Life as an Artist- Jill Banks: Student Exhibit Makes the Cover of the Connection

Friday, January 13, 2012

Student Exhibit Makes the Cover of the Connection

Great Falls Connection, January 11, 2012 edition

I'm posting this on Friday ... but wrote it yesterday. Believe it or not ... I cooked a great dinner last night and totally forgot about hitting the button to publish. I hope that's not a sign of things to come.

So, from Thursday (Yesterday):

The Great Falls Connection celebrated last Saturday's Awards Reception of the Great Falls School of Art with a cover article written and photographed by reporter Alex McVeigh. Very cool! For a short time (one week), you can download a PDF version of this issue to read the full article and enjoy the nice view of this month's exhibit at the Artists' Atelier (the studio I share with 15 other artists at 1144 Walker Road, Suite G, Great Falls, VA). (Under print editions online, click on Great Falls to download the PDF)

There were over 50 entries for the exhibit which was juried for awards by award-winning Great Falls lithographer, Will Tuthill -- who took one-and-a-half hours to select the winning work. The cover of the Great Falls Connection shows Begoña Morton accepting her second place award in the adult category for her painting "Nautilus." I still need to take photos of each selected work ... but I've not been able to find the time yet. Funny. That keeps happening.

Next Monday and Tuesday, my Winter classes begin. I can tell it's going to be a wonderful term -- with returning star students and new stars to be. My classes are full but I do have a wait list for the Still Life class. Who knows, something might happen with that...
Take a look at the roster of classes and workshops at www.greatfallsfoundationforarts.org and download a Winter bulletin. There are January photography/photoshop workshops by Sarah and Jeff Burton and a "Honing Your Craft" painting workshop coming up taught by Armand Cabrera on February 3, 4 and 5.

Yesterday, I spent my last day painting "The Gin Game" on site in my parent's condo. I'll still be tweaking it in the studio ... but it's time for my easel to exit their kitchen. It was great fun to paint the two of them and hang out for so many days. They never want to stop playing ... which makes them awfully patient models.

You'll see the final results in the next week or so. At least, so I think.

On Exhibit:

"Dining Alfresco" Juried into the Art League January Show

On view at the Art League Gallery in the Torpedo Factory, 105 N. Union St., Alexandria, VA for the month of January. Take a look!

"Ostrich and Polka Dots," "Ramsey" and "Half Dozen Donuts" are on view in Great Falls Studios' January Virtual (online) Gallery Exhibit "Patterns"