International Artist June-July 2024/No. 157

Welcome to the June/July issue of International Artist! Our podcast channel The American Art Collective is celebrating its 268th podcast in June. That’s right, we have 268—soon to be over 300—artists’ stories that will live forever in the digital audio world. Artists and collectors and the world will be listening to these stories for decades to come because four years ago we believed artists’ stories should be heard and seen in print, audio and online. If you haven’t listened to a favorite artist’s story please come find us on Audible, the Apple podcast app or Spotify and join the 200,000 other listeners looking for inspiration and education. Speaking of education, we have an important new special section in this issue. It is our Art Schools & Workshops Directory. You will…

I think that now, more than ever, we must value things created directly from human hands. It feels like everywhere I turn, I see more and more imagery created entirely with artificial intelligence. And while it can be used as a tool to help get ideas flowing, AI imagery itself inherently cannot ever contain the essence of the human spirit. This, to me, is what makes art so important. So beautifully, incredibly valuable. It is the mere fact that a person put their time, effort, heart and soul into this object they’ve created, whether it be a painting, a sculpture or a story. The intention matters, and the context matters. So, what I’m trying to say here is, please continue doing what you are doing. Please continue pouring your souls…

Shrouded in Nature Growing up in rural Ohio surrounded by farmland, woods and a stream, artist Jennifer Sowder is a natural realist at heart. “While my friends in town rode bikes and played all summer, I found myself adventuring and studying nature. I moved back to my childhood home in 2012, and thereafter, a plein air painting group reawakened my inspiration to study and explore but this time through landscape painting,” she says. “Gardening has always gotten me outside and inspired, but traveling and looking for showstopping scenes fuels my work—I am blessed to be able to walk out my studio door and go on a hike on our property and be enveloped by nature.” Light is an important element in Sowders’ art (she used to paint with her plein…

My Inspiration This is the easiest question to answer. I went to the mountains, and I found my path. I realized this is what I want to paint—this feeling, this connection, this discovery, this moment. I want to paint these last wild places and the wildlife that inhabits them in such a way that standing before my paintings you are transported to the moment, in that place. I want you to smell the sagebrush and pine, marvel at the sparkle on the water cascading and plunging to fall from dramatic heights, taste the dust kicked up by the bison or cowboys working the herd and breathe in the West. My Design Strategy I was at Quest for the West and realized I had moved back to look longer at the…

My Inspiration I’m fortunate to be living on the west coast of Vancouver Island where there still exists stands of unlogged ancient forests, so most of my paintings are celebrations of the natural world. Many of the cedars are over a thousand years old, and over time the forest floors have acquired an endless variety of complex shapes as layers of fallen trees overlap with one another. These scenes appear utterly chaotic, but every species of tree, moss or fungus has its own specific role. Within the chaos everything has its place. As a trained biologist I love the way it all fits together. It is this interconnectedness that I wanted to portray. My Design Strategy A cohesive composition of a complex forest scene is tricky. The design evolves from…

FINALISTS Each receives an Award Certificate and a one-year subscription to International Artist magazine PLUS having their work seen worldwide by international galleries looking for new talent. Finalist My Inspiration In September 2023, I was invited to visit Jinzhong City in Shanxi Province, China, where there is a village over 400 years old called “Dongjialing.” It was named a famous historical and cultural village in Shanxi Province in 2009. Surrounded by mountains, the quaint houses of the village are layered on the slopes, creating a spectacular and breathtaking sight that fills one with surprise and admiration! At that moment, I decided that I would paint a large watercolor with the theme “the Potala Palace on the Loess Plateau” to commemorate this memorable trip. My Design Strategy I started by determining…