“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way – things I had no words for.”
– Georgia O’Keeffe
Our new brand new fall session began this week with inspiration from Georgia O’Keeffe . She was born on November 15, 1887 in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. The second of seven children she grew up on a dairy farm and Georgia received art lessons at home and her abilities were quickly recognized and encouraged by teachers.
O’Keeffe is well known for her large stylized paintings of flowers, cityscapes and the landscapes of New Mexico. She became most famous for her large, up-close paintings of flowers. She said that everyone loves flowers but few take the time to really see them.
Georgia O’Keeffe began her career in New York City with a series of abstract charcoal drawings. O’Keeffe mailed some of these drawings to photographer Alfred Stieglitz who immediately began promoting her work. In 1916 he offered her a one-person exhibition of her work. The two fell in love and were married in 1924. They lived and worked together in New York City and Lake George. Three years after Stieglitz died, Georgia O’Keeffe moved to New Mexico, whose stunning vistas and stark landscape configurations inspired her work. She died in 1986 at the age of 98 and her popularity continues to grow. Today we were inspired by her piece Autumn Leaves a fitting start to our fall-inspired session.
Everyone did such a great job in our classes and were really fearless, rolling up their sleeves and ready to work, experimenting with oil pastels and watercolour resist techniques. Students learned about repetition, variety and space. Students chose their own colours to mix and blend for their own unique take on Georgia O’Keeffe’s style.
Take a look at some of these dazzling art examples by some of our students….
I think Albert Camus says it perfectly: “Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”