Artist News

March 

Artist of the Month

Meet Phyllis Paster

Watercolor artist Phyllis Paster grew up in Albany, New York and attended a private school in the countryside through 12^th grade. When she was not outdoors gazing at the rolling hills, during down time, she could usually be found in the art room; “I was always very interested in art as a child; I would paint, sculpt or carve balsa wood boxes. But I never touched watercolor. I did not understand how you could have any control on wet paper.” She also fondly remembers, “My father owned a jewelry store and my works of art were always taped behind the cash register for the customers to view”.

Paster went on to college and attained a Master’s Degree in Elementary Education at Boston University. After teaching sixth grade for one year, she embarked on her long career in health care including Children’s Hospital in Boston, a start-up HMO in Wellesley, and medical group management. In 2001, she put her skills to work in a different direction and launched her own organizing business, It’s About Time. She works mainly with the elderly and her goal is to help this population maintain independence. A genealogy researcher as well, she enjoys listening to rich stories about their individual lives and researching their family trees.

In 1991, Paster was feeling the call to focus again on her love of art. She began taking courses at The DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum and was fortunate to find teacher and mentor Dudty Fletcher who taught figure classes. As she recollects, “I was introduced to watercolor and I was smitten. I just love the immediacy of it. You know right away if it is working or not.” Marjorie Glick and Marilyn Swift are other great influencers on her watercolor technique. She has taken workshops in Europe and throughout the US and has spent a great deal of time doing plein air painting in Gloucester.

This artist continues on her lifelong watercolor journey and writes eloquently about her experience: “Each time I approach a new painting I hope to capture the image as well as my feelings about the subject. My goal is to become one with the pigment and to mix with the water on the paper. I delight as the wonder of the pigment, the water and the paper unfold before me.” Frederick Franck’s words from his book The Zen of Seeing have special meaning for Paster: “When I am seeing/drawing, I take hold of the thing, until it fills my total capacity for experience. Once I have this taken possession of a hill, a body, a face, I let go, let it free again, as if releasing a butterfly. Yet it remains mine forever.”

Paster also has been creating alcohol ink tiles which satisfies her passion for spontaneous results with more exciting and vibrant colors. These are sold along with notecards on her Etsy site, The ArtPhylStudio. She also creates gelli plate acrylic monoprints. She has been an exhibiting member of the WSA since 2004 and participates with a fellow artist in Celebrate Newton the annual juried crafts show.

Watercolor remains magical and mysterious to Paster. She wrote a lovely piece called “Recipe For A Watercolor:”

~Select a piece of watercolor paper and decide on a subject to paint

~Summon one of the Watercolor Muses like Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent or Maurice Prendergast for Inspiration

~Fill a brush with water and pigment and paint a few dabs of light color here and there on the paper. Then paint away!

~Enjoy the spontaneity and magic of the watercolor paint on the paper

~Each surprise is a unique opportunity to improvise and take advantage of the characteristics of the watercolor

~When the painting is finished, add a white mat to frame the picture and step back to take in the whole painting while munching on a chocolate chip cookie. Make last minute adjustments as needed but don’t overwork the painting!

~Enjoy the new painting and the cookies.

Jessica Caruso was recently juried in as an exhibiting member of the WSA after having been an associate member for three years. She is a keen observer of the natural world and we look forward to seeing more of scenes that capture her artistic eye. To see more of her artwork, visit her WSA artist page.

Congratulations Jessica, we hope to see you at the next show!

January Artist of the Month 

Meet Mai Mai Pietrowski

Mai Mai Pietrowski’s artwork is as joyous as she is. After starting out in social work, then attaining an MBA from Babson, followed by a successful career in the high-tech industry, this business woman wanted a new challenge. In 2014 she decided to take a beginner painting course at the Danforth Art Museum School. She considers herself fortunate to have had Margaret Gerding as a teacher. Pietrowski notes, “I was starting from scratch. I couldn’t paint the way she did but she encouraged me to paint in my own style.” Gerding taught all the elements-line, shape, form, value, color, space, texture to her student who absorbed the basics and then let her intuition take over. “It’s like there’s an artist inside you and you don’t know it.”

Though she originally felt very out of place in the art world it was Pietrowski’s persistence that led to her accomplishment. She learned everything she could and then followed her instinct. “I began to focus on what I loved: colors, shapes and patterns. That’s my go-to.” Composition and color come naturally to Pietrowski who finds most of her inspiration in nature with additions from her dreams, imagination and travel. As a colorist she emphasizes the contrast between bold colors and neutrals. She often begins her paintings en plein air in her favorite locations including Cape Cod/Provincetown, Kennebunkport and Acadia National Park in Maine, Key West and Provence. Her artwork is held in private collections in France, Switzerland and the United States.

As far as using her business sense, Pietrowski realizes that will always be present but that it has not been the priority this time around. She did commit to opening a studio in Framingham very early on in 2015. Four years ago, she was able to get a coveted spot at SOWA where she now works and shows her vibrant creations. In 2015 she began exhibiting in juried shows and by 2017 had been chosen for Prince Street Gallery in NYC. She has had a solo exhibit at the Liberty Hotel and has her work at Cristof’s in Provincetown. She was honored to become a Juried Member of the National Association of Women Artists (NAWA). Pietrowski is also a member of the WSA, Provincetown Art Association, Hopkinton Center for the Arts, The SOWA Artist Guild, Cambridge Art Association and Fort Point Arts.

As for the purpose of her work: “I’m hoping that people will look at a piece and feel hopeful and uplifted.” Pietrowski is naturally drawn to vibrant colors and uses them in unexpected ways and in subjects where many would be more conservative. She is currently working on themed series such as hummingbirds, still life and tropical flowers. She does not lose sight of the fact that her art is a very personal thing. She recalls a quote that speaks to her: “No one knows why we paint, we just do.”

The WSA is happy to welcome new exhibiting member Zoë Walker. With training in studio art, Zoë is developing an artistic voice that promises to be thought provoking. To see more of her artwork, visit her WSA artist page. 

Welcome to the WSA Zoë!

December Artist of the Month

Meet John Sherffius

 

Art has always been a big part of who I am, but I never focused on painting until about a decade ago. And, as I soon discovered, whatever artistic skills I learned in the past don’t always translate well to a canvas. 

I was born in Los Angeles, at the tail end of the post-WWII baby boom, and spent the first half of my life in the region. My parents told me they noticed a glimmer of artistic ability early on from my coloring books. According to them, my sense of color and shading was fairly realistic and I could stay within the lines better than most kids my age. Drawing was like a hobby for me throughout my childhood, something fun to do between (or during!) school and homework, sports, TV or spending time with friends. My first formal art classes were in high school, where I took beginning life drawing and graphics courses. Though I generally did well in those classes, I had no clear career path in mind until college, when I began contributing illustrations and political cartoons to UCLA’s campus newspaper. Editorial cartooning was especially fascinating to me because it combined art, history and current events, all subjects I was – and still am – interested in.

 

 

After my college years, I eventually was able to find jobs as an all-purpose newspaper artist, creating maps, infographics, logos, illustrations and editorial cartoons. In time, I was able to pursue editorial cartooning on a full-time basis at papers in California, Missouri and Colorado, and even won a handful of awards for it. And, while my career was progressing, I met my wonderful wife and together we raised 3 amazing kids. It was a memorable period in my life, but after almost 25 years in political cartooning and the newspaper business, I was ready for a change and decided to pursue other types of art. About the same time my family and I moved to Massachusetts in 2012, I began to freelance a variety of graphics and illustrations while also focusing more attention and energy on painting.

 

 

So, despite the constant ‘rookie’ mistakes from this soon-to-be 61-year-old artist, what do I like about painting? Missteps aside, the process of painting itself is very relaxing and almost meditative. And painting teaches you the importance of patience and planning, skills that I am clearly still working on. But, when the stars align and you paint something you’re happy with, it’s extremely rewarding. It’s no secret that the most successful paintings (think of the masterpieces of French Impressionism) have a special ability to visually capture a moment or feeling in time and preserve it. I like the fact that a great painting can speak volumes, or say nothing at all. Its message can be crystal clear, or a fuzzy riddle. It can be strikingly realistic, or unrecognizably abstract. It can be pleasing to the eye, or simply an eyesore. It can be whatever the artist chooses to create, but also whatever the viewer chooses to see.

The members of this society, of course, already know what makes a painting great. And they prove it at every WSA exhibition. They are all extremely talented artists, and I am very honored to be part of this group.

October Artist of the Month

Meet Randa Khuri

Artist Randa Khuri was born, the youngest of four children, to her family in Palestine. With the formation of Israel in 1948, her family was forced to leave their home and settled in Lebanon, a country that also became very dear to her. She has been interested in both art and music since a very young age. She began playing piano as a young girl and played until college. She now plays the flute and sings with the Dedham Choral Society. She did not have formal art lessons as a child but constantly scribbled and sketched. She sketched anything she saw, including portraits. Khuri ponders, “I have always felt that Mozart is to music what Renoir is to painting.”

When she began college at the American University of Beirut, she had to decide on a major. Between Fine Art and Nursing, she chose Nursing and has always appreciated this training. She married her husband in Lebanon and they moved to the United States for his medical training. Khuri had planned to get a Master’s Degree in Nursing but decided this would take too much of her time away from raising their three young children. When the children were in school, she began taking Sculpture at the MFA with Ralph Rosenthal. There was a watercolor class next door and she began taking watercolor as well. Both mediums lit a spark in Khuri but watercolor remains her favorite means of expression. She also attended the new England School of Art and Design and received a degree in Interior Design. Still preferring to spend as much time as possible with her children, she continued to pursue her painting.

Khuri’s advice to others is to “Do what you love to do.” She was able to follow these words herself and continued to master watercolor painting. She loves to paint still life of fruits, vegetables and flowers, which she finds “so beautiful when you look closely.” Inspired by Georgia O’Keefe, she notes that her biggest fan was her husband who passed away fourteen years ago. “He always had cards of my work printed and made enlarged gallery prints.” His encouragement bolstered her with the confidence she needed to continue producing art. She did several busts before her husband passed-one of him, one of each of her children and one of Mother Teresa. Both her paintings and sculptures have been in juried shows and have won awards.

She has exhibited through the WSA, the Needham Art Association (where she is former board member), the Dedham Art Association (current board member) and the Rhode Island Watercolor Society . She also does exhibits with fellow artists as well as solo exhibits. Her favorite spots to exhibit have been the Grace Chapel in Lexington, the De Cordova Museum and the local town libraries. Khuri has a solo exhibit beginning this month at the Needham Public Library and we encourage all to visit. A video interview with the artist from a past exhibition there can be found on YouTube.

During the COVID pandemic, Khuri developed her first painting block. Fortunately, she took a Zoom class with fellow WSA member Nan Rumpf and found herself cured by Rumpf’s talented teaching. A group very special to Khuri is the Watercolor Connection of which she has been a member for 12 years. “It is not a class but a group of artists who paint together, provide one another with critiques, encouragement and friendship.” Khuri paints for friends and family and has done commission work including one sculpture of a young girl, now grown up. Her 3 children all have her paintings and sculptures in their homes and she notes, “my 16-year-old grandson has several large paintings of mine in his room;” he has asked her to paint these. Art for Khuri has been a constant source of “pleasure and peace.” A quotation from Renoir holds much meaning for this artist: “ The pain passes but the beauty remains.”

The WSA is happy to welcome new member, Stacey Roberts. When you see some of Stacey’s amazing larger than life paintings, you will quickly be reminded of your favorite childhood candies. She works in acrylic and creates bold paintings using carefully selected colors that leaves the viewer duly impressed. To see more of her artwork, visit her WSA artist page.

Welcome to the WSA Stacey!

May Artist of the Month 

Meet Maria Babb

Maria Babb was born and raised in Puerto Rico, where she first began to love the vibrant colors that are celebrated throughout her culture. She was always drawn to art but did not think it would become such a big part pf her life. Babb was president of her high school art club, but had no formal training as a child or young adult. She briefly thought about majoring in Commercial Art in college but practicality took over. She married right after college, and started a family as well as a successful career in banking. Needless to say, she did not have a lot of time to pursue art, but even then she used the time after her children were in bed for therapeutic crafting; “It was such a relief of tension and I have always been a night owl.

Babb had a very fulfilling career in commercial banking and then running business development for her bank. In 2012, she began having some memory issues and was finally diagnosed with a rare neurological disease (called CADASIL) for which there is no treatment or cure. When she was no longer able to work in banking, she turned to art to regain a voice; “Art allowed me to express myself in a different way. I immersed myself in it.” She first started taking watercolor classes with Sarah Alexander and Nan Rumpf, “an absolutely wonderful teacher.” She painted in watercolor for three to four years but was drawn to acrylic painting for its ability to provide the vibrant colors that were so important to her and reflective of her Puerto Rican heritage.

In 2016, Babb began studying with Leslie Graff of the Danforth Museum. “I learned a great deal from her.” She quickly became very proficient in her own eclectic style of painting: “I do a little bit of everything: landscapes, still life, flowers and figures. I tend to enjoy detailed realistic paintings the most, but I have tried some abstract painting.” In some of her recent works she mixes realism with abstraction very successfully. “I get so absorbed in the process. I often think Mozart must have felt this way as he composed.” Her compositions are absolutely stunning and she has won multiple awards for her distinctive and unique paintings.

Babb is an active and exhibiting member of the WSA, Arts Worcester, the Danforth Museum and the Attleboro Art Museum. She has a studio in her home and enjoys painting there-“It is my outlet.” Her growing family is another great love for this artist, who has two sons and now has two grandchildren. One of her most recent paintings captures one of her sons proposing to his fiancé. At the wedding of her other son, she presented the couple with a painting that was a collage of their favorite places and moments. She has also painted her granddaughter in a work that is cherished. Aside from passing her works onto family, Babb sells a great deal of her paintings on Facebook and at exhibits. She recently sold a sunflower painting at the Awakenings Show at the Webster Bank in Wellesley to benefit the Relief Fund for Ukraine. “The buyer purchased the piece for double the cost when she realized the cause.”