PAST EVENTS
Thursday, September 21, 2023
Member meeting
Our first meeting of the year featured pastel artist and instructor Karen Israel. Karen demonstrated how to put figures in a landscape.
Here is the beautiful finished piece that Karen was so kind to send us!
Wednesday, May 3, 2023, 10 am - 3 pm
Inks Workshop with Sharon Quaglia
This class gave students the opportunity to explore, play and learn about the properties,
advantages and limitations of alcohol inks. Using a variety of mark-making tools, they practiced controlling the medium to create lovely backgrounds, landscape elements, and flowers using different techniques. Participants came away with finished paintings, works in progress, artist trading cards and a working knowledge of alcohol inks.
Saturday, April 22, 2023
Impressions: Scholarship Art Sale
UUSE Meetinghouse, Manchester, CT
Glimpses of MAA’s Fundraiser Gala
Judy Burnham, Sue Masse and Carolyn Emerson plan raffle ticket and painting sales for “Impressions.”
Kristen Dockendorf and her retriever service dog visit with MAA member Betty Gustafson and Betty’s neighbor and guest.
Wednesday, March 29, 2023
Color Theory Simplified
workshop with Sandra Wakeen
Sandra is a nationally and internationally renowned painter and teacher. Sandra focused on the fundamentals of color theory by exploring the different groups of color that make up the twelve segments of our basic color wheel. The goal was learning to use the color wheel simply and efficiently to control your painting.
The importance of the value scale was stressed.
Sandra identified the color family that made each painting harmonic using 60 percent of the dominant color, 30 percent secondary, and 10 percent for the accent.
The Poetry Project Reception
Friday, March 24, at 4:30 - 6 pm
Manchester Town Hall Gallery
41 Center Street, Manchester, CT
It was a wonderful evening! Wit and Wisdom poets offered readings of original poems that MAA artists have interpreted in various mediums. Participating poets and artists brought finger foods for the reception table.
Wednesday, March 22, 2023
Intro to Abstract Art
Polly Castor is a lifelong artist. This workshop was an intro to abstract art/one Day/any medium; The workshop answered the question: Do you want to understand the essential principles and components of strong meaningful abstract art? This class included PowerPoint lectures, several short exercises to be done by participants, and an empowering critique and discussion of student work.
Saturday, March 18, 2023
A Different Approach to Landscape
Watercolor workshop with Carolyn Emerson
A member of MAA for more than a decade, Carolyn is familiar to local watercolorists. Beautiful landscapes are the quintessential goal of watercolorists. They may also be the greatest challenge. Too often our efforts become overworked, the detail too distracting, the cohesiveness lost. A wet paper approach can remedy many of these problems and lead to far lovelier paintings.
Thursday, January 19, 2023
Member meeting: Lyn Asselta, pastels, via Zoom
Lyn kindly shared images of her demo painting. The first image is where we left it in the demo. The second image is the finished piece.
Thursday, December 15, 2022
At our Holiday Party in December, attendees generously donated food for Manchester's food pantry. Thank you Normand Charlette, for organizing this and delivering the food!
Normand wrote, "Not an ideal day for delivering the MAA food pantry donations to MACC but Chance was glad to assist. Kudos to the MAA membership for helping make the holidays more enjoyable for those less fortunate."
Watercolor Workshop with Bivenne Staiger
Wednesday, November 2, 2022, 10 am - 4 pm
Carolyn Emerson wrote: "Bivenne Staiger’s November workshop was a stellar success for all 18 of us. Bivenne seemed as pleased with her students as we were with her instruction. Each of us painted an owl at night, an excellent lesson in painting low light effects, applying intense background paint in an efficient manner, and the miracle of pulling a moon out of a very dark surface - watercolor magic all the way."
Photos, courtesy of Ronnie Klukas and Sue Masse.
Bivenne Staiger demo for Manchester Art Association.
Bivenne recommends 300 lb. paper, Windsor Newton paints and large brushes for washes.
Finished piece.
Bivenne Staiger demo for Manchester Art Association.
Member meeting October 20, 2022
Artist Bivenne Staiger demonstrated how to paint a chickadee in watercolor.
To see a slide show of images from the demo, move your cursor to the top right corner of image. A black play button will appear. Click on it.
shows Bivenne Staiger's new book
then judge, Bivenne Staiger shared her critique of each winning piece
Vermont Autumn, Normand Charlette
shows Bivenne Staiger's new book
18th Annual Members' Exhibit
Reception and Award Ceremony
South Windsor Public Library
October 9, 2022.
See the exhibit in the Friends Room at the Library.
The exhibit is from October 1 - October 31, 2022.
Pastel Workshop with Laura Kinlock
Saturday, September 17 & Saturday, September 24, 2022, 9 AM - 4 PM
Participants were nudged in their color and value choices. They learned to play adn let go a little and see what happened. The class was geared to intermediate students who had had some prior experience with pastels. Beginners were welcome also, with the understanding that they would not put unnecessary pressure upon themselves.
MAA booth at Art in the Park
Sunday, June 5, 10 – 4
Center Memorial Park
586 Main St., Manchester
Image: Austin's remarkable giant sketch of the hill at Center Memorial Park, which people of all ages stopped by to help fill in, adding their own touches as Austin, Mary, and Judy cheered them on. We are hoping to prevail upon Austin to repeat the interactive part our booth in the future with another scene from Manchester. It was a very popular draw.
Watercolor Workshop with Carolyn Emerson:
Simplify! Let the water do the work!
Friday - Saturday, February 18 - 19, 2022
Participants used the medium in two different ways, both resulting in beautiful effects. Carolyn Emerson has taught many watercolor workshops over the years, passing on different techniques.
Sue Masse said, "What a great workshop! We had a wonderful time and learned great "wet on wet" techniques. There were 17 students who left with a better understanding of the WATER in watercolor!!"
17th Annual Members' Art Exhibit
South Windsor Public Library
1550 Sullivan Ave
September 30 - October 29
This was MAA's annual juried show covering all mediums.
Reception: Sunday, October 17.
Desmond's Pond, watercolor by Janet Heller
Best in Show Left to Rust Watercolor
Oils and Acrylics, 3rd Orange Orchid Acrylic
One year old, Bianca. Photo taken by Kasey Quaglia
Best in Show Left to Rust Watercolor
17th Annual Members' Exhibit
Reception and Award Ceremony
South Windsor Public Library
October 17, 2021.
See the exhibit at the Library, or virtually.
Here are the demo pieces that Yuemei Zhang worked on during her ink and color brush art demonstration at our October meeting. Thank you for sharing these Yuemei!
Manchester Town Hall Gallery -- Etc. Exhibit
41 Center Street, Manchester, CT
July 8, 2021 through October 14, 2021
The gallery on the first floor of Manchester Town Hall is an ongoing exhibit that gets changed every three months. The Etc. Exhibit included works in glass, colored pencil, graphite, ink (and other drawing materials), cut paper, collage, fabric, jewelry, wood, sculpture, clay, etc.! The exhibit was viewable during regular business hours, or in our virtual gallery.
Cloud’s Illusions, alcohol ink by Sharon Quaglia
Dynamic Pastels Workshop with Janet Schwartz
September 24, 25, 2021
One obstacle that many of us experience when
starting a new work is getting caught up in the
details of our compositions. This two-day workshop was designed with a unique approach that encourages aspiring and experienced artists to simplify in those early stages. Focusing on value and composition, it was a fun and easy way to step into painting for the first time or refine your painting methods.
Plein Air Painting at the Woodbridge Farmstead
Sunday, September 12, noon to 2 pm
Plein air artists Chris Larson and Oren Paulin spent a beautiful summer afternoon painting at the open house for the Woodbridge Farmstead. The event was sponsored by the Manchester Historical Society. The Woodbridge Farmstead is a historic house at 495 Middle Turnpike East, near its intersection with Woodbridge Street. Built about 1835, it's a well-preserved example of a Greek Revival farmhouse, with a history of ownership by a single family extending over more than 150 years.
Here is the wonderful finished pastel that Janet Schwartz began during her demonstration at our September meeting. Thank you for sharing this Janet!