EVERGREEN HERITAGE CENTER ARTS WORKSHOPS UPDATE...NEW FOR 2013!  I will be conducting a total of 6 workshops this year at Evergreen.  Here is an outline of the first 3!  We had such a great response back in the fall of 2012...we have decided to build the program!!  For more information on the work of Evergreen, please go to:  http://www.evergreenheritagecenter.org/    Evergreen is located on Trimble Road, Mt. Savage Maryland. Workshop participation is limited, so reserve a spot early! More information will be forthcoming!

The Evergreen Heritage Center (EHC), a scenic historical property in Allegany County, offers learning opportunities for both children and adults.  Last fall, the EHC Foundation successfully conducted a pilot of its new Environmental Arts program which offered participants the opportunity to attend a workshop conducted by local artist Maggie Pratt in which they learned about sunflowers, and created oil paintings of these beautiful plants. Several participants requested that we continue this program and offer a series of workshops in which both budding and experienced artists could learn more about our environment and capture their experiences on canvas, in sketchbooks, and/or in journals.  As a result, in 2013, the EHC Foundation is offering a series of Evergreen Artist Workshops.  The first of three spring workshops is The Trees of Evergreen (April 21).  This workshop will explore the heritage evergreens planted at the EHC over 100 years ago.  Participants will receive instruction on basic sketching, oil techniques, composition, etc. and then engage in a brief “walk and talk” during which they will learn the history and characteristics of these majestic trees and draw sketches that will augment photos provided by the instructor.  Participants will then have the opportunity to create oil paintings of their chosen subject(s).  The second spring workshop is Macro Nature (May 19).  This workshop will teach participants how to use small discoveries to make create larger abstract paintings.  Attending artists will have the opportunity to collect blossoms, leaves, stones, pinecones, and other nature treasures; to develop drawings of these elements; and then to create a painting expressing their discoveries.  The third spring workshop is The Evergreen Landscape (June 16).  This workshop will explore landscape painting, including its role in historical preservation, and the Hudson River School painters and their use of color.  Attending artists may then create a painting from a variety of photos of the Evergreen Heritage Center landscape.  All workshops will be conducted by artist Maggie Pratt.

Early Winter, Old National Road SOLD just before Christmas in an interesting scenario.  I lived in this house at one time, and have many stories about that experience.  I made this painting mostly for the sake of the beaver nest, which the State of Maryland said had to go...it was posing a threat to a nearby culvert under Old Route 40.  But it was not. They took it away, and in 2 weeks, the beavers had reclaimed their home.  The State came in and drained the whole pond, regardless of protestations from the property owner at the time, a fiend of mine for many years.  After I did the painting, I sent him a copy in a Christmas card, several years ago, thinking he might enjoy the piece.  He in turn passed it on to the new owner of the house, whose brother made a great effort to find me and purchase the piece as a gift for his brother.  The painting now hangs in the very house of its content.  I will add a photo of it in its new home soon.  There is also a great deal of local history associated with the house and the area, know as the Shades of Death. I will also condense and post some of it, keeping history and folk legends alive.

Thank you to  Backbone Mountain Review for publishing me again this year!! I will post the 2 pieces below... with some author's notes.  An honor!!!

Alberta

You rest

wan upon the pillow

scent of

some  past fragrant peach

lingering over the eiderdown

old skin in soft focus

afternoon light

of the soul.

Stream Waders

Hear below the

waterline

the language of little

green muddy things

whose bubbles break surface

in small redundant pops.

A stone shifts, a lure lodged.

A branch deep down hides carp,

trout dozing

in primordial peace.

ALBERTA is in memory of my Grandmother on my paternal side.  Her name was Alberta...and just for the record, tonight, Sept. 12, 2012, did I first realize the subliminal reference to peaches of the same appellation.  The poem has been brewing for a while.

Stream Waders recalls time spent on the Yough River. (Youghiogheny) Garrett County, MD.  Being an outside gal, I love to see the small, the fleeting moment...the moments lost becasue Nature is always in transition.

 

FROM THE CUMBERLAND TIMES NEWS SEPT. 11, 2012 
Local residents participate in a Meet an Artist, Make a Masterpiece session Sunday afternoon, sponsored by the Evergreen Heritage Center in Mount Savage owned by Janice Keene of Frostburg. The painting workshop featured artist M.C. Pratt of Triskele Studios in Frostburg, who introduced participants to oil painting with a natural focus. From front to back are Iris Halmos, Nicole Halmos, Dennis Sherald and Shirley Giarritta, all of Cumberland.

A shot of participants from Wine and Wonder Workshop at the Evergreen Heritage Center, held on Sunday, Sept. 9, 2012.  This was the first of a series of visual arts workshops planned for Evergreen.  While not much wine was flowing, all painters had a productive afternoon and enjoyed a beautiful early fall afternoon in the mountains and on the grounds of EHC in Mt.Savage, MD.
From the left, back to front...standing - Janice Keene, Director.  Participants Jeanne Cordts, Diane Engle, Egan S. Pratt. Far corner top right - Jane N. Madden

Artist in Residence

 ARTIST IN RESIDENCE....I have been chosen to serve as the resident artist at Catoctin Mountain National Park  near Thurmont, MD...(close to Camp David) in October.  I will be stationed in the Good Luck Lodge, and will be painting and speaking with park visitors.  I will also be speaking in area public schools. I will be working from October 15th through the 29th.  Please stop by and see the beauty of the mountains in the fall!! Also visit Cunningham Falls...a place of great beauty and solitude.

The very first suggestion of a "nation's park" came from artist George Catlin in 1832. Artists have always played a vital role in preserving our nation's treasures. Catoctin Mountain Park and the Catoctin Forest Alliance support this tradition today through the Artist-In-Residence program.
Artists help our national parks with their root mission: conservation and enjoyment. Historic records and technical drawings may help preserve the nuts and bolts of a national park, while the hand of an artist will preserve the park's soul. The artist's work draws the public closer to the park's resources, so that they enjoy it on a deeper level and help to preserve it.
Mission Statement: The Catoctin Mountain Artist-In-Residence (AIR) program, under the auspices of the Catoctin Forest Alliance, offers visual, literary, and performing artists an opportunity to work in a natural and historic setting to advance art, nature, and history education and appreciation.
  

Wine and Wonder - a painting workshop on behalf of the Evergreen Heritage Foundation