I always wanted to be an artist. I experienced my very first art lesson at age 11. I sat in a large room originally used as the front parlor in the late 1800s home. It boasted tall windows nearly ceiling to floor. The light was fabulous! Filled with drawing tables, easels, and priceless antiques, an old Victorian couch along one wall served as a horizontal file for canvases, art books, art magazines and drawing and watercolor tablets. It was the home of Mrs.Dorothy Brace Barber, my beloved art instructor and mentor, at the corner of 7th Street and Wyoming Avenue in Wyoming. Her home always smelled of burnt toast and turpentine with the odors of those wonderful old (toxic!) artists’ paints mixed in. Every Saturday I sat in this magical dream world of art and wove a new thread into my future.
It always amazes me how almost anyone can improve artistically with a bit of training IF they truly focus on learning the language of art. If one can read, one can learn to draw. According to Betty Edwards, author of the 1979 groundbreaking book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, most adults in the Western World do not progress much past their level of drawing ability reached at about the ages of 10 to 12 without instruction. And that was my experience. Mrs. Barber taught me to perceive the world in a new way. She taught me to see shapes of colors and patches of light, shadows and cast shadows, soft edges and hard edges, textures, and tonal values.
Mrs. Barber opened a door for me that I’ve never shut. I’d like to congratulate four teens from InSide the Back Mountain who have walked through that same door! All four were top winners in a recent highly competitive art competition at LCCC. Each student entered at least one artwork depicting a Back Mountain subject.
Andrew Lisman, a freshman at Dallas who began art studies at age 6, painted an extremely realistic depiction of a majestic deer in gouache, which required over thirty hours to complete. At school, his favorite subjects are history and English. Andrew’s favorite art mediums are watercolor and ink and he enjoys painting still lifes and florals. He favors the painting style called chiaroscuro, or “light coming out of darkness,” a style made famous by Caravaggio and Rembrandt.
Sierra Stash, a sophomore at Lake-Lehman, began her formal art studies at age 8. Her prize winning piece was a Carbothello pastel portrait of her dog named “Daydream Retriever,” which required over 16 hours to complete. Sierra enjoys painting in oils and depicting animals. In school, her favorite subject is biology which she hopes to pursue in college with an eye toward teaching. Her favorite artist is Vincent Van Gogh, but she adds, “not for his lifestyle, but for his colors and brushstrokes.”
Rachel Bogdan is a junior at Dallas. She began studying art formally at age 12. “I always drew,” she told me. “My dad is an amazing artist and so is my mom although she wouldn’t say so!” Rachel’s winning painting is a watercolor titled “Ode to the Pond,” which depicts her back yard’s decorative artificial fish pond complete with a frog and lily pads. Her favorite school subject is math, especially trigonometry, and she envisions a future tied to environmental science in some way. Rachel’s favorite art mediums are colored pencil and ink.
Erika Doran is a junior at Dallas who began to study art at age 5. A member of the Dallas Swim and Dive Team District Champs, she also tied for third place overall among hundreds of Rossetti Art Show entries. Her oil painting titled “Red Sails in the Sunset,” which required about 50 hours to complete, was based on a photo she took from her grandfather’s boat as he towed the sailboat parade at the Harvey’s Lake Labor Day celebration. Erika’s future probably holds something to do with math (statistics or data analysis) or science (biology or chemistry).
Must everyone start young? In gymnastics and professional sports, it's a must. But in art, Grandma Moses began painting at age 76. Henri Rousseau was a tax and toll collector who never picked up a brush until his 40s. Whatever our age, from 5 to 95 and perhaps beyond, there’s a dream in our hearts. Is it painting? Writing? Music? Travel? I always wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail. I can't do that now, but I can still take many beautiful walks InSide the Back Mountain. What thread would you like to weave into your future? What door would you like to open? Let’s dream!
This article originally appeared in the April 2024 publication of InSide the Back Mountain.