My latest work is an imaginative exploration of line, shape, color and texture while drawing to music that soothes psyche and soul. I often record the natural world around me through photography for future reference. As I walk and observe, I begin to see things differently looking for compositions from which I can abstract and draw. There is immense pleasure in seeing the interaction of elements that wrap around, intersect, blend, float, stand out, or disappear.  My inspiration is found in looking at the work of artists such as Gillian Ayers, William Baziotes, Paul Klee, Friedensreich Hundertwasser, and Jacqueline Barnett.

Mary Lynne taught art at Pleasantville High School in Westchester County for 21 years and 6 years previously at Villa Maria Academy in NYC. She is proficient in darkroom and digital photography, ceramics, sculpture, printmaking, drawing, painting, collage, and fiber arts. She holds a BS degree in Art Education and a Masters Degree in Studio Art both from the College of New Rochelle. She studied at the International Center of Photography in NYC, the Clay Art Center in Port Chester, NY, and currently at The Woodstock School of Art, NY. Her work is frequently exhibited and resides in numerous collections.

STATEMENT

I approach each drawing as a new choreography. Saturation of color amidst intricate lines and shapes are my media of transmission.  Juncture and intersection of line frequently inform me along with motion, division of space and observation of light.  I employ pencil, pastel, and ink on paper. I begin by drawing various marks that dance on the paper, which my imagination then uses to create contrasting textual designs. The subtraction or simplification by erasure affords me the continuation of layering my materials to develop a repertoire of complex movements. My goal is to enjoy this dance-of- art and share it with you.

BIO

As a former dancer, Diane Christi has transformed her creative expression from the physical realm of performance to visual art on paper. Her art career began shortly after taking classes at Woodstock School of Art with instructor Meredith Rosier, where Diane unleashed her abstract expression in 2012. She is a recipient of the school's scholarship program and continues to study there. Diane has exhibited at many galleries and in 2016 Diane was accepted by the National Association of Women Artists Organization. As Diane's love continues to grow in art, so does her artistic ability to create new works.

STATEMENT

The distinct world of abstract drawing is a special challenge. The thrill is to locate, discover, conjure up a realm in which each drawing thrives. Pencil marks, quick turns of phrase, exuberant shape, scratches, flux. I focus on rhythmicizing the picture surface, employing dashes, slashes, and exudations of charged color, color as an energy source. I will introduce nimble diagrams, organicals, and non-specific gizmos, fleshly made. The exuding color and tumbles and gizmos are key to reaching a rhythmic whole which is undulating, animated.

BIO

Scott Clugstone began studying art in Utica at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Museum. He holds a BA in Theatre from SUNY Geneseo and served as a graduate assistant for the I.U. Opera Theatre at Indiana University.  Scott studied Drawing at New York’s National Academy Museum and the New York Studio School, Book Arts and Printmaking at The Center for Book Arts, and Pastel and Watercolor at Cooper Union. Currently, Scott studies Abstraction with Meredith Rosier at The Woodstock School of Art. He exhibits in local and regional group shows. In 2016, Scott was selected for a solo exhibition to be held in November 2016 at The Woodstock Artists Association and Museum.

STATEMENT

My work concerns the passage and containment of information inside and outside of drawn margins. I investigate map like shapes and divisions imbued with collective history and complex differences. Surrounding the interior shapes and exterior shape is the distinctive use of line. Coarsely, well-defined or partially drawn lines measure distance and direction over elapsed time. The movement of lines separating open color fields defines edges and borders with natural limitations and formal restrictions. The arrangement of shapes coalesces to clarify the structure of the drawings while marks add vibrancy and variety to my abstracted subject matter.

BIO

With an undergraduate degree from Penn State, Frank D’Astolfo began a rewarding graphic design career. Later, he earned a graduate degree from University of Pittsburgh. While maintaining an award winning design practice, he exhibited art and taught part time in Pittsburgh. When he moved to NYC, accepted a teaching position at Tyler School of Art and established a design office, his art making stalled. Following Tyler, he started a design program at Rutgers University eventually becoming Professor Emeritus. During a sabbatical, he and his wife lived in Morocco where art making began again. He exhibits widely and lives in Woodstock, NY.

STATEMENT

My purpose is to abstract the soul essence from a word, a feeling, an object.  Personal meaning evolves which is translated through line, shape, color, or movement into a full expression. My hand and heart journey together across the page with navigational input from my head. Unlikely colors are juxtaposed to achieve interesting effects. Gestures react to one another bringing the composition to fruition. Many times I will add a texture to enhance the work. It is exciting to explore the qualities particular to pastels combining them with other materials to produce surprising results.

BIO

Renée S. Englander has been an artist for over four decades. She started as a painter of realistic subjects with much success. After seven years she found that she could not express herself fully and entered the world of abstract art where her love of color, pattern, and texture came together. She exhibits in juried shows and continues to have solo exhibitions. Her studies at the Art Students League in Manhattan and The Woodstock School of Art have had the most profound influence on her work.  A highlight of her career was to exhibit in the Biennale Internazionale Dell’Arte Contemporanea in Florence, Italy. 

STATEMENT

Marks and designs on paper, born of my thoughts, feelings, and experiences, engage me on a valuable interior journey. Studying abstraction is important to me and enhances my appreciation of the work of other artists. Currently, I find the concepts of tonality, color, shape, and interval increasingly fascinating.

BIO

Born in 1932, Doris spent many hours absorbed in drawing, painting, printing, jewelry making, and trying to make sense of the world around her. After college, she studied and worked in medicine. She joined a Sumi-e society and exhibited at The Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, took classes at The Art Students League, and showed her work in student exhibits. Upon retirement in 1992, she became a student at The Woodstock School of Art and joined The Woodstock Art Association and Museum where she remains an active member. She exhibits regularly in these and other local venues.

STATEMENT

My artistic journey has evolved from representational drawings in ink and graphite to non-objective drawings in pastel. I aim to communicate my feelings through the interaction of color and form. The tactile sense of hand to pastel allows me to form impressions of mood. In my current series, I started with a grid format, creating visual variety and balancing color, light, and texture and using a combination of intuition and intention. I find it liberating to start a drawing with no predetermined outcome, inventing forms not yet imagined as I strive to develop drawings that express my emotions and sensibilities.

BIO

With a background in drawing, painting, and graphic design, Michael Hopkins' current passion is abstract drawing in pastel. He has studied Drawing at Parsons, the Art Students League, and the School of Visual Arts. In 2006, he began classes in Landscape Drawing and Painting and, in 2010, he began Abstract Pastel Drawing with Instructor Meredith Rosier and the Drawing Galaxy at The Woodstock School of Art. With his electrifying sense of color, Hopkins' work has been exhibited in numerous galleries including Wired Gallery, Stone Ridge, NY, The Rep Gallery in Albany, NY and The Woodstock Artists Association and Museum, NY.

STATEMENT

I joined the Drawing Galaxy in 2009 and continue to appreciate the challenges that it offers. My work goes off in directions I would not have considered on my own. Looking back over seven years of drawings, I am stunned by the range of expression I have explored. My techniques have evolved but my goal remains steady: to create images that please me to contemplate.

BIO

Born in Pittsburgh in 1942, John was surrounded by art from infancy as his mother was a professional Portrait Painter and Art Teacher. A lifelong photographer, he studied painting, drawing, and printmaking since moving to Woodstock in 1982. At The Woodstock School of Art, instructors Robert Angeloch and Meredith Rosier have been most influential. John has long served on the Board of Directors of the WSA and served several terms as Chairman of The Woodstock Artists Association and Museum. John was a Psychology Professor for 12 years (Rutgers, Manhattanville College) and a Researcher and Product Designer at Woodstock Percussion Inc., for 20 years.

STATEMENT

I wonder what it means to make art at a time when it seems we humans are not up to maintaining the health of our beautiful planet and its creatures. What I know is that for me, making art is like being a Therapist, and is like living life. Everything has a way of falling apart and then gathering together, making form out of the unformulated, continually layering and digging beneath the layers. The complexities of abstraction, color, line, and texture are the tools I employ in my passionate reach for exploration of the not yet imagined.

BIO

Jennifer Leighton's creative life as a Psychotherapist is closely related to her artistic endeavors. Deeply engaging with another person is a new experience every time just like a new canvas. Originally a self-taught artist, Jennifer began drawing in 1979 and completed several commissions. In 2002, she began working with Lynn Preston, an Abstract Painter. Acrylic paint, medium, and collage on large surfaces grew wild and colorful. In 2009, with Meredith Rosier at the Woodstock School of Art, she rediscovered her first love: drawing. This time color, abstraction, pastel, ink, and pencil speak to both the love of drawing and painting.

STATEMENT

Kandinsky states, “Color is a power which directly influences the soul.” I concur as color elicits an emotional response in me. From electric fluorescent pop colors to subdued earth colors to tonal expanses, I note my perception transmits different moods according to color variation. Abstraction in drawing allows me to interlace color, form, line, and pattern. It is a mysterious language in tune with exemplifying the qualities of color and light. I appreciate combining watercolor, pastel, and pencil on paper to regard color and light in its variety of reflective, absorbed, diffuse, or opaque faculties.

BIO

Mary Licause began her artistic inquiry in her 20’s alongside an artist friend. She studied botanical drawing in New York City at the Botanical Gardens. Her interest in watercolor developed further and with it her encounters with color as idea and emotion became woven together. Her studies continue with Meredith Rosier and Staats Fasholdt at The Woodstock School of Art, N.Y. She frequently exhibits her work and has recently shown at Wired Gallery, Stone Ridge, N.Y., Jacaruso Gallery in Rhinebeck, N.Y., The Rep Gallery in Albany, N.Y., The Doghouse Gallery, Saugerties, N.Y. and The Woodstock Artists Association and Museum, N.Y.

STATEMENT

My work is all about line, color, and form, from snarly mark making to definition of solid shapes, often overlapping and transparent, and the influence they have on the space around them. They are my tools for exploration of air, density, and depth, and means for expressing the tangible and the intangible, feeling and raw energy. My explorations go from pencil to pastels to ink, using various papers and treatments, combining color and line toward the goal of expressive abstract composition. 

BIO

Harriet was born in Texas, and lives and works in Kingston, NY. She received her MA in Painting and Printmaking from Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, studied at The Art Students League, NYC, and The Woodstock School of Art. Harriet was juried into membership of The National Association of Women Artists. She has had solo and group shows in Greece, Texas, and New York, and has several works included in the collection of the U.S. Embassy in Athens, Greece. In 2014, Harriet was awarded a solo show at The Woodstock Artists Association and Museum. She received the Sally Jacobs/Phoebe Towbin Award for Outstanding Artist of 2013, and NAWA Works on Paper Award for 2015. Visit www.harrietlivathinos.com for further information. 

STATEMENT

I am very happy spending hours peering into worlds revealed by my microscope. I am even happier peering at a piece of paper wondering what worlds will be revealed by pencils, inks, and pastels. I enjoy watching one color or line open a path to an unexpected universe. I like the challenge, and it is a challenge, of letting that happen. I find it illuminating to try mark gestures using my body which seem to enrich the marks through the physical act of drawing. I am most attracted to organic shapes and am especially interested in color-its emotional content, the chafing or cuddling of one color against another, the implication of movement through, around, behind, forms and space itself.

BIO

Maeve Maurer always enjoyed art and attended the High School of Music and Art in NYC. College, however, reawakened an equally strong interest in biology and she eventually earned, after a few side explorations, a MS. Teaching, motherhood, and travel left art dangling until retirement. After obtaining a certificate in Scientific Illustration, she participated in shows at the New York State Museum, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and other galleries. To deepen her artistic understanding, Mauve began an exploration of abstraction at The Woodstock School of Art. Her more recent work,  mainly in pastel, has been exhibited in shows at Murrof-Kotler Gallery of UCCC, Woodstock Artists Association and local galleries.

STATEMENT

Dancing hands rhythmically apply color, line, and texture to paper across and down in grid-like structures. These elemental shapes, the square and the rectangle, are challenged to assert themselves, or retreat, explode with color, hide in corners, reside on petite papers, or spread out on larger formats. More recent drawings have invited in ambiguous shapes, dispersed textures, collage and decollage.

BIO

After a career as one of the first female Art Directors in American advertising, Linda Miller was able to create art of her own purpose and vision.  As an art student, she studied Oil Painting with Philip Pearlstein, Esteban Vicente, and Ad Reinhardt. In recent years, Linda has concentrated on abstract drawing with virtually pure pigments: intensely colored, soft, and metallic pastels introduced to her by the Artist/Teacher Meredith Rosier. Exhibitions include: The Doghouse Gallery, Saugerties, NY; Atlantic Gallery, NYC; The Wired Gallery, Stone Ridge, NY; The Woodstock Artist Association/Museum (Doris Lee/Elfriede Borkmann Award, Best in Show)

STATEMENT

With space and rhythm as a starting place, I then investigate expansion, contraction, the finite, and the infinite. I discover a rhythm while I work, as color and shape, light and dark balance to create movement or stillness. Rather than describe a place or location, I try to convey a sensation of space. What it feels like to be in space or to be in a place or a body moving among spaces large and small. I choose paper for its texture and color depending on the effects I want to convey with pastel, pencil, erasers, ink, and paint in my drawings.

BIO

I grew up in New York City and studied Drawing at the San Francisco Art Institute. I hold a BA from Bennington College with a major in Painting and Dance. Since moving to the Hudson Valley, I have continued my studies in dance and abstract drawing.  I am a gardener, a hiker, and a practitioner of Buddhist meditation. I have shown my work locally at KMOCA in Kingston, New York as well as The Woodstock Artists Association and Museum, the Doghouse Gallery, BSP Gallery, Woodstock School of Art and other venues in the area.

Artist’s Statement
If I have a purpose in making art it’s to go beyond words into the deep belly of creativity. It is to meet myself in the wellspring and have a conversation with the viewer, to communicate in a deep and intimate way at first sight, in an instant. Truly my purpose is no purpose: only to be in harmony with each line, each splash of color and splatter of ink as it strikes the painting surface, to reveal what is already there. My life is my greatest work of art and the small canvases I draw on are part of my vocabulary.

Bio
Nancy O’Hara’s largest canvas and her finest artistic expression – her own life – continue to be a work in progress. Moving to the Hudson Valley from New York City in 2015 has added a thrilling new dimension to her artistic adventure: a playground filled with beauty and the opportunity to express with pencils, ink, pastels, crayons and paint on various surfaces what cannot be expressed with words. Nancy is a meditation teacher, a life-coach, and the author of six non-fiction books and two mystery novels

STATEMENT

Drawing is an exploratory, meditative process of “tapping in” and dialogue with the emerging image. The physicality of this process extends to the manner in which marks made with pastel, graphite, and charcoal co-habitate surfaces that are scratched, cut, perforated, incised, and stitched using tools and abrasives. Ensuing errors, chance effects, revisions, and pentimenti are key to the journey and completion of each work. While abstraction refers to a product without reference to the material world, it can also describe a state of mind wherein one is deep in thought, or pleasurably preoccupied. My drawings are an embodiment of both interpretations.  See 2017 review at http://www.spotlightnews.com/thespot/2017/06/28/art-review-artist-invites-people-of-the-digital-world-to-slow-down-and-look-deeply/

BIO

Artist Joan Oliver currently maintains a studio in Glenmont, NY while juggling a multi-faceted career. She regularly studies at Woodstock School of Art, New York and in Massachusetts at Provincetown Art Association and Truro Arts Center. Since 2000, she has participated in over 25 group and regional/national juried exhibitions. Most recently, Joan has undertaken solo residencies at Provincetown’s historic C-Scape Dune Shack; Polli Talu Arts Center, Estonia, and Platte Cove Catskill Artist Center – all contributing a collective reference for a body of work that includes drawing, painting, encaustic, collage, assemblage, textiles, ceramics and photography.  A member of the National Association of Women Artist since June 2017, see interview at http://www.thenawa.org/joan-oliver/

STATEMENT

I like to create dream-inspired worlds which draw the viewer in. I create them primarily by manipulating color, augmented by small marks, to produce a visually ambiguous space. My hope is that the viewer will experience a sense of mystery and surprise.

BIO

Carol Pepper-Cooper holds a MFA from Pratt Institute. In 1971, she established an art program for St. Ann’s Lower School in Brooklyn. She relocated to the Hudson Valley in 1974 and began exhibiting regularly. In 2004, Carol was commissioned to design three seven-foot stained glass windows that were installed in Kingston’s Temple Emanuel. Her work received the 2014 Distinguished Artist Award from the Arts Society of Kingston and the 2015 Sally Jacobs/Phoebe Towbin Award from the Woodstock Artists Association and Museum. Her work is in private homes on the east and west coasts and in the permanent collections of the University of Illinois, Pratt Institute, and Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Carol Pepper-Cooper is a member of the N.A.W.A.

From my very earliest years I loved art - color, pattern, and imagery. I was always drawing. In grade school I looked forward to art class where we could illustrate ideas that our teacher gave us every week, using pastel and colored pencil.  Later on I took art lessons, learning how to paint in oils, pastels, and watercolors. I also loved fashion - experimenting with fabric and texture. I realized a childhood .dream of going to the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI, and majored in Apparel Design.

I went on to a career in the garment industry in New York City - designing women's dresses, from day to evening wear, at every price point.. The computer age came into the fashion industry and I jumped on all of the opportunities that it afforded, utilizing graphic and image applications, web design, and even learning to write code.

In tandem with my fashion career, I do watercolor landscapes and portraits of people, pets, and houses. Most recently I started painting and drawing abstract art, studying under Meredith Rosier at the Woodstock School of Art.

As an artist and designer what most informs my work is the concept of taking something flat and making it into something round. With clothing I sculpt fabric into three-dimensional shapes that conform to the body. With drawing and painting I try to create a three-dimensional space on a flat surface with the use of tonality, proximity, scale, balance, contrast, and juxtaposition. My love of color is a continual inspiration for creating various moods, whether vibrant or subtle, always seeking to make the flat surface achieve depth. My goal is to bring beauty and thoughtfulness to the world.

Bio

Monique received a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in Apparel Design and an MFA in Web Design New Media from the Academy of Art University. In tandem with her design career she also works as an artist, creatinglandscapes, and portraits of people, animals, and homes in watercolor. Most recently Monique has studied under Meredith Rosier at the Woodstock School of Art, expanding her repertoire to include abstract drawing and painting in mixed media. Her work hangs in many homes and was featured in a solo exhibition at the Manor Club, Pelham Manor, NY and at Art Effects Gallery in Pelham, NY.

STATEMENT

I investigate the visual effects of motion on form due to my overt fascination with movement. Utilizing divergent scale shifts from up close to vast distance, I attempt to capture the essence of a certain movement in a stop motion act of drawing. Words such as Hover or Budge enact a drama of passage in my hands. The drawings become events in themselves with links to spatial phenomena where identity is amorphous. Deliberately working within a restrained palette, I aim for an intimation of phosphorescence from my pigments and a dialogue between the indeterminate and the exactitude of my forms.

BIO

Meredith Rosier studied drawing at Yale University and earned an MFA from The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Her encounters with drawing have seen her work collected by museums nationally and internationally. In 2016, her work won The Genius Award from the National Association of Women Artists. She teaches Abstraction and Drawing, Large Scale Abstract Drawing, Abstract Comics and Transparency at The Woodstock School of Art, NY. To further her championship of abstract drawing, Rosier founded The Drawing Galaxy in 2009. Comprised of over 40 artists, this endeavor is dedicated to those who delve into abstraction as a primary language.

STATEMENT

I am interested, as an Artist, and Psychotherapist, in the play of feelings and personality as well as ineffable states of awareness and consciousness as manifested in the body and in movement. For many years, I explored this in representational and semi-realistic ways. More recently, I have turned to abstraction as a way to express states and concepts not easily put into words or representations through form and color. The sense of wonder and surprise that accompanies this exploration is a source of inspiration.

BIO

Naomi Schechter has explored the practice of visual art for the last 30 years along with maintaining a practice as a Psychologist and Teacher. She has studied at the Woodstock School of Art, the Women’s Studio Workshop, and the Art Students League as well as privately with Jane Shoenfeld and Jan Harrison. She has solo shows in New York City and Kingston, New York. Her work is shown nationally in both solo and group exhibitions. Currently, her work is exhibited in Woodstock, New York.

STATEMENT

My intention is to explore texture, color, and layering on a surface of sanded paper. I start by applying a texture such as cold wax or other surface materials. I enhance areas with more color and texture.  Then questions occur. “What do I wish to dominate? What needs to recede? Should I disperse some color so that the image spreads gently away?” The movement, forms, and textures interact and my direction becomes clarified. This process continues with additions and incisions until I have a multitude of levels allowing light to emerge and give the drawing a life of its own.

BIO

Nanette Shapiro was awarded membership to the National Association of Women Artists, The Woodstock Artist’s Association and Museum, The Art Center of the Capital District, and The Albany Center Gallery. Her work has been shown in numerous galleries in New York City, Albany, NY, Reading, PA, and Woodstock, NY, and garnered awards. Recently, her work was selected for the Fence Show Select, The New York State Museum Exhibition, and The New York State University Exhibition. Nanette has been part of the Drawing Galaxy since it’s inception and is thankful for Meredith’s continual guidance and support in developing her artistic voice.

Statement

Since retiring from a gratifying career in manufacturing and design, I have had the privilege to explore my personal love of art. It has been a beautiful journey into realistic expressionism and self-discovery. When I joined the Drawing Galaxy, I found new freedom and spontaneity through abstraction. I now perceive marks in a new way—mood, mystery, amusement, the unknown. I wander through my love of color with no particular destination where even the beauty of struggle becomes a dance to me. The excitement and joy that I discover through this process, continues to surprise and energize my work.

Bio

Susan received her degree in Fine Arts & Arts Education from University of Miami and studied at the Arts Students League, The Edan Center and the Woodstock School of Art. Solo exhibitions in the Hudson Valley include Rhinebeck Bank, Dog House Gallery, Duck Pond Gallery, and Taste Budds Café. Her work has also appeared in group exhibitions at Angeloch Gallery, Art Society of Kingston, Red Hook Community Arts Network, Dog House Gallery, Wired Gallery, the Morton Memorial Library among others. In 2016, she received an honorable mention at Woodstock Artist Association and Museum. She currently reside in the Hudson Valley.

STATEMENT

Abstract drawing is an endless adventure of invention and discovery. I engage line, mark, shape, space, and color to convene on paper. They fraternize and present me with surprise, whimsy, and delight. An assembly of marks triggers my imagination with robust encouragement. I am captivated by the rhythm of color. I endeavor to ascertain its capabilities for transparency, saturation, volume and with it, light, shadow, and contrast. I use all manner of materials including watercolor, markers, crayons, pastels, ink, and colored pencil. I merge multiple colors to inspire movement as they grant me a rousing and infinite voyage in abstraction.

BIO

Edward Welch has been exploring artistic expression since his childhood years in the United States. As an adult, Edward had an opportunity to live, work, and study in Mexico and Brazil. Their people and cultures continue to provide inspiration for his artistic explorations. Edward has studied with artists on the East, West Coasts, and South of the United States, Mexico, and Brazil. His paintings, drawings, and sculptures have been exhibited in both group and solo shows in the United States and Latin America. Recently, his work has been exhibited in Albany, NY with a solo show forthcoming in Woodstock, NY.

STATEMENT

Years ago, I began studying at the Woodstock School of Art. Looking for a right-brained activity, I desired a novel challenge; something that I thought would be difficult to master. I chose watercolor. Eventually, as I became more adept, I became highly motivated to contribute to, and to participate in the beauty of God’s world with paint. Last year, I liberated myself to the flow and chose to explore Abstraction. I observe a phenomenal world of sublime color, form, and raw light energy with the wonder and enthusiasm of an awakening infant. Abstraction is, for me, a remembering of primal beauty.

BIO

In addition to her dedication to Abstraction and Drawing, Peggy Wright is a practicing Psychoanalyst. She is an active member of the Woodstock Art Association and Museum and the National Association of Women Artists. She studied Theater Arts at Boston University and at the Actors Studio in New York. She was awarded degrees in Philosophy and Comparative Religion from Hunter College. After moving to Woodstock, she and her husband operated a country inn for twenty-five years. They then opened and currently operate The Dog House Gallery in Saugerties, NY, which serves to showcase local artists and their contemporary work.