Artist Interviews: Best of 2013 (Part 2)

“Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder.” ~E.B. White

Seen at the Tweed

As we close out the year its a tradition to take one more backward nod as if to bid farewell before turning to face forward again into what lies ahead. The year 2013 provided the local community with numerous new arts venues and showcased many new artists as well as new works by the veterans. Though we were disappointed to lose the Ochre Ghost and Double Dutch, and recently received word that Canal Park's Blue Lake Gallery is closing in February, there is plenty new emerging and much to look forward to in the year ahead.

Last night I posted links to artist interviews from January to June. Here is another list of interviews from the second half of 2013.

Painter and plein air artist Lee Englund

Author/artist Ellen Sandbeck talks about her Buddha-a-Day project.

Print maker and arts advocate Celia Lieder 

Artist and Limbo Gallery curator Eris Vafias

Special guest curator for Tweed's Blood Memoirs show, Amber-Dawn Bear Robe 

Local artist Kat Senn, Part I and Part II.

Eris Vafias talks about Artist Kamikaze V

Artist/photographer Scott Dovey from Florida's west coast.

Newly transplanted to the Northland, Santiago painter Rodrigo Bello 

Playing an essential role in the local arts scene Crystal Pelkey 

Portugal's Margarida Sardinha discusses her latest achievement, London Memory multi+city

The energetic Dusty Keliin 

Talking photography with John Heino and the vision behind Zenith City Lines

Scott Murphy's return to the DAI with Broken Threads, Lost Causes.

A very good talk with the Tweed Museum's Bill Shipley

Bottom line: It's been another good year for art in the Twin Ports.

Reminder: Be sure to make a selection for the Duluth Art Institute Member Show coming up. Dates to submit work run from January 2-10. Mark January 23 for the opening reception, always a highlight of the new year. 

Spotlight on artist Lee Englund and painting “en plein air”

He first caught my attention at the Clyde-O-Thon, a two-day tattoo show a couple years back. He had a table there with some of his work, but was also making paintings of the scenes about him. The small canvases reflected the rich, vivid energy there, which seems to be his style, to reflect his surroundings, to illuminate the now.

When I saw Englund and friends in the gorgeous setting of Sol Fest in mid-June, it was easy to see why the French Impressionists and American Naturalists of the late 19th century were so taken up with getting outdoors to paint. His work is currently on display at the Duluth Art Institute till August 18 in the Corridor Gallery in a show titled, A Strong Experience of Nature."

EN: What is it you like about painting in oils?

Lee Englund: I have loved oils almost all my life. I love the creamy way that oils mix. The buttery feel that it has and the "real look" that it has. It is not plastic looking. I love that painting in oils is a life-long learning experience. Working in oils is exciting. It stays wet on the canvas for a long time, and I love working wet into wet. You can also move paint around on the canvas.

EN: What does it mean to paint “en plein air”?

LE: Painting "en-plein-air" is like jazz improvisation. You "interpret the score" as literally or creatively as you feel. It is feeling the scene in front of you with all your senses. It is "true painting." Plein air painting is in the moment and the moment changes fast. It is a humbling experience. The light changes, the weather changes. There is wind and sometimes bugs. It is a real challenge and a true learning experience.

EN: You’ve won some national competitions. How do those events work and what are the rules?

LE: There are many national painting competitions. The Juried national competitions are usually medium specific, but some have categories of mediums within the competition. I also enter a few plein air competitions where painters travel to the event, get their canvasses stamped (to prove that you painted your work right there on the spot) and work for a specific few days. There is also a Quick Paint competition within the plein-air event. The artists set up in a specific area. A starting gun is shot, and painting begins. The artist has an hour and a half to complete his or her painting. There is always a show of wet paintings at the end of the event. I was recently accepted to the Hilton Head National Juried Competition.

EN: What do you consider your most significant achievement?

LE: Getting in to National competitions and winning several awards has been rewarding, but I think seeing my work and my passion for it grow over the years is the biggest reward. I feel lucky to have the passion that I have.

EN: What’s the appeal of painting “en plein air”? Is it becoming more popular again and why?

LE: Plein air painting has become popular in the past few years because artists are finding plein air painting to be such a good learning experience. Art students at the Moscow Institute are required to paint en plein air for a year to learn color. If you love nature you get to spend a lot of quality time with it when you plein air paint.

EN: You were an art teacher at Denfeld and are now retired. How does that feel and how are you spending your time?

LE: I retired in 2007, and went back to school for my masters in fine art. I then taught at Lake Superior College for two and one half years. I just retired again in May. I am excited now to be able to paint full time and I’m grateful to be so lucky to have a passion for painting. I travel and paint from life, and that is the plan for my life. Next year my wife and I will travel to Austria and Italy to paint for about a month.

EN: What are some things you have learned through teaching art to others?

LE: I have learned so much over the years from my students. I have seen so much talent blossom and grow that I could not help but learn. I like to experiment every time that I paint. One of my students said "There is so much to think about when you are painting." So true! One thing that I know for sure is that it takes a lot of work to become a good painter. Something I will always strive for, for the rest of my life.

See more at leeenglund.com

Water Themes Featured In DAI Shows Opening Tonight

“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it.” ~ Norman Maclean

The overarching theme is water, a common touchstone for many local artists who draw inspiration from living at the edge of the world's largest freshwater body in the world. At least two of Mike Savage's novels have Lake Superior water-related issues as a central plot element. Tonya Borgeson's series of "Something About the Water" shows, with other participating artists, keep cropping up. Visual artist/critic Ann Klefstad's water themed works likewise reflect her passion for the theme. (Both Klefstad and Borgeson can be found frequently out sailing on the waters as well, the one passion that overrides their desire to be in the studio.)

So it comes as no surprise that the Duluth Art Institute (DAI) would have a summer art opening titled Water Works. What did surprise me, though, was seeing the full page, front page story about the opening in Tuesday's Duluth News Tribune. Whether it was paid advertising, or a generous plug by the DNT, the net effect was that Water Works is an event not to miss. (Opening from 5-7 p.m. tonight.)

Here are a few notes about the three overlapping exhibitions that will be on display this summer. Lee Englund's A Strong Experience of Nature is aptly titled. The now-retired art teacher is a leading painter in the "plein air" school. "En plein air" is French for painting in the opening air. Englund describes it as the visual equivalent of jazz improvisation as the artist responds to the stimulation of the scenery which is ever changing.

One day back when I lived in the Central Hillside I came home from work to find a painter from Hungary on the sidewalk in front of our house, painting the hillside scene with the sunlight pouring through the trees and houses down toward the Great Lake. I asked why he was here and he said Duluth is one of the three most beautiful cities in the world to paint because of the steep hills and the lake, and the way the late day sun pours through everything. (The other two cities were San Francisco and one of Switzerland's beauties.)

Anways, it's been a pleasure watching Englund work and the title of his show is a thrill in and of itself. The show will run through August 18 if you can't make it tonight.

Then there's Jerry Allen Gilmore's Boats Will Float and Bumble Bees Will Sting which will have a shorter run in the Steffl Gallery, from June 6-24. Another fun title.  Gilmore states that his work "has always contained an element of water in its narrative." The images here are autobiographical in nature, and what he calls "markings" from his life.

Finally, from July 1 thru September 8, there will be Chris Faust's photography exhibit titled Revisiting Twain's Mississippi, a suitable companion for the other exhibits. Many people unfamiliar with North American Geography are not aware that we not only have the world's largest lake, but also the headwaters of one of the great rivers in the world, and our longest in North America. The headwaters of the mighty Mississippi begin here in out North Country.

St. Paul native Chris Faust chose to revisit the river that had been documented in such detail in Mark Twain's time by photographer Henry Peter Bosse.

Our ongoing fascination with rivers is nothing new. Rivers have been part of human history for ages, serving as transportation routes, power generators, geographic barriers, political boundaries, and more. Rivers have also served as a source of inspiration for poets, writers, artists and philosophers.

The flowing river is a theme upon which many minds have meditated. Twain, Hesse, Annie Dillard, Norman Maclean have all recorded reflections on rivers. Hesse’s Siddhartha concludes with a contemplation on the meaning of his life while watching, and listening to, the river.

Tonight's art opening(s) will give us a chance to explore our waters, and our selves, in new ways.

A Visit with Painter/Teacher Lee Englund

My high school art class in New Jersey played an influential role in my life. Mr. Sebes created an environment that was somewhat of a refuge during that challenging time for me as my best friend had been taken in a car/bike accident the first day of my junior year. Advanced trigonometry and differential equations were too abstract for the internal things going on in my life at that time. Art proved to be a healing diversion for me.

This past month at the Clyde-O-Thon event here in Duluth, I was introduced to Lee Englund, an art instructor who is doing some wonderful oil painting. His teaching career began in 1984 in the Duluth Elementary schools, and was followed by two decades at Denfeld High School beginning in 1988. Englund then went back to grad school to get his masters in fine art whereupon he was hired by Lake Superior College and now teaches 2 painting classes.

I was enjoyed watching him paint at the Clyde, and was also interested in getting him to share some of what he's learned from teaching art over the years.

EN: What do you consider your most significant achievements?
LE: Getting in to National competitions and winning several awards has been rewarding..but I think seeing my work and my passion for it grow over the years is the biggest reward. I feel lucky to have the passion that I have.

EN: Who have been your favorite artists over the course of your career?
LE: My influences are many... and they have changed over the years. Those who have stayed with me: Caravaggio, Monet , Zorn, Mary Cassatte , Whistler. Artists living and working today who influence me are. Clyde Aspevig for plein-air landscape Richard Schmid for his brush strokes, David Leffel(who I took a workshop with) and Danial Green for portrait.

EN: Who most influence you when you were young?
LE: I always was interested in art, but my junior high school art teacher Ron Kokal influenced me to become an art teacher.

EN: What are you currently working on?
LE: I am currently working on a series of figures and nudes... This summer I will be painting plein-air landscapes out west and southwest. I have more experience to draw on, and a larger view of art history. I have also learned much through teaching.

EN: In what ways has art changed since you started painting and teaching?
LE: There have been many changes since I started this life long endeavor. Mostly I see too much technology being used. Images being traced or tweaked on computers I feel that art should come from the heart… paint what you see... not what the camera sees.

EN: Any suggestions for emerging artists?
LE: My advice to emerging artists would be to paint from life... it is the way to learn to see, which is what painting really is... Paint often... it almost takes being compulsive to get good at painting representationally, and paint with passion.

EN: If you had it all to do over what would you do differently?
LE: If I had it all to do over again, I probably wouldn't change much except I would like to take back the time that I wasted… Life is short.

To see more work by Lee Robert Englund, be sure to visit, http://www.leeenglund.com