2011 MSAA Art Showcase Entrants

View this month’s Artist of the Month

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Patricia Heller – Sturgeon Bay, WI

I spent almost thirty years hopefully inspiring students as a teacher and principal. MS halted this mission. I was unprepared to live another life – I had a short “Bucket List;” but it didn’t include limited walking, numb hands, spasms, and brain freezes.

A couple of years after I “retired” I went to a fifth grade art show that featured their beautiful watercolors. I never anticipated that these students would inspire me to take a watercolor class. I had NEVER taken an art class, not even in grade school.

I have been doing watercolors for a year. I love the unpredictability of the water. I see the world differently: I am inspired by the breathtaking change of seasons, by the patience of my teacher, and by the water that owns the paints. Watercolor painting is like MS; it is not easily controlled. If I tip the wet art to the side, the paint and water flow in a direction I may not have chosen-kind of like my walking. Sometimes I combine colors and get something quite unexpected, just like it is each morning I awaken. When the paint dries, it has a new life full of hope. I didn’t know how to handle my disease, but painting has inspired a new direction for expressing myself.

 

Fall Splendor


Island Farm


Snow Woods