Sally Swingewood and Susan Barton have received an art award by the Independent Artists Group.
Members of IAG - International Artist's Group who earned the Award for Outstanding Dedication and commitment to the group this year include; Susan Barton, ArenA, Andrew Douse, Lar Shackelford, Maeve and John Wright, Paul Bowring, and Sally Swingewood. The award is an annual honor and presented by Charlotte Thomson following a secret vote.
Look for the IAG banner denoting this high honor in the Artist's Listings, About Me pages, in blogs, on web sites, and where ever IAG artists are being seen!
Many thanks to our special Artists!
- Charlotte Thompson-
IAG - International Artists Group
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Monday, January 08, 2007
Susan Barton chats in an online article for the Independent Artist's Group blog.
As a child Susan Barton was an apparent artist when she got an easel and very large box of Crayola crayons for Christmas at the age of four. She says "It was all downhill from there", and laughs. Susan furthers, "My other siblings couldn't touch the crayons and they were color and hue coordinated. I could always tell when one of them was messing with my stuff. I have a lot of siblings! In kindergarten it mattered very much to me that the teacher acknowledge that I was an artist. Parent teacher conferences were an interesting event for my mother!"
Thus, Susan began to realize that she was a bit different, just being an artist. When asked if people outside the art community have difficulty understanding artists, she says, "Yes and no. How is that for a middle of the road answer? I think that people outside the art community don't understand the amount of time and scheduling effort that goes into producing art. We don't punch a time clock the way in which others conduct their work schedules", Susan explains.
Susan has been with the IAG - Independent Artists Group about a year and a half, "I had just come back from Paris and London with my family and I always go into a funk when I return home from the UK. I just love it there...especially London...the whole family does! So, to combat my homesickness, I joined IAG, not only to chat, but to network with working artists in the UK. It was the first art group that I have joined", she explains.
Obviously Susan made a good decision, as Susan's just been named one of the Artists of the Year with IAG for the second year in a row. She volunteers her efforts with IAG on an ongoing basis and is of great help as a curator to the online community. Susan is however, very particular about the art that she uses in her curation efforts, preferring to work with artists who are in a word kind to their fellow artists as well as talented.
Susan is very well liked amongst her peers, "ALL of the IAG'ers are very talented and knowledgeable about their craft! Just amazing talent can be found amongst the members".
"I quietly support and acknowledge all of them for their uniqueness and talent." She's very dependable with that quiet support, willing to lend a hand, looking over a partially finished piece and ready to suggest a color to highlight an artist's work when her experience is more vast and worldly but not willing to tout herself in that respect, Barton is helpful to her fellow artists behind the scenes and her artistic eye is immeasurable.
Barton's background is as diverse as her many talents, "I was born and raised outside of Detroit, Michigan and spent a lot of time out on Lake St. Clair. I love being on or near the water. Some of my fondest memories are of the call and responses of the freighters on the lake traveling up the channels. I started showing in juried art shows while I was in high school and produced a line of greeting cards that were sold locally in boutiques."
"I went to the University of Michigan, School of Art where I double majored in photography and graphic design. I moved to Chicago after university and worked as a free lance photographer for 20 years. Working strictly commercially for that length of time, left me yearning for my roots, and that is drawing and painting. So, I have been painting and showing for the last 5 years. I have so missed it!", she explains. Barton realized as far back as when she was fourteen that she wanted to sell her art, "When I was 14, I sold my first order of handmade greeting cards. I was shocked getting a check from it!"
When asked about a favorite art style and the mediums that Barton uses she says, "I have no favourite art style. My blog is appropriately titled, 'Art Escaping Confinement' because I have no set style or subject matter. I have had to listen to too many art directors in my many years of shooting! The sky's the limit in producing my art now", she says laughing. "I love oils, watercolour and pen and ink. I call them my Holy Trinity of usage. I always seem to go back to these media. I have a mish mosh of favourite master artists...Picabia, John Singer Sargent, Turner, Botticelli, all 3 generations of Wyeths, Whistler and Man Ray", Susan adds.
Barton's family accepts her Artistic talents, "It's just who I am to all of them. They're very supportive and VERY opinionated", she exclaims.
We asked Susan what she would do to change the world with art if it would help to ACTUALLY change it. She says, "Very hard question because I think that ego should come out of art and that changing the world with art can only mean creating art that takes away the horrors, suffering and emotional wants of the viewer. I think that art has taken such a negative turn in the past century with the angst of the artist and a certain shock factor as center stage. Art needs to come back to some sense of spirituality on canvas. I see a lot of art that is devoid of anything beautiful."
As for the future of children who glamorize the thought of being an artist, we wondered what would help them realize what they REALLY might be headed for, "I volunteer teach art history for children at a private school here in Chicago. I include an art lesson along with the art history portion of class. It is their ONLY art class and art instruction!"
"During that time, and with many classes taught, I have only had a handful of children tell me that they want to become an artist. They're very level headed about it and in most cases, it has been discouraged by their parents as being an unacceptable profession to be! So, I never discourage. I encourage any child that wishes to have art in their lives. A lot of them do not glamourize the profession, but rather are very matter of fact about the possibilities and pitfall the profession can hold for them. Ah, kids these days!", Susan adds.
Barton furthers, "My nickname has always been Maverick. I'm usually the rebel with the cause. Artists need not have to suffer to produce art. It's a fabrication of the art world...it's easier to write about someone's mal adjustments than write about someone's positive affects on society. Although, some of my better paintings have come from personal struggles rather than triumphs", says Barton. "I rarely like anything that I produce enough to hang it on my wall. I do have two nudes that I can't part with just yet. Ten years from now? Barton says, "I'll still be a Mom...still walking my dog...still painting and enjoying every minute of it."
Barton says of her process, "I'm constantly singing or humming while I paint. I understand that it can be very annoying. But, the music is usually blaring and can be anything from Wagner to the Sex Pistols. I'm really my best when I am stressed and my back is against the wall in my creative process", probably referring to getting down to an art deadline for shows we surmised. When does Barton function best in her creativity? "I am a total night person, but this has changed since becoming a mother. I can't function, as in talk let alone paint, before 10 AM", she explains. Noting it's only 9:30 AM, we hand her a another cup of coffee.
Barton's next showing, along with the IAG Group, is from at the View from the Top Gallery in Nottingham, England (4th Floor above Waterstones Bookstore) January 9th through January 22nd.
As a child Susan Barton was an apparent artist when she got an easel and very large box of Crayola crayons for Christmas at the age of four. She says "It was all downhill from there", and laughs. Susan furthers, "My other siblings couldn't touch the crayons and they were color and hue coordinated. I could always tell when one of them was messing with my stuff. I have a lot of siblings! In kindergarten it mattered very much to me that the teacher acknowledge that I was an artist. Parent teacher conferences were an interesting event for my mother!" Thus, Susan began to realize that she was a bit different, just being an artist. When asked if people outside the art community have difficulty understanding artists, she says, "Yes and no. How is that for a middle of the road answer? I think that people outside the art community don't understand the amount of time and scheduling effort that goes into producing art. We don't punch a time clock the way in which others conduct their work schedules", Susan explains.
Susan has been with the IAG - Independent Artists Group about a year and a half, "I had just come back from Paris and London with my family and I always go into a funk when I return home from the UK. I just love it there...especially London...the whole family does! So, to combat my homesickness, I joined IAG, not only to chat, but to network with working artists in the UK. It was the first art group that I have joined", she explains.
Obviously Susan made a good decision, as Susan's just been named one of the Artists of the Year with IAG for the second year in a row. She volunteers her efforts with IAG on an ongoing basis and is of great help as a curator to the online community. Susan is however, very particular about the art that she uses in her curation efforts, preferring to work with artists who are in a word kind to their fellow artists as well as talented.
Susan is very well liked amongst her peers, "ALL of the IAG'ers are very talented and knowledgeable about their craft! Just amazing talent can be found amongst the members".
"I quietly support and acknowledge all of them for their uniqueness and talent." She's very dependable with that quiet support, willing to lend a hand, looking over a partially finished piece and ready to suggest a color to highlight an artist's work when her experience is more vast and worldly but not willing to tout herself in that respect, Barton is helpful to her fellow artists behind the scenes and her artistic eye is immeasurable.
Barton's background is as diverse as her many talents, "I was born and raised outside of Detroit, Michigan and spent a lot of time out on Lake St. Clair. I love being on or near the water. Some of my fondest memories are of the call and responses of the freighters on the lake traveling up the channels. I started showing in juried art shows while I was in high school and produced a line of greeting cards that were sold locally in boutiques.""I went to the University of Michigan, School of Art where I double majored in photography and graphic design. I moved to Chicago after university and worked as a free lance photographer for 20 years. Working strictly commercially for that length of time, left me yearning for my roots, and that is drawing and painting. So, I have been painting and showing for the last 5 years. I have so missed it!", she explains. Barton realized as far back as when she was fourteen that she wanted to sell her art, "When I was 14, I sold my first order of handmade greeting cards. I was shocked getting a check from it!"
When asked about a favorite art style and the mediums that Barton uses she says, "I have no favourite art style. My blog is appropriately titled, 'Art Escaping Confinement' because I have no set style or subject matter. I have had to listen to too many art directors in my many years of shooting! The sky's the limit in producing my art now", she says laughing. "I love oils, watercolour and pen and ink. I call them my Holy Trinity of usage. I always seem to go back to these media. I have a mish mosh of favourite master artists...Picabia, John Singer Sargent, Turner, Botticelli, all 3 generations of Wyeths, Whistler and Man Ray", Susan adds.
Barton's family accepts her Artistic talents, "It's just who I am to all of them. They're very supportive and VERY opinionated", she exclaims.
We asked Susan what she would do to change the world with art if it would help to ACTUALLY change it. She says, "Very hard question because I think that ego should come out of art and that changing the world with art can only mean creating art that takes away the horrors, suffering and emotional wants of the viewer. I think that art has taken such a negative turn in the past century with the angst of the artist and a certain shock factor as center stage. Art needs to come back to some sense of spirituality on canvas. I see a lot of art that is devoid of anything beautiful."
As for the future of children who glamorize the thought of being an artist, we wondered what would help them realize what they REALLY might be headed for, "I volunteer teach art history for children at a private school here in Chicago. I include an art lesson along with the art history portion of class. It is their ONLY art class and art instruction!"
"During that time, and with many classes taught, I have only had a handful of children tell me that they want to become an artist. They're very level headed about it and in most cases, it has been discouraged by their parents as being an unacceptable profession to be! So, I never discourage. I encourage any child that wishes to have art in their lives. A lot of them do not glamourize the profession, but rather are very matter of fact about the possibilities and pitfall the profession can hold for them. Ah, kids these days!", Susan adds.
Barton furthers, "My nickname has always been Maverick. I'm usually the rebel with the cause. Artists need not have to suffer to produce art. It's a fabrication of the art world...it's easier to write about someone's mal adjustments than write about someone's positive affects on society. Although, some of my better paintings have come from personal struggles rather than triumphs", says Barton. "I rarely like anything that I produce enough to hang it on my wall. I do have two nudes that I can't part with just yet. Ten years from now? Barton says, "I'll still be a Mom...still walking my dog...still painting and enjoying every minute of it."Barton says of her process, "I'm constantly singing or humming while I paint. I understand that it can be very annoying. But, the music is usually blaring and can be anything from Wagner to the Sex Pistols. I'm really my best when I am stressed and my back is against the wall in my creative process", probably referring to getting down to an art deadline for shows we surmised. When does Barton function best in her creativity? "I am a total night person, but this has changed since becoming a mother. I can't function, as in talk let alone paint, before 10 AM", she explains. Noting it's only 9:30 AM, we hand her a another cup of coffee.
Barton's next showing, along with the IAG Group, is from at the View from the Top Gallery in Nottingham, England (4th Floor above Waterstones Bookstore) January 9th through January 22nd.
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