Indholdsfortegnelse for Spring 2021 i The Pastel Journal

As a medium, pastel is well suited to innovation, and when it comes to illuminating this versatility, New York artist Bill Creevy is, literally, the man who wrote the book. His 1991 publication, The Pastel Book (Watson-Guptill), is a text that inspired many artists who’d never used pastel to give it a try. It also brought much needed affirmation to artists who were currently working and experimenting in the medium. We were saddened to learn, in December—as we were putting the finishing touches on this issue—that the artist had passed away from COVID-19. In recognition of Creevy’s important contribution to pastel, the Pastel Society of America honored the artist by naming him to its Pastel Hall of Fame in 2011. Recalling that induction ceremony, artist Richard McKinley, president of the…

“I wanted to capture the magic I see in such ordinary moments and let the viewer experience them the way I do.”— Yael Maimon It’s no secret that Israeli artist Yael Maimon loves cats. The vast majority of her paintings include one or more felines. Indeed, Maimon counts her cats among her closest friends—providing welcome company as she paints in her quiet studio. It all began when the artist’s own cat was hospitalized at an animal rescue shelter. Maimon spent a great deal of time at the shelter during her pet’s illness and, even after he sadly died, she continued to volunteer. The longer she stayed, the more interested she became. “I was fascinated by the cases brought in, by the work of the vets and the medical books around…

The large urban bay area in southern China sometimes known as the “Greater Bay Area” is composed of nine cities, including Zhuhai Xiangzhou, Hong Kong and Macau. The region’s population exceeds 70 million and is rich with its own cultural flavors and traditions. One of the newest trends within the region’s fine art community is a fascination with pastel. The Zhuhai Xiangzhou Pastel Alliance, a member of the International Association for Pastel Societies (IAPS), successfully held an international online exhibition in 2020 and plans to host another this year. “The Alliance has been authenticated by the Xiangzhou Federation of Culture and Art Department (Zhuhai Province), recognizing soft pastel as a painting medium along with other fine art classifications, including performing art and literature,” says the organization’s president, Xiaohui Zhang. “Thus,…

This year’s winner of the Pastel Journal Founder’s Award, Our Boat, by Turkish artist Javad Soleimanpour, presents a resplendently luminous scene in which a finely built sailboat sits at anchor in front of a grand and inviting villa. For juror Tony Allain, the artist delivered successfully on all the necessary criteria for a winning painting, including solid draftsmanship and composition, effective communication and handling of color and light, and general skill in the medium. “The proportions and rendering of the boat holds our interest as we see the light bouncing off the structure and reflected in the water,” says Allain. “Our eyes then move on to the buildings and surrounding foliage where again the juxtaposition of color and light, as well as the muted hillside, create the perfect backdrop.” From…

FIRST PLACE Gwenneth Barth-White The standout portrait Let’s Go! (left) by Gwenneth Barth-White (gwennethbarth.com) gets major points in all areas of picture-making: compelling composition, bold use of color, an appealing subject and pose, and a curiosity-arousing element of surprise. Portrait & Figure category juror, Carol Peebles, says, “This artist employs a marvelous use of color without falling into over-saturation. The movement in the composition leads the viewer’s eye in a dance around the subject, and the textures invite you to search each inch over and over.” Although American-born and now residing in Florida, Barth-White spent the majority of her life in Geneva, Switzerland. After advanced music studies, she attended Geneva’s École des Beaux-Arts and graduated from the École des Arts Décoratifs. Having access to some of the great European museums…

The work of jurying is, to be sure, a job of evaluation. When viewing a work, a juror will consider the artist’s handling of color, value and composition, and assess how well an artist utilized the medium, the level of draftsmanship and the painting’s overall presentation. Although not easy, this initial review is, in fact, the less demanding part of the work of jurying. Much harder is what comes next—after narrowing down the entries that have succeeded by these foregoing criteria. From this point on, the process takes on more subjectivity. Now a juror is determining which pieces have the most impact; which demonstrate a level of sophistication or originality that sets them apart; and which—for whatever reason—grab one’s attention and won’t let go. A wise artist once told me…

This year’s winner of the Richeson Pastel Bronze award is no rookie to his craft. In fact, Peter Seltzer, of Woodbury, Conn., has won a number of Pastel 100 awards in the past, the last one featured in 2014. His winning pastel piece this year is an ode to the other half of his work—his oil pieces. Seltzer explains that he created the piece, My Other World 2, (right) to underscore that half of his oeuvre are oil paintings. He calls it “an externalized inspiration.” The featured still life, done in pastel, depicts the tools he uses for his oil works, which are a large part of his identity as an artist. TEXTURE TROVE Typically, Seltzer’s work is inspired by his long-standing daily meditation practice. His paintings are frequently symbolic…

FIRST PLACE Claudia Seymour After the success of an oil painting she’d done featuring Chinese sang-de-boeuf porcelains and a floral fabric background, Claudia Seymour (claudiaseymour.com), of Wilton, Conn., decided to paint a new version in pastel. She used the same elements, with some alterations, and the painting, Lotus Redux (opposite), has become another prizewinner. “The composition was crucial,” says Seymour. “I changed the setup, manipulated the fabric to show a different portion of the design and changed the position of the lotus.” The combination creates a still life with an abundance of warmth and lighting that leads the eye around the composition and toward the lotus. “The light is almost always the most important part of my paintings,” Seymour says. “It’s what gives them life and spark.” The lotus flower…

I’ve long believed that artists won’t do much painting if their subject matter doesn’t resonate. My inspiration often comes from my interest in the colors that are barely perceivable in the dark and how they play against the vibrancy of color in light. I took the photo that inspired Revisiting Opening Night on my phone from outside this gallery. I fell in love with the composition, the sense of story inherent in the scene, and the wonderful contrast of the evening light and the glowing interior. I just hoped I’d be able to catch that in a quick photo. When I printed the image, I felt that it did capture the moment, but the complexity of the scene felt a bit daunting. I put the photo aside several times until,…