Date: Tuesdays, July 11 & 18, 2023
Time: 10:30 AM-12:30 PM Pacific Time, 1:30-3:30 PM Eastern Time, 6:30-8:30 PM London Time
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Medium: All
Vacation with Georgia O’Keeffe as we explore some of her lesser-known paintings inspired by her times at the beach–from Maine to Hawaii. Art historian and artist Leigh Culver will be our guide as we learn the fascinating stories behind her travels to the opposite ends of the United States and how these trips impacted her career and artistic growth. The resulting paintings of oceans, seaweeds, shells, lava bridges, as well as the tropical flowers and mountains of Hawaii will provide inspiration for our own creative explorations–whether we’re travelling or staying at home (working on site or from photographs).
We’ll look at how O’Keeffe considered her work in relation to Winslow Homer’s paintings of the sea. And we’ll focus in-depth on her distinctive compositional structures, her edge-work, her scale relations, and how she handled the backgrounds of her motifs. O’Keeffe noted that she brought her own world to unfamiliar places–something we can all aspire to do as we play to our individual strengths while exploring motifs or ways of painting inspired by O’Keeffe.
July 11th A two-hour presentation and discussion of Georgia O’Keeffe’s time in Maine and Hawaii. From this, you’ll be given a “Painting Challenge” with several options to choose from in creating works on your own time inspired by what you’ve learned by this study of O’Keeffe’s art.
July 18th Starts with a one-hour group community share of the images you created over the week based on the “Painting Challenge.” The last hour of class will conclude with a consideration of beach paintings by O’Keeffe’s friends and colleagues to explore how their approaches to the subject relate to those of O’Keeffe.
This class is ideal for experienced art students and suitable for working in any 2-D medium. It is also appropriate for professional artists and art teachers interested in learning more art history and deepening their repertoire of creative strategies through close looking at art historical precedents.
Leigh Culver is an art historian, teacher and painter. She holds a Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Pennsylvania and taught American Art for the University of Notre Dame’s Washington Program for over a decade. Prior to teaching, she worked in the curatorial departments at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and in education at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. As a painter, she has won multiple watercolor awards in the Mid-Atlantic region and recently served as President of the Potomac Valley Watercolorists. She taught advanced watercolor at The Art League School in Alexandria, VA, before turning to teaching “Painting through Art History” with online Zoom classes. www.leighculverart.com
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