Artist Dusty Anderson An Innovator in Glass Imagery
I have a confession to make. Even though I consider myself an artist, I can’t draw worth a flip. In previous columns you’ve heard me go on about how broadly I define art, how many different expressions it can take, and all that is absolutely true. That being said, maybe it’s fair to say that we really admire the things we can’t do ourselves. So in my heart of hearts, my greatest admiration in art is reserved for the artists I designate with a capital A, - those who who can draw. Something about the ability to create in lifelike two dimensions that which actually exists in three seems miraculous to me. Many years spent in association with the arts has not lessened this feeling for me. If anything, becoming informed about the many different ways images can be created has widened my appreciation for them all. When I find a new technique that I haven’t seen before, it’s like discovering art all over again. This was my reaction on first seeing the work of Dusty Anderson, whose creations in glass bridge the gap between drawing and carving. It is for situations like this that I’m glad that this column includes visual images so you don’t have to rely on my descriptions to appreciate Dusty’s pieces. I’ll be very much surprised if you don’t find them as amazing as I did.
Dusty Anderson is from Michigan by birth, from the South by upbringing, and a free spirit by inclination. “My Father’s job moved us to Alabama when I was young,” she says. “Growing up on the Chattahoochee River had to have helped shape my love for wildlife art.” She displayed a talent for drawing and illustration while in high school, and did “silly cartoon t-shirts for classmates”, even realizing that she could earn some money along the way. But this creativity was self-guided. “Growing up and going to small schools meant that I never had any art classes until I attended college.” Encouragement for Dusty, not only to draw but to think creatively and originally, came from her mother. “She provided blank paper and colors instead of coloring books,” she says. In her late teens, she went out on her own to, as she says to “find myself”. She supported herself with her art work and by her sign painting skills. In the 1980’s, Dusty’s mother encouraged her to go back to school to see if she could channel her talent into a career in advertising design. “I enjoyed the life drawing class,” she says, “but I found I was a ‘mood-drawer’ . I could meet the assignment deadlines but found that I didn’t do my best work under those restrictions.” She also encountered an experience common to many good artists, including several featured in this column. “I was told by a teacher that everything I knew about drawing and art was wrong - that I had to forget it and learn how to do it their way. That irked me, since I had been selling my art since I was fifteen and figured my way couldn’t be all wrong.” James-Ben Stockton, local director of Greeneville’s regional gallery,who appreciated Dusty’s work from the moment she walked through his front door, wasn’t surprised to hear this story. “I have had so many good artists tell of being victimized by bad art teachers that it seems like a sort of rite of passage for them. The only positive thing I can say about such experiences is that, for the artists who persevere inspite of such treatment, these experiences seem to motivate them to be true to their own originality.” Toward the end of her college soujourn, Dusty got the chance to paint the lettering on the town’s water tower. “I knew then that a degree in advertising design wasn’t going to be for me.”
The pathway into her current art form, which is engraving/carving on glass, came from a personal motivation. “I had an old van that I’d painted a dusty rose,” she says. “I wanted roses carved into the windows and found someone who could do the work but who quoted me more than I could afford. Being an artist myself, I decided to try my hand at it and have really enjoyed developing my technique into the fine lines and details that I’m able to achieve now.” The subject matter for Dusty’s pieces was influenced by those childhood memories of growing up on Alabama’s Chattahoochee River. Wolves, deer, turkeys, owls, bears, and racoons have come to life through her artistry. (As a heads-up to the families of outdoorsmen in the area, these pieces would make wonderful Father’s Day gifts!) Dusty’s skill has recently led her to branch out into portraiture in glass. A fine example is a marvelous image of Andrew Johnson, done in honor of the 17th president’s 200th birthday (http://www.james-ben.com/johnson_collection.htm). Dusty can work from photographs and notes that portraits are not necessarily limited to people. “Her motorcycle portraits are dynamite,” says gallery director Stockton. Dusty’s work is available by individual commission.
Like many others, Dusty Anderson has found this region to be a wonderful haven for a restless soul. “Over the years, I’ve moved around this fantastic country quite a bit, but when I found East Tennessee, I feel I’ve finally come home.” As with other creative transplants to the area, the move has been both satisfying and stimulating. “By meeting other artists and going to art shows, I’m constantly finding new forms of art I’d like to try,” she says. Considering the success of her current creativity, the possibilities for Dusty are worthy of eager anticipation. Her work is locally available and original commissions can be arranged through James-Ben: Studio and Gallery Art Center.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Neighbor Featured Artist #20: H.R. Lovell
Tennessee’s Artist-in-Residence Maintains a Presence in Greeneville
Isn’t it interesting how often treasures are found in unexpected places? Although great cities like Paris, New York, and Chicago are celebrated as the centers of fine art, with many opportunities for students seeking to launch their careers, quite often it is the countryside that produces artists of true genius. In such cases, it can seem that providence places creative doorways in the paths of folks unaware of their own potential. Once through the doorway, they seem to enter a place where serendipity rules, so that one connection leads to another, and creative advancement accelerates. A good example of this happenstance is found in the story of H.R. Lovell, Tennessee’s Artist-in-Residence, and a self-described “farmer who paints.” Twice now in the last ten years, the General Assembly has selected him to represent and exemplify our state at its best. With roots deep in agriculture, and from a farm that might be found in any one of Tennessee’s three regions, Lovell truly does embody the state in which he was born. As someone whose paintings were first shown in Greeneville more than five years ago, he is an artist/neighbor worth spending some quality time with.
H.R. Lovell was born and raised in Cheatham County, Tennessee, and still operates his family’s farm there near Ashland City. Although he considers his art career to have started when he was nearly thirty, the talent he has cultivated was there all along. “I could always draw,” he says. “I was drawing before I even started school but it was always in black and white.” Self-taught, Lovell got his first chance to experiment with color when asked to do a drawing of a friend’s childhood home. Not satisfied with the result in colored pencil, he re-did the piece using a set of dime store watercolors. “To be honest, I thought it looked pretty loud,” he says. But the friend was pleased and paid ten dollars for the work. “I was thinking all the time that I might have overcharged her,” Lovell recalls. He continued to experiment and seek advice about better materials. When he had several paintings done another friend noticed that one was of her grandfather’s homeplace. After purchasing it, the painting traveled with her to her home in Albuquerque, New Mexico. As a real estate agent, one of her clients was legendary Navajo artist R.C. Gorman, to whom she showed Lovell’s painting. The result was an invitation to exhibit at Gorman’s Navajo Gallery. Having no familiarity with the art world, Lovell at first declined. “I had to confess that I’d never heard of R.C. Gorman, much less having any idea who he was,” says Lovell. “Then he called me and told me to watch the Today Show the next morning. Sure enough, he was featured and interviewed. I did some rethinking and told R.C. I’d come out to New Mexico, even though I only had six paintings.” After the show at the Navajo Gallery, Lovell’s production was back to square one, since all six paintings sold, even after Gorman tripled the prices. This would prove to be a recurring pattern in Lovell’s career. “I was getting ready to do a show in Nashville a few years later but before it opened, Mel Tillis asked to see my paintings and ended up buying all of them. We had to cancel the show.” His wide base of collectors makes Lovell’s originals a scarce commodity and has led to his production of high-quality giclees of most of his paintings.
One Saturday afternoon in the 1990’s, H.R. Lovell discovered James-Ben Gallery in Franklin, TN. “He was out for a drive and wandered up the stairs,” recalls James-Ben Stockton. “We’ve always focused on creating a relaxed, low-key experience for visitors and H.R. really connected to that. I found his paintings to be both superb and unassuming, reminiscent of Andrew Wyeth. And his personal story was a great example of how art can open doors into a new experience.” Stockton found out that Gorman had, in fact, nicknamed Lovell the “Andrew Wyeth of the South”. James-Ben Gallery offered Lovell his first one-man show. “While we were in process of putting it together, H.R. was first designated Tennessee Artist-in-Residence by the General Assembly,” says Stockton. “The opening reception became an occasion which our state legislators attended and where H.R. was presented with the official proclamation.”
Lovell works in both watercolor and egg tempera, a technique employed by the Renaissance masters from the days before oil paint came into common use. “He tends to choose subjects that evoke memories in the minds of viewers,” says Stockton. “Old homes, abandoned farm wagons, quilts – and remarkable portraits ranging from the marvelous faces of World War I veterans to young Mennonite girls – H.R. has a wonderful gift for touching hearts.” Most paintings begin with pencil sketches, connecting them with Lovell’s earliest efforts in drawing. A segment on PBS’s Tennessee Crossroads brought Lovell to the attention of a wide variety of art enthusiasts. With every passing year, that particular show is rated among the top five requested for repeat airings by viewers. Lovell’s work has been discovered and collected by such notables as Randy Travis, Burl Ives, Tanya Tucker, Pat Head-Summit, Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen, and Norman Mineta, U.S. Secretary of Transportation in the Bush administration. All are drawn to the work of a man who combines a good heart with astonishing talent. “One of his more recent paintings contains a wonderful personal story,” says Stockton. “H.R. was doing an iris painting as a tribute to the state flower. One of his biggest fans and collectors was terminally ill and kept asking to see it even if it wasn’t finished. H.R. took it to his hospital room one Tuesday and they spent the afternoon talking about it and reminiscing. It was their last visit.” “I was so glad that I was able to give him such enjoyment that day,” recalls Lovell. “In his honor, I renamed the piece ‘Tuesday’s Gift’.”
Since moving to Greeneville, James-Ben: Studio and Gallery has introduced H.R. Lovell’s work to a Northeast Tennessee audience. A one-man show and reception featuring Lovell originals was mounted in the gallery, in part through the generosity of the son whose late father inspired “Tuesday’s Gift.” Lovell’s paintings are a tribute to Tennessee, and a wonderful thread connecting the different regions of the state. His work is always available through James-Ben at Greeneville’s regional gallery. Meet H.R. Lovell through the gift of his artistry. He is truly a distinguished artist/neighbor.
Isn’t it interesting how often treasures are found in unexpected places? Although great cities like Paris, New York, and Chicago are celebrated as the centers of fine art, with many opportunities for students seeking to launch their careers, quite often it is the countryside that produces artists of true genius. In such cases, it can seem that providence places creative doorways in the paths of folks unaware of their own potential. Once through the doorway, they seem to enter a place where serendipity rules, so that one connection leads to another, and creative advancement accelerates. A good example of this happenstance is found in the story of H.R. Lovell, Tennessee’s Artist-in-Residence, and a self-described “farmer who paints.” Twice now in the last ten years, the General Assembly has selected him to represent and exemplify our state at its best. With roots deep in agriculture, and from a farm that might be found in any one of Tennessee’s three regions, Lovell truly does embody the state in which he was born. As someone whose paintings were first shown in Greeneville more than five years ago, he is an artist/neighbor worth spending some quality time with.
H.R. Lovell was born and raised in Cheatham County, Tennessee, and still operates his family’s farm there near Ashland City. Although he considers his art career to have started when he was nearly thirty, the talent he has cultivated was there all along. “I could always draw,” he says. “I was drawing before I even started school but it was always in black and white.” Self-taught, Lovell got his first chance to experiment with color when asked to do a drawing of a friend’s childhood home. Not satisfied with the result in colored pencil, he re-did the piece using a set of dime store watercolors. “To be honest, I thought it looked pretty loud,” he says. But the friend was pleased and paid ten dollars for the work. “I was thinking all the time that I might have overcharged her,” Lovell recalls. He continued to experiment and seek advice about better materials. When he had several paintings done another friend noticed that one was of her grandfather’s homeplace. After purchasing it, the painting traveled with her to her home in Albuquerque, New Mexico. As a real estate agent, one of her clients was legendary Navajo artist R.C. Gorman, to whom she showed Lovell’s painting. The result was an invitation to exhibit at Gorman’s Navajo Gallery. Having no familiarity with the art world, Lovell at first declined. “I had to confess that I’d never heard of R.C. Gorman, much less having any idea who he was,” says Lovell. “Then he called me and told me to watch the Today Show the next morning. Sure enough, he was featured and interviewed. I did some rethinking and told R.C. I’d come out to New Mexico, even though I only had six paintings.” After the show at the Navajo Gallery, Lovell’s production was back to square one, since all six paintings sold, even after Gorman tripled the prices. This would prove to be a recurring pattern in Lovell’s career. “I was getting ready to do a show in Nashville a few years later but before it opened, Mel Tillis asked to see my paintings and ended up buying all of them. We had to cancel the show.” His wide base of collectors makes Lovell’s originals a scarce commodity and has led to his production of high-quality giclees of most of his paintings.
One Saturday afternoon in the 1990’s, H.R. Lovell discovered James-Ben Gallery in Franklin, TN. “He was out for a drive and wandered up the stairs,” recalls James-Ben Stockton. “We’ve always focused on creating a relaxed, low-key experience for visitors and H.R. really connected to that. I found his paintings to be both superb and unassuming, reminiscent of Andrew Wyeth. And his personal story was a great example of how art can open doors into a new experience.” Stockton found out that Gorman had, in fact, nicknamed Lovell the “Andrew Wyeth of the South”. James-Ben Gallery offered Lovell his first one-man show. “While we were in process of putting it together, H.R. was first designated Tennessee Artist-in-Residence by the General Assembly,” says Stockton. “The opening reception became an occasion which our state legislators attended and where H.R. was presented with the official proclamation.”
Lovell works in both watercolor and egg tempera, a technique employed by the Renaissance masters from the days before oil paint came into common use. “He tends to choose subjects that evoke memories in the minds of viewers,” says Stockton. “Old homes, abandoned farm wagons, quilts – and remarkable portraits ranging from the marvelous faces of World War I veterans to young Mennonite girls – H.R. has a wonderful gift for touching hearts.” Most paintings begin with pencil sketches, connecting them with Lovell’s earliest efforts in drawing. A segment on PBS’s Tennessee Crossroads brought Lovell to the attention of a wide variety of art enthusiasts. With every passing year, that particular show is rated among the top five requested for repeat airings by viewers. Lovell’s work has been discovered and collected by such notables as Randy Travis, Burl Ives, Tanya Tucker, Pat Head-Summit, Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen, and Norman Mineta, U.S. Secretary of Transportation in the Bush administration. All are drawn to the work of a man who combines a good heart with astonishing talent. “One of his more recent paintings contains a wonderful personal story,” says Stockton. “H.R. was doing an iris painting as a tribute to the state flower. One of his biggest fans and collectors was terminally ill and kept asking to see it even if it wasn’t finished. H.R. took it to his hospital room one Tuesday and they spent the afternoon talking about it and reminiscing. It was their last visit.” “I was so glad that I was able to give him such enjoyment that day,” recalls Lovell. “In his honor, I renamed the piece ‘Tuesday’s Gift’.”
Since moving to Greeneville, James-Ben: Studio and Gallery has introduced H.R. Lovell’s work to a Northeast Tennessee audience. A one-man show and reception featuring Lovell originals was mounted in the gallery, in part through the generosity of the son whose late father inspired “Tuesday’s Gift.” Lovell’s paintings are a tribute to Tennessee, and a wonderful thread connecting the different regions of the state. His work is always available through James-Ben at Greeneville’s regional gallery. Meet H.R. Lovell through the gift of his artistry. He is truly a distinguished artist/neighbor.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
