A Brief Thought on Artistic Community
Recent events in my own life have reminded me of the importance of community between artists. It is all too easy to become insular, isolated, when living as an artist. Our work requires hours of solitary action, observation, and thought, but without creative interaction – between artists, and also between artists and the world at large – there is indeed a certain void in our lives.
“Flow” Wins Award
"Flow", 2006, Acrylics on Canvas, 20" x 24", by David Jay Spyker
David Jay Spyker has been awarded The Martin Maddox Prize for Imaginative Realist Painting at the Kalamazoo Area Show for “Flow”, a painting in acrylics on canvas. The prize is named after the artist Martin Maddox – who was a friend of Mr. Spyker – and it has been awarded at the show each year since Maddox’s death in 1997. Martin Maddox was known for the emotive, evocative, and imaginative style of his figurative paintings in oils and pastels.
The Kalamazoo Area Show is an annual regional art competition held at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts. This year’s installment runs from July 1 – August 26, 2006; the show drew 718 entries (a record number), of which only 158 were accepted for exhibition by juror Tim Lowly. It is a very strong show this year, and is well worth the visit.
The Painting “Someday” in Battle Creek Competition
"Someday", by David Jay Spyker, (2005, Acrylics on Board, 4 x 6 in.)
The small painting, “Someday”, is currently on display as part of the 27th Annual Michigan Artists’ Competition at the Art Center of Battle Creek in Battle Creek, Michigan. The show, which includes 55 works by 43 regional artists, was judged by Jane Connell, Director of Collections and Exhibitions/Senior Curator of the Muskegon Museum of Art in Michigan. It runs from June 2 through July 1, 2006.
The Acrylic Painters’ Forum
A forum for and about representational painters working in acrylics.
When I first began painting with acrylics, there were no local teachers instructing students about the finer points and advanced techniques of the medium. The medium is young when compared to oils, and has undergone significant changes and improvements in just the last decade. Even now, the number of advanced acrylic painting instructors is small, and the medium’s potential is still being explored and developed by both the artists and the acrylics manufacturers.
I learned to work with acrylics by experimentation, and by reading every book I could find on the subject. In the beginning, I tried many different brands of paint, until I finally discovered artists’ acrylics made by Golden Paints. More than a decade ago, Golden was there with detailed technical advice in the form of product data sheets, color indices, and such. There were times I spoke with the head of their laboratory over the phone; Mark Golden even answered the phone once, and I spoke with him for a while.
Teaching oneself to paint, while rewarding, can be an arduous journey. I would like the discussions in this forum to provide the same level of support and assistance to acrylic painters that Golden has always supplied to artists – to make the journey a little less arduous. I hope this forum will provide a place where representational painters working in acrylics can share techniques and ideas, and develop a sense of community. Together, we can lift each others’ art to greater levels of mastery.
I invite representational painters working in acrylics, and anyone interested in the style and medium, the art, and the artists to join the forum at http://www.acrylicsforum.davidjayspyker.com/.
The acrylics forum has since been closed: http://www.acrossthewaters.davidjayspyker.com/2007/11/23/the-acrylics-forum-is-closed/
