September Artist of the Month
Meet Beverley Barnard
Bev Barnard spent his childhood in a lovely manor house in England filled with art collected by his parents. He recalls, “I always drew and painted though I’ve had no formal training in art. Much to my dad’s dismay, my first piece of ‘art’ was created by pouring a tin of paint over a cupboard in my house.” He and his brother grew up drawing, painting, sailing and practicing photography. For high school he went to King’s School in Canterbury, where he spent hours on the grass square drawing. He won an award for his drawing of Canterbury Cathedral.
After a couple of years of traveling and sailboat racing across the English Channel, Barnard attended Brighton College where he studied the History of Design and continued to teach himself to paint. By not taking classes or workshops and not following any painter stylistically, he was able to find his own inspiration and develop his own techniques. He has “always been a great fan of Turner,” but Barnard never attempted to duplicate others’ work. Like his father, he has a great love of photography and has used both his photographs and his plein air experiences as inspiration for his paintings.
While in college, Barnard sold his first three marine paintings in an open-air art show and he was on his way in the art world. He was able to combine all of his passions-sailing, sailboat racing, his romance with the oceans and art. He soon founded the Society of South Coast Marine Artists and opened a gallery on Marine Parade with a friend of his who sold sailboats. “It was actually a great way to sell marine paintings.” During this time, he also wrote and illustrated cartoon books based on humorous anecdotes from prominent actors, sailors and politicians in England at the time. Two of these, Rogue Waves and Straight From the Horse’s Mouth were published and 50% of the royalties were donated to charity.
With the funds from his gallery and book sales, at age 26, Barnard was able to buy his own sailboat and sail solo across the Atlantic “without any specific plan.” On this journey, he stopped in Gloucester, Massachusetts and “met (his) wife in a bar. (He) never left.” Together they raised two children and, while he painted a bit, more practical endeavors took precedence. Barnard began working in the mortgage business in 1989 and currently works at Webster Bank. In December he invited the WSA, where he serves as a board member, to have a holiday exhibition at the Webster Bank in Wellesley.
His children are now grown and his son just bought his first sailboat at age 26. About 3-4 years ago, Barnard’s painting took off once again. He remains self-taught and continues to develop his own style and techniques. He recently painted a water scene for his daughter and her husband who are running a medical business in Nigeria. His art continues to evolve and take on more meaning. Currently he is working on a series of landscapes with hidden features dealing with the progression of life and death. Water Over the Dam, painted after the passing of his mother, is a compilation of scenes, including the church in England where he went as a child, the South Natick Dam where he now loves to kayak and an image of a man on a bench with his head in his hands. This piece was awarded Honorable Mention in a WSA show.
In addition to the WSA, Barnard is also a member of the North Shore Arts Association and was just accepted to the Copley Society in Boston. His work is featured at Charles Fine Arts, a gallery in Gloucester. He is currently working on setting up an online gallery through Art Storefront and is a featured artist for Craft For All Paint on Amazon. Charitable giving remains important to Barnard who is now donating limited edition prints of his work to support causes close to his heart such as the Easterseals of MA.
In high school, she had a very influential art teacher who hoped that she would attend an art school for college. Erickson thought this might limit her too much so she attended the College of the Holy Cross as a math major. Art, however, was calling to her again. She had a difficult decision because she was accepted to Syracuse for their art program but had already fallen in love with Holy Cross; she stayed at her beloved school as an art major focusing on graphic design. After graduating, Erickson did a tutorial in painting and printmaking with a professor at Holy Cross and realizes now, “they really created a graduate program for me”.
Erickson continued on at the Danforth in an advanced watercolor painting workshop taught by Elizabeth Magilligan. The group had become very close after years of painting together and when Magilligan stopped teaching they formed their own painting group meeting in a hall at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. The group, eventually called the Watercolor Connection, has painted together weekly for the last 12 years. To Erickson, “painting with my group is sacred time.”
When this part of her career ended, Rumpf continued to create. She learned a great deal from books on drawing that she took out of the library and was inspired to write and illustrate and write a book of her own. In 1966, after much hard work, her book Puppets and Masks: Stagecraft and Storytelling was published by Davis Publications and was in print for 20 years. Puppetry, Rumpf says, was “my back door into the art world.”
Kastel has been a highly sought-after artist ever since. He has done commissioned pieces for many art collectors and admirers, including the one shown here of the girl at the piano. This exquisite painting was done for a Connecticut art dealer who focused on American Impressionism. After 40 years of years of focusing on commercial art, Kastel now enjoys choosing his own subjects. Some of his recent work has been inspired by a friend of his who is a bird photographer. The owl shown here and his award winning “Blue Bird” have been painted from this photographer’s work “with a little artistic license.”
Noonan had joined the WSA many years ago as an associate member and recalls with anxiety the jurying process when she realized that she was ready to exhibit. Of course, it went very well. She began exhibiting for the WSA and won an honorable mention award from juror David Curtis. This was one of her first paintings done en plein air. She also exhibited at the Unitarian Church in Watertown with her friend and sold several paintings. She does not focus on selling however and gives many paintings to special people in her life. She ponders, “I can see my work on display in five different homes.”
Judy has taken many classes and workshops over the past fifteen years. One of her favorites wasworking with Paul George at the Lexington Arts and Crafts Center. She also learned a great deal at a workshop with Robert O’Brien in Vermont. At the Wellesley COA, she studies acrylic painting with Maris Platais where she is struck by his “metaphysical” view of art.
Unger credits two instructors for much of her training: Sarah Alexander at the Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary and WSA’s Nan Rumpf. She paints watercolors on aquabord and has recently been painting wax resist watercolors which she finds “exciting and liberating; I enjoy the limited choices that the wax allows…and the speed of this process.” Finding another new interest in woodworking, Yvonne has also begun to frame her own pieces.
So, what’s next for Unger? She is looking forward to an Abstract Watercolor Class taught by WSA member Sally Meding and “less realistic and less detailed painting.” She continues to paint and learn and finds painting to be a wonderful meditation. Her husband and daughter are two of her biggest fans and supporters.