and your eyes open all the time to experience as much as you can because it is getting stored somewhere and comes out when you are working,” Scharpf said.

Scharpf said he wants to give his audience a chance to escape.

“Most of my work is about taking yourself outside of your body,” Scharpf said. “Just stopping and being in that one moment.”

The art show is free to the public and will offer refreshments and live musical entertainment, Scharpf said.

Aside from the upcoming show, Scharpf will be expanding his art presence in McAlester by partnering with Sheryl Potter, owner of The Art Spot, to teach ceramics in early July.

“I feel that giving back to the community is a great thing,” Scharpf said. “I feel like it is very important since art classes are being dropped out of a lot of schools in Oklahoma, to provide this service for a smaller area like McAlester.”

Scharpf said he feels that art is a creative outlet that is used to help express yourself and that it is important for youth to have that outlet, and classes like this offer them that opportunity.

For more information on the June 15 Partially Hydrogenated: A Retrospective art show contact SOFA Art Gallery at 918-820-2424 and for more information on the upcoming ceramics class contact The Art Spot at 918-938-1683 or visit www.theartspotok.com.

Contact Lacey Sudderth at lsudderth@mcalesternews.com

Resource : http://www.mcalesternews.com/news/local-artist-to-host-first-hometown-art-show-june/article_ff483da4-4a57-11e7-b5ab-33a790890e92.html