Artist Jonathan Green

South Carolina artist (he now resides in Florida) and native son Jonathan Green graciously granted an interview with me. I have always admired his work - the colors, the joie de vivre that is so abundant in his paintings. Here are his thoughts on art and culture, and the role they play in our lives.




"Marsh Woman" 1999
Copyright 2006 Jonathan Green Studios, Inc.


What are your thoughts on the role of artists and what
specific needs do they fulfill?


Artists are our shamans, their role is to record and inform visually- through music, through dance- the culture. Artists create and through that creativity the culture can be remembered for all time. Every community needs artists - they are vital.

What inspires you?

The now. What I'm feeling, doing, seeing, drinking, eating . . . all that and more.

What is your day like?

It depends on the season. In the Fall I'm up later, around 4:00 AM, and I work until the sun goes down, about 5:00 or 6:00 PM. I take an hour or two for lunch. I work six days a week, I spend the seventh day reading, relaxing.

Do you use studio assistants? Do you stretch your own canvases, etc.?

No, I do it all myself. I want to put time into art, not stretching canvas. I want to implement the imagery I have in my mind. My inspiration, my muse, is always around. I live in my home for my work and for other people - I represent that in my work.

What was your early subject matter, and at what point did you decide to focus on Gullah subjects?

Gullah has always been my subject. As a child I saw and did things and I knew the more one participates the more one is respected and acknowledged. People around me were always working and doing.

How do you support the arts on an individual basis?

I like the younger up and coming artists, and I like WPA art out of Chicago, and African American artists. I devote my life to making sure the imagery of American artists is not forgotten.

What are your thoughts on the way art is taught in public schools?

It isn't taught! It is a wide open field. Art should be taught at the family level. Families need to take the responsibility to support the artists in their family, to nurture that creativity. They should be taught to tap into their intuitive inner feelings . . . which is the importance of family . . . love, food, beauty, history. Art was our first language. The notion of art has nothing to do with an institution - it has to do with family. It needs to be nurtured by family, and the family needs to invest time into the child's vision. 99.9% of families are not supporting their members in the arts. If the family supported the arts, communities would support the arts, then cities, then states, etc. It ALL begins at the family level.

Many visual artists also write. Do you?

No, I speak rather than write. I put a lot of emphasis on speaking.

Can you share where your artistic direction is taking you?

On the first week of March, 2008 I'll be conducting a symposium on "Seeking" - I will start at the Gibbes Museum, then go to the Charleston County Library, Then to the University of South Carolina, and finally end at the College of Charleston. For more information contact Barbara Burgess 843 345-3664.

Artist Michel McNinch

The following is an interview with someone I really admire. I met her when she came and spoke to our local art group a few years ago. At that time I was wrestling with the decision whether to quit my job and devote all my energies to doing whatever it takes to become a full time artist, or not. She also put her art aside and worked for 20+ years, before "jumping in" art full time. As she told us this, I felt as if Someone was saying, "It will be OK - you can do it, too."
I'll never forget that moment, when all things seemed possible.

1. Why did you become an artist?
I was born an artist. Art has always been what I excelled in. I drew
the best snowman in kindergarten.

2. Who are your heroes?
Heroes…..hmmm….relating to art it would be N.C. Wyeth, John Singer
Sargent, and Cecelia Beaux, among many many others. Personally, it
would have to be my husband, Robert. I have never met a finer person on
this earth. No enemies and never backs down…how does he do that?!

3. What artist, work and/or art movement has influenced
you the most?
The artist that influenced me the most was Eva Wilcox Darcy. She was
an amateur artist, but she loved her work and treated it with the utmost
care. It looked like treasure to both of us. She also treasured my
art, and always wanted to look at each piece in length. She encouraged
me. She was also the very first one to ever buy my art. When I said
the price was .50, she gave me $1.00! I think that her encouragement
has made me the teacher I am today. I love to inspire others to enjoy
creating art. I do so by using encouragement. I give classes to adults
and children in Oil, Pastel, and Creativity.

4. What is your inspiration?
My inspiration is usually color and light. Sometimes a person or a
pose will strike me as a good subject, sometimes landscapes catch my
eye. I absolutely love to paint water. Its fluidity and reflective
qualities are challenging to paint.

5. What is your definition of success?
Success to me a painting well done – and an extra canvas for the next one.

6. Where can we find your work?
If you are interested in seeing my work, you can find it on my website
www.michelmcninch.com and at the Gallery at Nonnah’s, Gervais Street,
Columbia, SC. I also do several shows a year, such as Piccolo Spoleto at Marion
Park, and Atalaya Arts Festival at Huntington Beach State Park . I try
to stay busy.

7. And as a nod to Barbara Walters, if you could be any
kind of tree what kind would you be and why?
I would be a live oak. They live a long time and have a beautiful
shape. There’s always family around, and I would be able to support
many other types of life.

Thanks, Michel. For everything.

Kozachek Mosaic

Finally, a few days of productivity! I feel as if I accomplished something this weekend. By my puny little standards at least.

Began several works to add to the Rita Smith Gallery, and helped fellow artist and friend Janet Kozachek set up her new blog. She made this beautiful mosaic for me. That's the image of it there, to the left. She created it as I was telling her a bit about my background, my inspirations and hopes. It's solid and textural. The pieces were carefully placed, and each element has more than one meaning. It is already priceless.

This is one artist you will want to know. Click here to see her blog

Interview with Colleen Patricia Williams

Colleen Patricia Williams is an extremely gifted artist who lives in Portland, Oregon. There she is, on the left. She creates pieces designed to stir your emotions, and make you think more deeply and appreciate color. After successfully raising her children, Colleen felt the need to dive back in to her art. In 2003 she suffered an accident that almost took her life. In nearly constant pain, she courageously continues to paint, gaining from her experience a deep appreciation for life. Here's a few questions I asked her:
1. How did you get started as an artist? According to my aunt, I got my start young, making toothpaste sculptures out of my little brother's hair. From there I progressed to mud on any available wall space.
2. Where can we find your work? I have my own website, www.colleenpatriciawilliams.com, and I also have an art rep, Dawne, of Zebra Creations. I've just signed a contract with Off The Canvas Gallery in Canada, for prints of some of my images.
3. What message(s) are you trying to convey? Well, I'm more into shapes, colors and forms than I am any message. I prefer that the viewer's emotional response come from within them, not from any external statement on my part. I don't want to define the viewer's experience; I want them to define it for themselves. I provide the image, and they take it from there.
4. What artist, work or movement has influenced you the most? That one is pretty easy. Georgia O'Keeffe and Wayne Thiebaud. I love the colors of both artists. And the light from Rembrandt! I can only hope to achieve that level of mastery!
5. How do you find inspiration? I can't get away from it. I have learned that I have to be careful while driving. I can get distracted by something very easily. My husband says I'm the master at the mad right turn, LOL!
I really can't get away from the images. Sometimes they wake me up, and won't let me sleep again until I have them on paper, at least.
6.If you could have any job in the world what would it be? Pagan Queen of my Very Own Universe, LOL! Seriously, I would love to be able to make a living doing my art. I'm lucky, in that I have a very supportive husband, and a very supportive ex-husband. They both are invaluable to the cause!
7. Who are your heroes? That one is also easy. The regular working stiff that gets up everyday, and goes to work to support the family. The moms that raise the kids, and the grammas and grandpas that help out. The average human that forges ahead even when it hurts. I often feel that part of the problems in our society is the undervaluation of the working families. There is too much desire to want to be eternally young, to be "someone". What the average person needs, is to realize that we are all someone special. Just like art, each person is unique and each brings something different to the table.

Interview With Jean Bourque

The following is an interview with artist
Jean Bourque

1. How do
you express
yourself
through art?

i.e. what medium
do you primarily use?

Currently; I am expressing myself with a series
related to interior spaces. I am using mainly acrylics & pastels on
pre-stretched canvas.In  this series, I have doors, walls and windows
and the question of which way to  go. While one thing remains a
constant in my work is my unusual perspective, partly due to bad
visionand partly due to having my own perspective on the world;
which many find unusual. I am finding my paintings are more open
and less cluttered, I am more free  and less critical.

2. What galleries are  currently showing your work?

I have my work at Ward-Nasse Gallery in  Manhattan, NYC.  I also am
showing in SC at The Enchanted Forest in West  Columbia, SC,
Seven Oaks Park in Columbia, SC; The Earth Fare, The Bank of 
America at Richland and Main in Columbia and I have an
upcoming show at The Starving Artist in West Columbia starting
June 30th for the month of July. In  addition; I will have an art
reception in Orangeburg at Thee Matriarch on Tues. July 17th
from 5-8 pm; during the Top Chef Tuesday Monthly event.
I am on about ten web sites all over the world.

3. What motivates you?

I  am motivated by challenges which offer an opportunity for
self expression, to explore and grow intellectually and to lead
others in the same. Artistically; I  get motivated to create
around other artists, art events, music, plays, at the  beach,
in the mountains, seeing an abstract pattern in nature,
contemporary  designs, buildings, skylines, city views,
getting new art materials and when I want to solve
a personal dilemma.

4. Who are your heroes? Please include at least one artist.

I look up to the artist Frida Kahlo and admire her  very much.
She was her own person which was unusual for a woman,
during her life  time. She was able to use her art as a way
to of overcoming a very traumatic experience and then
progressed to tell her life story through her art. I also
admire Vincent Van Gogh. Even though people laughed
at him; he did his art  anyway. He was true to
his self and in that the world has come to know the
genius that no one knew back in his day. I see myself in
both of their stories  and although I am not exactly like
either of them; I may be a combination of  both of them.
Frida, Vincent and myself all have been driven to paint.
I have  that passion, they both had.

5. If you could have any job in the world, what
would it be?

Being a friend of the universe is the most
important job I have.

6. What single work of art has inspired you the most?

This answer will change from time to time. At one time;
I would have said "Water Lillies" by Monet. Now, I would
say I am deeply inspired by a piece of artwork by Kandinsky.
I have three of his prints and any one of  them would be
the number one. Other times; I may say something by
Peter Max, Miles Batt, Georgia O'Keefe, Salvadore Dali,
Picasso, Matisse, Frida Kahlo, "Starry Starry Night" by
Van Gogh, works by Miro...the list goes on and on. I
sold framed art on the road; so I have seen more
art than most people.

7. Finally, the Barbara Walters question - if you
could be a tree what kind would you be and why
(Sorry, I just had to!!)

Although I love the redwood trees in California; I
would have to be a Palm tree. Since I was a little kid;
I always thought they were the most beautiful.

Thank you Jeanee! If you have not met this talented,
warm individual, you should, and as you can see she
is all over the place, so there are lots of 
opportunities to bump into her and enjoy her beautifully
expressive work in person. You won't be sorry you did!

Tenacity

It's amazing what one can accomplish with a little tenacity. I recently read an article on Art News Blog about Nathan Sawaya, an artist who uses Lego bricks as his medium of choice. He is currently having his first solo show at the Lancaster Museum of Art in Lancaster, PA , to sold out crowds. He received his first set of Legos as a Christmas present, and the passion began. He went to work making a model city, eventually taking up the living room of his parent's house. As he grew older he continued to "play" with his bricks. He graduated law school, became a lawyer, and in the evenings would come home and unwind by building things.

In 2004 he entered the competition for a nationwide search for a Lego master builder, and won. He gave up his lawyering, and became a full time Lego artist.

Who would have ever thought you could make a career out of something like that? Many times I get discouraged at how my art career is going, and every artist I know has similar struggles. But here's a guy who continued on. I'm sure a lot of people thought he was/is nuts. Didn't matter, he had determination and drive, and was adament about expressing himself on his own terms.

So I'm going to be thinking about Nathan those times when it seems nobody gets what I'm saying, when it would be so much easier to just clean my brushes and go to bed, when selling a painting is equivalent to climbing Everest.

(Photo compliments of Windell H. Oskay, www.evilmadscientist.com)

Close Courage

I received a dose of inspiration. Saw a piece on CBS's Sunday Morning about portrait artist Chuck Close. His portraits are very large - 6-7' X 9-10', and are composed of smaller round, square, and/or triangular shapes, intrically placed, carefully hued, that when seen from a distance form an amazingly original likeness to the subject. Now, this work is wonderful enough, but what I find particularly inspiring is that he is in a wheelchair, with limited mobility of his arms and hands. He paints by using a specially made wrist strap, on which his brush is fastened. The man refuses to give up. Most probably there are days when it would be easier. But he forges on, against the tide. He is determined to speak his own unique voice, to express his inner self. This is courage and tenacity.
I will think of him often when my muse decides to hide, when it's too hot or too cold or too . . .
whatever.