Greetings from Reno, Nevada, the “biggest little city in the world!” As I type, a group of us from F+W are at The International Art Materials Trade Association Convention and Trade Show to get the scoop on the latest and greatest art products. My purpose for The Pastel Journal, of course, is to deliver that info to you via the magazine, so be on the lookout for buzzed-about new materials in the future.

Speaking of buzz, the unofficial theme of this year’s show seems to be green efforts in the art materials industry. We’ve seen the debut of all types of eco-friendly products, from aerosol paints and portfolios to brush cleaner and entire art studios. As soon as technology decides to cooperate, I’ll post some photos from the show room floor.

Oh, and no joke—how surprised I was to discover a landscape by Mary Silverwood hanging by the elevators on my floor at the Grand Sierra Resort! It's a small art world after all.


*update (5/5/08): a few photos

Check it out: On view at the Legion of Honor, Women Impressionists: Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt, Eva Gonzalès, Marie Bracquemond, a groundbreaking (and very exciting) exhibition, featuring a number of stunning works in pastel. From the press release:

At the time Impressionism was born, female artists were starting to come to the forefront of the art world. Women Impressionists breaks new ground by looking at the work and contributions of four female Impressionists, shown together for the first time in the United States. Many of the works deal with images of women—women at home, women with family, and women at leisure—in addition to other themes typical of Impressionism. June 21, 2008 — September 21, 2008.

Mary Cassatt, Young Lady in a Loge Gazing to the Right, 1880. Pastel and gouache. Ann and Gordon Getty.

Is it that time of year again?

The Southeastern Pastel Society will host its 2008 International Juried Exhibition, June 12-August 10, 2008, at Oglethorpe University Museum of Art, in Atlanta, Georgia. This year's show will be juried by Bill Hosner, who will also teach a workshop. For more information, visit the society's website.

Incidentally, Hosner was our cover artist for the February 2008 issue. Pick up the back issue to read about the challenges of painting the figure en plein air, if you're not a subscriber.

If you'd like to see your society's news on our blog, send us an e-mail.

If your plans find you in New Mexico next weekend, here’s something you might want to see: On March 29 (1-5 p.m. in Los Alamos, New Mexico), Karen West and Santa Fe artist Ke’vin Bowers will unveil Bowers’ newest work, A Slice of Monet—the largest pastel Bowers has created—which was commissioned by West. Here’s the story on its origins, according to the two:

“Ke’vin met Karen in October of 2007 at an Arts and Crafts fair in Los Alamos, where they began talking about his creating a work of art that would fill her 14 ft high wall. Her love of Monet’s water lilies was the beginning of a conversation that led to the commission. Karen had been admiring Ke’vin’s water lily series that Ke’vin had been working on.

“After several months of work, going up and down the scaffolding, A Slice of Monet was finally completed. For protection, it was covered with a piece of Plexiglas measuring 126x54 inches. It took three people to install the piece on the wall of Karen’s home; they stood back and gazed with great satisfaction: It definitely fills the wall and room making a dramatic statement.  

“Ke’vin video taped the time spent working on A Slice of Monet and plans to make a DVD showing the whole artistic process.”

Check out more of his process on his website.

Before inclement weather forces us to flee TPJ headquarters, we’re taking a moment to celebrate National Women’s History Month—particularly appropriate, considering our all-female staff.

The National Women’s History Project (NWHP) is the organization responsible for the observance of National Women’s History Month each March. NWHP chose “Women’s Art: Women’s Vision” as the theme for this year’s month-long celebration, and selected the following artists as the 2008 honorees: Judy Chicago; Harmony Hammond; Edna Hibel; Lihua Lei; Cecilia Rose O’Neill; Violet Oakley; Jaune Quick-to-See-Smith; Faith Ringgold; Miriam Shapiro; Lorna Simpson; Nancy Spero; and June Claire Wayne. Go to the NWHP site for details on events throughout the month—and to celebrate women in history all year long.

Speaking of Judy Chicago, her multimedia project, The Dinner Party, is now permanently on display at the Brooklyn Museum as part of its Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, so the next time you’re in New York, check it out. We got a look at a few works from the Brooklyn Museum Wednesday here in Cincinnati at the Taft Museum of Art; “From Winslow Homer to Edward Hopper: American Watercolor Masterpieces from the Brooklyn Museum” recently opened, and we weren’t about to miss it!

The exhibition features 70 watercolors from the Brooklyn Museum’s fantastic collection, chronicling the rise of the medium in America, and shifts in technique over the years. Anne even spotted some pastels in one of the earlier landscapes—Samuel Colman’s Late November in a Santa Barbara Cañon, California (about 1886-88). It’s truly a gorgeous show, on display through May 11.

PaintAmerica, a national, non-profit organization to support artists and promote the visual arts, has announced the winners of the 2007 PaintAmerica Top100 National Artists’ Competition. We're pleased to announce that a pastel painting took one of the top prizes: Ray Hassard's Bump (pictured here) took the Director’s Choice Award (Mini).

The competition for all painting media was judged by a panel of nationally recognized artists including Paul Jackson and Sallie K. Smith. Winning paintings were chosen from hundreds of entries submitted nationwide. It looks like PaintAmerica hasn't updated its website yet, but you should be able to see images of the winners and find out when you can see them in person (the winning paintings go on tour) very soon here.