“Fog Rising” by Jacki Frey. People’s Choice Award , 2024 BWS Membership Show
First Meeting of the Year and Program JOURNEY THROUGH SKETCHBOOKS
Welcome to 2025!
We are kicking off the year with our first meeting Monday, January 13th at 6 p.m. at the First Christian Church, 205 E. Kirkwood Ave. Details will be sent in the membership email per usual. A brief business meeting will open the meeting.
BWS Vice President Jeanne Dutton will have a short demo on how to print and package cards. This is very useful info for those selling or interested in selling cards.
The evening’s program will be:
Journey through Sketchbooks! Hosted by BWS’s President Laura Brown
BRING A USED SKETCHBOOK IF YOU HAVE ONE FOR A BRIEF SHOW AND SHARE!
What to expect:
I will go over my former resistance to sketchbooks and then my acceptance which lead me to something I always desired: My own fulfilling art practice!
Have many sketchbooks? Never had one? Feel like you can’t ever fill one? This program is for everyone!
With each sketchbook adventure I will focus on two main points….
1. What was my “plan” for my sketchbook? (And it’s ok to not have one!)
And
2. Where are things going? (Or where did they end up? It’s all about embracing what happens through doing!).
I am encouraging members to bring their own and share the answers to these two questions above.
I’m planning on having a handout that includes materials, resources, and any other special notations that may be of use.
Inside BWS
BWS Holiday Party Recap
Thank you to all that attended the BWS Holiday Party at The Farm. It was truly a night to remember with savory food and drink and plenty of socializing. Members exchanged hand painted cards, door prizes were handed out, and 15$ per ticket was donated to our scholarship fund!
Photos compliments of Laura Brown
UPCOMING GALLERY SHOW For Teacher’s Warehouse at the Vault at Gallery Mortgage
“We Paint…2-D: Dali and Degas”
IMPORTANT DATES:
Images Due: February 1 (see below)
Drop Off: Tuesday, February 4
Pick Up: Monday, March 31
Online Gallery: Once again, BWS will exhibit online as a SmugMug gallery. This gallery will be accessible from the BWS website (and others, as possible). Please submit your scanned or photographed artwork to Jeanne Dutton at Teachers@BloomingtonWatercolor.org by FEBRUARY 1.
Please check the prospectus here—->
>>>Prospectus – Bloomington Watercolor Society
This show is coming up quickly!
Watercolor by Salvador Dali
“Beach at Ebbe” by Edgar Degas
Cancer Support Center
“Self-Portrait” by Linda Meyer-Wright
Linda Meyer-Wright, 1946-2023 – In Retrospect
January 14 – February 28, 2025
Bloomington Watercolor Society Gallery
Linda was an original BWS Signature Member and a popular teacher who influenced a long list of student artists. She was extremely creative and prolific in many mediums, but this exhibit features primarily watercolors! Her art is reflective of her humor and wit and her very vivid imagination, making it a fun and happy show.
Hosted by her sister Joanie Meyer, it will feature 32 large, professionally framed works of art. These paintings have not been recently displayed, prior to this exhibit. You will also have the opportunity to purchase smaller, unframed paintings from her studio. All artwork is offered at very reasonable prices.
Please join Joanie and friends at the reception on Friday, January 24 – Linda’s birthday. There will be cake!!
Opening Reception Friday, January 24
4:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Cancer Support Community
1719 W 3rd Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47408
In addition: Stephanie Shelton from the Cancer Support Community announces a call out for BWS artists to sign up to have a show at the CSC Gallery. “We are in need of people to sign up as the gallery is unscheduled past February. Solo or group shows with BWS friends are welcome! Please contact her at Stephanie@cancersupportscin.org to sign up for a show! 30% of all sales go to helping art programming for those using CSC services, a great collaboration and way for us to show art AND give back to the community.
Outside BWS
Upland Plein Air Membership Show
Upland Plein Air is having its 2025 Membership Show at Lennie’s Brew Pub, 514 E. Kirkwood Ave. The show will run from January 7th to February 28th. BWS Members are invited to attend. The Opening Reception is January 7th from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Friends of Artists for Climate Awareness
Welcome to 2025, with all its challenges and hopes. Artists for Climate Awareness look forward to another year of growing environmental awareness through art. As such, Carol Rhodes writes, “we are excited to invite members to their upcoming general meeting via Zoom on Tuesday, January 7, at 7 p.m. Eastern Time (US).”
Featured at This Month’s Meeting: Environmental Art Poster Collection
After a short business meeting, new member Ralph Yehle from Minneapolis will show portions of his beautiful collection of 90 environmental posters.
See the posters and learn what inspired him to collect these treasures, how long he has been collecting them, how he finds them, and the plans he has for them.
Zoom Meeting Details:
Tuesday, January 7 at 7 pm Eastern Time (US)
Zoom Link: https://ivytech.zoom.us/j/94188490464
* Meeting ID: 941 8849 0464
One of Ralph Yehle’s environmental posters
The Bloomington Portrait Group
When I asked Barbara Coffman what the Portrait Group had been up to, she wrote to say, “Chuck Christoph recently modeled for our group. Chuck has a life-long love of American history, with a special interest in the Civil War. In addition to reading extensively about that conflict, Chuck travels to Civil War battlefields to attend living history events. For our session, he wore a Union cap and cavalryman’s coat.”
In order: Arkady Roytman – oil; Sandi Cook – oil; Claude Cookman – conte’; Ann Woods – pen and ink
WSI Regional Membership Exhibit
The Watercolor Society of Indiana has been invited by Hendricks Live! for an exhibition at the Event Center (200 W. Main Street, Plainfield, IN) running April 16 to May 31. This opportunity is a “WSI Regional Exhibit” for WSI Members. Each participant may display one ready to hang painting. All participants must register through The Watercolor Society of Indiana. Registration is open to the first 50 artists that register. Deliver paintings directly to Hendricks Live between 1:00 pm and 5:00 pm on Sunday, April 13, 2025.
Hendricks Live by Tim Lewis
Membership News
Stephen Edwards. My painting titled “Once Upon a Time There Was a Boy Who Loved Trains” has been accepted into the 158thAnnual American Watercolor Society International Exhibition.
The Exhibition will be held April 7 – 25, 2025, at the Salmagundi Club in NYC. There will be an opening reception on Tuesday, April 8th from 6-8 pm, and a Watercolor Evening demonstration by Thomas Schaller, AWS, on Thursday, April 24th at 6 pm.
Over 1000 paintings entered and only 150 accepted makes this just that much more an honor. I am very thankful to Iain Stewart, Thomas Schaller, Michael Holter and Dot Ganek for choosing my work.
On a side note: Still searching for a home in the Bloomington area. Every time I find one, I can utilize as a home/studio it sells before I can even look at it. Hopefully, I’ll be closer to the group in 2025.
“Once Upon a Time There Was a Boy Who Loved Trains” by Stephen Edwards.
Tim Lewis. I completed two commissioned trompe l’oeil style watercolors for the Shelby County Players’ new theater in Shelbyville. These will be enlarged, printed on vinyl and adhered to two walls in the new theater. They depict two historic theaters in Shelbyville.
“Alhambra” and “Blessings” by Tim Lewis.
My solo show titled “Radical Reality” opens January 10th and runs through February 23rd at the Jewish Community Center Art Gallery in Indianapolis. The show is open to the public during normal business hours and there will be a public reception on January 15th from 5:30 until 7:00 pm. I will be showing many of my newest watercolors as well as some of my favorites from the past. All works will be for sale.
“Entropy” by Tim Lewis
MarySue Schwab. In addition to watercolor, I’ve been working in colored pencil. Here is “Go Fish,” a painting in progress!”
“Go Fish!” by MarySue Schwab
I also want to remind people that now is the time to sign up for watercolor classes at Ivy Tech. Both beginning and advance watercolor classes are available. Classes start on January 13th.
Paintings by MarySue Schwab
Meri Reinhold. This month I made a small monochromatic image of a mother elephant and her child.
“Mother Elephant and Her Child” by Meri Reinhold
Jerome Harste. Looking for an interesting read? Load Bearing is a new novel by Jane Hartsock. Greg Zimmerman who writes The Dork Review of Books says this about the novel:
“Load Bearing is a thrilling literary mystery about a young woman named Hannah. Hannah is married to an older mansplainer workaholic named Michael. A job transfer requires the two to move with their young daughter from the east coast to Indianapolis, where they buy a fixer-upper/money pit home. Hannah dives into the renovation and soon becomes obsessed with the architect of the old house who killed himself a century earlier. What led this architect to his untimely demise? What secrets can this old house reveal about the architect’s life and his family? And how might those secrets and the architect’s life ripple through the year’s to inform Hannah’s present moment? (Indeed, why is he appearing to her in sexy dreams?)
The novel is about how it’s just as easy to become obsessed with an artist as it is art. Does an artist’s biographical details ALWAYS hold clues to the mysteries within their art? Or should art always be separated from artist?”
Charlotte Griffin. I’ve been thinking “winter.” Below are two recently finished paintings. The first one is the painting I started when Penny Lulich gave the program at our meeting in November.
The second painting is one I finished as a result of my taking a online class from Dale Popovich.
Painting by Charlotte Griffin
Jacki Frey. Here is one of the paintings that I’m turning in for the Upland Show at Lennie‘s called “Clenna‘s Barn.” I recently showed this painting at the Indiana Plein Air Painters Association Show at Brown County Art Gallery and received an Award of Merit.
“Clenna’s Barn” by Jacki Frey
Laura Brown focused most of her time working on a commission of a sea turtle last month. Sea turtles are symbols of adaptability and resilience, a perfect message of strength through the new year!
“Sea Turtle” by Laura Brown
Calendar
January 7: Opening Reception of the Upland Show at Lennie’s, 5-7 p.m.
January 7: Artist for Climate Awareness Meeting, 7 p.m.
January 10: Tim Lewis’ Radical Reality Opening, Jewish Center, Indianapolis.
January 13: BWS Monthly Meeting at First Christian Church, 6-8 p.m.
January 13: Classes start at Ivy Tech, Bloomington.
January 14: Opening: Linda Meyer-Wright Show, Cancer Support Center, Bloomington
January 24: Opening Reception: Meyer-Wright Show, Cancer Support Center.
February 1: Due date for entries to Teacher’s Warehouse Show, Bloomington.
February 4: Drop-off paintings for Teacher’s Warehouse Show, Bloomington.
April 13: Drop-off paintings for Hendricks Live Show, Plainfield.
