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June Issue 2004
Hilton Head Art League in Hilton Head, SC, Features Works by Mary Lou Westmaas
A 22-year member of the Hilton Head Art League,
Mary Lou Westmaas is the featured artist at the gallery in Pineland
Station on Hilton Head Island, SC, from June 8- July 3, 2004,
with her display of watercolor paintings titled, All About
Leaves. Big leaves, small leaves, green leaves, brown leaves,
leaves with flowers among them, all kinds of leaves are presented
in Westmaas' unique design fashion.
Westmaas always wanted to be an artist and has been fascinated
by leaves forever. Her special interest has turned into the subject
for her art. While gathering images for her paintings, she studied
the plants and trees, often with the help of a county extension
agent. All of her leaves are botanically - correct. "Leaves
are the life-blood of plants," says Westmaas. "Where
would we be without them," she adds.
Watercolor is Westmaas' medium of choice, dictated by allergies
that kept her from working in oils and other media. She likes
the color, depth, textures and challenges presented by this medium.
For the paintings in this show, she carefully designed each piece
before painting.
Westmaas may be found sketching along roadsides or in a garden,
then completing her work in her studio. Away from airborne pollen,
dust and molds, the paintings take on shape and color for the
finished artwork. Some of her studies of plants go back for a
decade or more. Most often she works in a series of paintings,
often returning to subjects she pursued years earlier, as is the
case with these paintings about leaves.
The works in All About Leaves are recent and draw upon her extensive investigations of the plants and trees that appear in her work. Be assured these paintings have been thoroughly researched, well before brush and paint ever touched paper.
Westmaas' family strongly suggested that she put practicality before creativity. It was her degree in occupational therapy that caused her to cross paths with a medical resident in Ann Arbor, MI, who later became her husband. After 10 years of workshops at the Birmingham/ Bloomfield Art Association in Michigan she also studied with well-known instructors like Joyce Nagel, Electra Stamelos, Frank Webb and Lee Weiss, she admits to working with such intensity that she "becomes lost in her work, achieving a therapeutic high".
Westmaas is a signature member of the South Carolina Watercolor Society, the Georgia Watercolor Society, the Hilton Head Art League and Watercolor West. She has the distinction of having one a first place award in watercolor in the first juried show held on Hilton Head Island.
The Hilton Head Art League is a not-for-profit membership organization dedicated to promoting the visual arts in the community and enhancing the art skills of its members. It operates a year-round volunteer-managed gallery for the exhibition and sale of artwork by its members. In addition to the work of Mary Lou Westmaas, about 100 other artists will be showing their work concurrently with this show.
Join members of the Hilton Head Art League on June 19, 2004, from 10am-3pm , for the HHAL Annual Sidewalk Sale. The event features works by HHAL members along the sidewalk at Pineland Station.
For further information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings, call the gallery at 843/681-5060 or (www.hiltonheadartleague.org).
Carolina Arts is published monthly by Shoestring Publishing Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc. Copyright© 2004 by PSMG, Inc., which published Charleston Arts from July 1987 - Dec. 1994 and South Carolina Arts from Jan. 1995 - Dec. 1996. It also publishes Carolina Arts Online, Copyright© 2004 by PSMG, Inc. All rights reserved by PSMG, Inc. or by the authors of articles. Reproduction or use without written permission is strictly prohibited. Carolina Arts is available throughout North & South Carolina.