Saskatchewan Landscape Painters and the Emma Lake Artists' Workshops

I just want to pour that out on the canvas:  My love for the landscape, my love for the trees and sky.”  --Dorothy Knowles

Painting is mostly a solitary activity but sometimes an artist group can give the painter encouragement and inspiration that furthers her/his work.  The Marchutz School community has provided that for me at times.  I’m also inspired by other similar groups.  One such artist community grew out of the Emma Lake Artists’ Workshops in Saskatchewan, Canada, which were held each summer from 1936 to 2012.  Despite its remote location, the workshop attracted a number of prominent international artists and art critics, including Clement Greenberg.

Some students from the Workshops went on to become abstract painters, but over the years a number of impressive artists have devoted themselves to rendering the prairies, river valleys, and lakes of Saskatchewan.  This group of painters includes Reta Cowley, Dorothy Knowles, Clint Hunker, Catherine Perehudoff, and Agnes Ruest.  Over the years, through several generations, these individuals supported each other and dedicated themselves to rendering what some would describe as the homely landscape of the Canadian prairies.  Cowley admitted the she “hated it [the prairie] at times…There seemed nothing three dimensional to work with.”  But, like many of her fellow landscape painters, she grew to love this difficult landscape.  She observed that it “may be a little hard to paint the prairies, but you have to work with what there is.  The light on the prairies is wonderful—and the cleanness here, too, has an impressive effect on the light.”

I not only appreciate the dedication of these painters to a specific place, but also their strong tradition of watercolor painting, either as a primary medium or as a tool for on-site sketching.  You can find more paintings by these artists at http://www.artplacement.com/gallery/artists.php and https://collections.remaimodern.org/collections, among other websites.  For more information about the Emma Lake Workshops: https://alumni.usask.ca/news/2022/summers-at-emma-sask.-artists-reflect-on-legacy-of-emma-lake-workshops-part-1.php

The work of these artists varies in quality, but they’ve all done some wonderful paintings.  Here’s a sample: 

Chao Shao-an

Poised for the Pounce

The spring bird migration makes me think of the work of the Chinese artist Chao Shao-an (1905-1998).  Chao did a number of beautiful studies of birds as well as insects that are remarkable in their spontaneity and brevity of brushstroke.  Although Chinese painting has a long tradition of depicting intimate studies of nature--such as birds, bamboo stalks, and flowers—Chao did a series of works that are unusually inventive in their composition and energy.  It almost looks like he’s thrown ink across the paper.  But despite the chaotic looseness and abstractness of his brushstroke, Chao paints with extraordinary control; he perfectly balances the elements of his painting against the white space of the background.  He once observed, “Be it the sturdy bamboo, the tender willow, the rambling vine or the splendorous flower, all can be expressed through the stroke of a single brush.” More of his work can be seen at San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum, https://searchcollection.asianart.org/search/Chao%20Shao-an

Emily Nelligan

Sometimes I wonder if--just maybe--everything that can be accomplished with landscape painting has already been done.  And then I come across someone whose work surprises and astonishes me.  That was the way I felt when I first saw Emily Nelligan’s charcoal studies of Cranberry Island, Maine.  Transcendant and ethereal, her drawings are a remarkable tribute to a place.

 Early in her artistic life, Nelligan switched from painting to working in charcoal because it was much less expensive.  But she uses charcoal like a painter.  Her subtle range of grays and painterly shadings create a beautifully atmospheric world of forest and shoreline, sea and sky.  Her images are stripped of detail or human presence, and what remains is an almost abstract interplay of dark and light.  Despite their small size (7” x 10”), these works seem to me to have an undeniable power and elemental quality that’s unique.

 Nelligan was born in 1924 and studied at Coopers Union in the 1940s where she met her husband, art teacher and illustrator Marvin Bileck.  They lived a quiet, modest life in Connecticut and spent their summers on Cranberry Island.  I admire not only Nelligan’s drawings but also her steadfast dedication to rendering the beauty of particular place, despite the fact that she received little recognition for her work until she was in her late seventies.

 More information and images can be found at https://www.alexandregallery.com/artists-work/emily-nelligan

Jon Schueler

The moody, gray skies of winter remind me of the work of American painter, Jon Schueler (1916-1992).  A student of Clyfford Still and Richard Diebenkorn, Schueler painted large-scale, abstract works. One of the reasons I appreciate Schueler’s work is his love of the sky.  His interest in the ever-changing moods of clouds was first sparked when he served as a flight navigator during WWII. Later, in 1957, he visited Mallaig, Scotland, and was so inspired by the dramatic weather over the Sound of Sleat, he returned again and again. The Mallaig landscape became the source of much of his work. As he wrote in a letter:

“…in many ways the sky became nature to me.  And when I think of the sky, I think of the Scottish sky over Mallaig…I studied the Mallaig sky so intently, and I found in its convulsive movement and change and drama such a concentration of activity that it became all skies and even the idea of all nature to me.”

Schueler’s painting isn’t always successful but I admire his ambition, his ‘weathering’ spirit, and the beauty of a number of his paintings, such as the ones posted below.  You can find more information and images at http://www.jonschueler.com/

Nell Blaine

The rich, fall colors in the landscape this year reminded me of the work of Nell Blaine, a 20th century painter who painted vivid landscapes, interiors and still lifes.  Blaine was born in Richmond, Va., in 1922, and moved to New York in 1942 to study painting with Hans Hofmann.  Her early, abstract work was inspired by Hofmann, Mondrian, and Leger.  A trip to Paris in 1950 sparked an interest in the tradition of 19th century and early 20th century European painting.  She was particularly drawn to the work of Bonnard and Vuillard.  During the 1950’s, Blaine turned more to nature and representational painting, incorporating structural ideas she learned from her abstract studies and the color sensibility of post-Impressionists. 

In 1959, while traveling and painting in Greece, Blaine contracted polio at the age of 37. The disease left her weakened in her legs and right arm.  She was confined to a wheel chair for the rest of her life and had to teach herself to paint in oils with her left (much stronger) hand.  Because of her physical limitations, she painted on a smaller scale and focused on works she could more easily do from a wheel chair, such as views from her window and still lifes.  Despite her disability, Blaine traveled extensively to Europe and the Caribbean, and kept up a demanding painting schedule until shortly before her death. 

Blaine wrote that “the moment of the dying of the light is my favorite moment to paint landscape. For me, this time is a great flaring up of life and a revelation. I become more alive, too. It’s a time when I gather my energies — I am physically more alert to my surroundings. The main reason is the excitement that the color takes on — it illuminates everything.”

I admire Blaine’s color sense (particularly in many of her watercolors), her appreciation of the natural world, and her astonishing fortitude.  For more details of her life, I would recommend Cathy Curtis’ biography, Alive Still: Nell Blaine, American Painter.  Additional works are featured at https://www.tibordenagy.com, https://www.reynoldsgallery.com/artists/nell-blaine/ and https://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/Lots/SearchResult?filter_value=nell+blaine

The Marchutz School's Zoom Talk with Sam Bjorklund →

 

The Leo Marchutz School arranged this wonderful zoom talk with founder and artist Sam Bjorklund.  It’s a wide-ranging discussion of the artistic endeavor, Sam’s evolution as a painter, and a few remarks on the history of the Marchutz School.  Give it a listen, and check out Sam’s beautiful oils and watercolors at www.sbfineart.com

A Flipbook of the Midwest Seasons Exhibit →

Here’s a flipbook of the Midwest Seasons exhibit that was held recently at the River Arts Center in Sauk City. Page through the flipbook to see the beautiful range of works featured in the show.

Exhibit at the Sauk Prairie River Arts Center →

My watercolor, Summer Fields, Bright Sky, is included in the Midwest Seasons exhibit currently at the Sauk Prairie River Arts Center. The show runs from September 15th through Friday, November 18, 2022. You can find more information at https://www.riverartsinc.org/passing-seasons/