Visual Art League of Lewisville

March 3, 2004

11:04 pm

The Visual Art League has changed over the years from meeting in a small room at the Chamber and having shows on the sidewalk to the fine facility we have now, and to having monthly speakers such as Tracy Hicks, Helen Altman, Houston artists, Robyn O’Neil and Bill Davenport who exhibit in influential galleries and museums nationwide; to having rotating shows each month and an invitational exhibit by Ken Dixon of Lubbock. And currently at the Art Center we have two separate exhibits going, Surfaces & Textures by Lorraine Hayes and a rotating show of members work. Johnny Robertson who has made presentations at the Modern and the DMA was our February speaker. We have art critiques every 4th Saturday of the month and beginning in March is the LISD exhibits.

These things have been accomplished with the support of the City, the Greater Lewisville Arts Council, our fellow artisans, our donors, and especially of our members and the volunteer work that they do. We appreciate the opportunity the Greater Lewisville Arts Council gives us each year to recognize one of our outstanding volunteers as our angel. It is wonderful to have an angel who has a strong love of art, is easy to work with, is a consistent contributor, and persistent in helping us reach our goals. The volunteer that received our Angel Award at the Angel Awards Ceremony was Rodney Rogers.

Rodney, not being an artist himself, came to us out of his love of art. His first encounter with us was as a visitor to one our shows. Before long he was on our Board and became our Treasurer. Not quite satisfied with that contribution, he began booking our monthly speakers. He brought a list of significant artists as our speakers, who had much to offer to both artists and collectors. Rodney became President in October 2001and has filled in as “acting” president when needed. Currently he is scheduling new exhibits into the year 2005. And in between all this, he helps paint the gallery and take out the trash. During our association with Rodney, he has brought leadership to the organization, brought in donations, and kept us on our path, frequently reminding us of our mission statement. Congratulate Rodney on this honor.

R’lene has made contact with the office at Vista Ridge Mall and has made arrangements for VAL to set up paintings on easels and hand out flyers about VAL during one weekend.

This is a great opportunity to publicize the Art League and to have our paintings seen by a large amount of people. If you are interested please contact R’lene at 972-874-3919 or e mail at edwwin@msn.com so that the number of people and a time can be set up.

We have to give the Mall two or three weekend dates to choose from. Mary Ellen has offered to loan us her easels for this event.

Brandi and Elaine recently provided Visual Art League images and text for the Verizon Inside Look Community Magazine. Inside Look appears in the front of the Verizon SuperPages for our area and its content is directed to both locals and tourists. VAL is included in the Must-See Attractions section of the North Dallas suburbs magazine which includes attractions, the arts, sports and are intended to help promote our area. This is a service provided free of charge by Verizon.

The Journey from Realism to Distortion to Abstract. Judy Riffel will be the guest speaker at the Visual Art League on March 2. Judy graduated with a BS in Art Education in 1970 from Fort Hays Kansas State University with graduate hours from Kansas State, Univ. of Kentucky and the University of South Florida. Added to that she has taken 11 different 1-week classes on A.P. Art from different Universities. She has taught Art in 5 states – Kansas, Calif., Florida, Kentucky, and Texas, from K thru 12th grade over 30 years of teaching. Additionally, she has taught private lessons for 20 years. She was a commercial artist in Tampa, Florida for 4 years and has experience in painting murals (residential and commercial), pen and ink drawings of houses for real estate agents, paintings for Hotel Lobbies, interior decorators, furniture stores, and individuals, building many theme floats, and decorated proms with $60,000 budgets.

In Judy’s presentation, she will give hints on proportion problems in realism and show ways to distort using elements such as cube, elongate, melt, wavy or curly, animate to inanimate, and other techniques. An example is to start with a shape page, picking no more than 3 kinds of shapes per design for unity, using different sizes for variety, and balancing formal, informal or radial. She will be presenting slides and artwork of high school students work in these areas.

Judy is now Head of the Art Department at Lewisville High School and teaches Art 1, Art 2 Drawing, Art 2 Painting, Art 4 Drawing, A.P. Drawing Portfolio, and A.P. 2D Portfolio. Judy will be retiring this year and plans on teaching private lessons to senior citizens at Robeson Ranch

The Visual Art League of Lewisville is dedicated to providing quality visual art for the community by creating educational art activities, special events, and opportunities for artists to exhibit work. Today, VAL is in the mist of continual development and many times extends itself into uncharted waters. Like a painting, it is a real struggle until you get the results you want. This environment invites the opportunity for imperfection. While we all strive for perfection, inadequate areas may arise. As these come to light, lets all help each other to overcome these struggles and give support to one another. Where there is a need, consider pitching in with ideas or time to make things work better. There is much potential in the Visual Art League of Lewisville.