Walt Drohan-Artistic Genius And Brilliant Teacher

Sunderland AB-A DD862 Oil Painting

by Walt Drohan 1933-2007

Image Courtesy of Castle Archdale

This is another post in my series of My Favorite Artists, and the influence this artist had on my life.

At the start of my second year at the Alberta College of Art and Design (ACAD) we moved into a brand new building which was an enormous improvement over our first year of taking classes in various locations and rooms on the SAIT campus including some that were held in very old quonset huts.

The high point of second year was that the head of the Ceramics department, Walt Drohan, was supervising the construction of a large kiln that he designed, and we were able to view the entire process from the ground up which was an experience that one would not normally have when taking a ceramics course.

Walt was a brilliant instructor who shared all of his knowledge, holding nothing back, and we always had full attendance in class when it was known that he would be teaching us at various times throughout the year. One of my fondest memories was when he gave us our first watercolor lesson. My original intent of going to art school was to be a watercolor artist, and I managed to convince him that watercolor and brush work to me was very important with respect to applying designs on pottery, and lucky for me he agreed.

Walt was born in Calgary in 1933 and became passionate about art at a young age, attending the Provincial Institute of Technology and Art, and after completing this program he continued graduate studies at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Flint Michigan, returning to Canada in 1957.

His artistic career attracted numerous awards, including the Senior Canada Council Grant, many private commissions, and he exhibited his Ceramics and Paintings in a number of galleries across Canada. As a teacher he was very kind and thoughtful, and was able to impart knowledge in a way that was inspiring on one hand, and also acted as a catalyst to creative development on the other hand. Near the end of his teaching career he became the Dean of ACAD and left a strong, vibrant, creative college for future generations to come.

I just love the oil painting of the Sunderland shown above, and truly was not aware of his painting genius until hearing of his passing in 2007. My searching of the net for information on him informed me that he was an avid aviation buff, and that he also created numerous landscape paintings of the Alberta prairie environment.

Here is a list of some links that I have found that I hope will help you to appreciate his legacy and share with others the impact that he had on the history of Canadian artists.

Triangle Gallery-Walt Drohan Images.

Walt Drohan On Artnet

Walt Drohan On Hodgins Auctions

Contemporary Aboriginal Art

Salish Box

Artist Unknown

About a month ago I was visiting a friend in Birken, and he was given this gift from a mutual friend in Mount Currie. Our mutual friend Ken purchased the box as a gift from a native carver from the Mount Currie Band.

However he did not remember the name of the carver, which is a shame as it would be nice to give credit where credit is due.

The box appears to be made of pine, and I just love the intricate designs on the box and the masterful manner in which the designs are painted on the box.

The cover depicts a Thunderbird design and for me is the best part of the box which is a modern day representation of Salish Art.

Salish Art

Laureen McMullan-Remarkable Expressive Paintings

Oryx

Copyright Laureen McMullan

I recently connected with another artist who was in my class at The Alberta College of Art & Design and wanted to share her work with you in another post about My Favorite Artists.

After graduation Laureen set up her own pottery studio, and worked very hard at that until it became very difficult to maintain that business due to market conditions, and the general decline in the pottery market which made it impossible to continue. At that point, Laureen decided to devote more time to painting in Acrylics, and has produced an impressive portfolio of work. Her paintings have been added to collections around the world, and she has had her work in numerous shows over the years.

I chose to use the word "Expressive" in the title for this post because that is the one of the words that comes to my mind when I have thought about her. For me her expressive nature comes through big time in her paintings, and her subject matter is varied, and her feelings radiate through the paint and canvas as she takes us through the journey of what is important to her.

I hope that you will take this opportunity to view the work of this award winning artist on her website Laureenart, and enjoy the many works she has created with such mastery. Many of her works are available as well as cards and Giclee prints.

Marketing For Artists-Run Your Own TV Ad For An Affordable Price

If you are an artist, and you have a budget for some advertising, how would you like to create your own ad for TV and be able to run it on national TV within your budget at an affordable cost? For those of you who answered yes, read on.

Leave it to Google Adwords to come up with something new, Google TV Ads that allows you to upload your own TV ad promoting your product, and Google will have it run on the TV networks that you choose, at the time that you choose, and you can begin by entering at the start the budget that you have available for your Ad campaign. This is an amazing idea when you think of it, I mean how many people in general can afford to run an Ad on TV let alone an Artist?

The video above is self explanatory, and was created by Seth Stevenson, who set up a goofy self produced video, and created a website for people to click on in order to track how many visitors could be attracted to the website.

OK, so how did I come across this information? I have been studying Internet Marketing for almost two years now, and have been following a very successful Internet marketer by the name of Frank Kern, and clicking on his name will take you to one of his websites where you can sign up for free, and get all kinds of free cutting edge solutions on building a successful Internet Business. I am not an affiliate for any of Frank's programs, and I won't make a dime from linking to him, but he gives away a bunch of good stuff.

So for you Artists out there looking for more ways to draw traffic to your blog or website, this might be something useful to look into.

Jim Speers-Exquisite Pottery

High Fired White Stoneware Jar

Copyright Jim Speers Pottery

This is another post in my series of My Favorite Artists and today I want to introduce you to Jim Speers, a fantastic potter that I went to art school with.

I attended the Alberta College of Art and Design in 1971, and Jim and I met on the first day when we were put into groups of home room classes, and we became friends right away. I wanted to become a painter, and Jim was interested in taking pottery. In first year we did everything, drawing, painting, print making, pottery, and sculpture.

I found out early on that they did not teach Watercolor, and I was not fond of the work of the painting instructors, and did not want to take commercial art either. So after much thought, discussion with classmates and a fair amount of "wringing of hands" I decided to take pottery as well because they had excellent instructors, and I knew that it would be a great learning experience.

Jim moved back to Edmonton Alberta after college, and eventually set up his own pottery studio, and now creates a wide variety of production pieces, and one of a kind pottery works of art.

Without question in my mind, Jim has grown into a master potter and his work is truly exquisite. I love his attention to detail, and his designs are just beautiful and inspiring with a brilliant expression of form, shape and design.

Jim is also an avid photographer, creates 3D imagery, and spends some time building websites as well.

So if you are interested in pottery, I invite you to visit his website Jim Speers Pottery and take some time to view and enjoy his amazing works.