The International Guild of Realism champions realism in fine art through museum exhibitions, gallery shows, workshops and education for its members. One of the mainstays has been its annual Juried Exhibition, which will celebrate its 15th anniversary this year. The show will happen through October 31 at Principle Gallery’s Charleston, South Carolina, location and it will bring together paintings by more than 100 high-caliber artists.
Erin Schulz, Afloat, oil on aluminum panel, 12 x 16"
“As an original charter member of the International Guild of Realism, I am thrilled to see the amazing growth within IGOR over the past 16 years. IGOR is definitely a major player in the resurgence of academic realism in fine art,” says founding charter member Don Clapper. “Our juried membership represents some of the very best realists in the world, and this year’s 15th annual show is one of our best shows to date in terms of quality and number of paintings, with 111 artworks from 107 IGOR artists. Our juried membership hails not only from North America, but also from over 35 countries around the world.”
The pieces in the show will range from Trompe l’Oeil to figures and landscapes, with everything from traditional to contemporary techniques represented. Included in the show are paintings by artists such as Anna Wypych, Carmen Drake, Gulay Berryman, Kathleen S. Giles, Patricia McMahon Rice and Ryan Jacque.
Top left: Jan Dale, Morning Essentials, oil, 20 x 20". Top right: Carmen Drake, Empty Nest, oil on prepared panel, 22 x 25". Bottom: Ryan Jacque, Illuminate, graphite pencil, 8 x 23"
Aleta Rossi-Steward’s juried painting The Ropewalk, was done in 2017, but the idea came to her 10 years prior while visiting Mystic Seaport in Connecticut. “The 176-year-old whaling ship Charles W. Morgan was undergoing restoration. It was fascinating. Mystic Seaport is a ‘living museum,’ filled with a real working waterfront, docks and shops that showcase what life was like in the whaling days of the northeast. It is one of the few places in the country where antique wooden ships can undergo proper restoration,” she says. While walking through a couple of the other buildings, she imagined a barn owl perched up and surveying the comings and goings, and the mice they hunt. She combined these ideas for this painting.
Mood Indigo, by Barbara Nuss, is similarly inspired by a view she saw of a harbor. “I was inspired by this silhouette against the sunset of this waterside restaurant all lit up where a friend had taken me to dinner in her boat,” says Nuss.
Camille Engel, Fish Tale, oil on panel, 12 x 12"
Linda Besse, Ice Bear, oil, 2
Another work of the nautical realm is Patsy Lindamood’s Where the Locals Congregate, which came from one of her birding trips to the Rockport-Fulton/Port Aransas area of Texas. “Shore birds and waterfowl are my favorite avian subjects, so we spent most of our time that week trolling shores and port areas,” she says. “I began photographing moored boats and became enchanted with the subject matter. Painting the ropes and spars and trawling equipment of these work boats appeals to my affinity for mathematics and geometry. Lines, shapes and values!”
Brenda Will Kidera also turned to the water for her painting juried in the show, but rather than a maritime theme, she painted Languid Lilies of her lily pond. Describing the painting she says, “A pleasurable interplay of dramatic light, shadows and reflections, the painting is also a celebration of color. I’ve endeavored to reflect the serenity I feel when sitting by the pond watching the fish and listening to the waterfall nearby.”
Anna Wypych, Double Freedom, oil on canvas, 39½ x 27½"
Fish Tale, by Camille Engel, is a Trompe l’Oeil painting that has been inspired by her love of water, fishing and exploring nature. “As an adult artist, nature and animals still captivate my interests,” she explains. “Fish Tale is from my new series of paintings created for my recent solo museum tour…a clever trick-of-the-eye combining surrealism with Trompe l’Oeil. In this painting, I suggest that an instructive, coffee-stained card is taped to a weathered board. In truth, I painted every last stain, crease and nail hole. My intention is to cleverly teach others how to identify smallmouth bass and stir the viewer’s imagination when the fish’s tail seemingly comes to life and begins to flip up from the artwork.”
Clockwise from top left: Cher Anderson, Aussie Rosellas, acrylic on gesso board, 36 x 24; Tracy Frein, Calm is the Norm without Sound, colored pencil on Graphix drafting film, 23 x 16"; Gulay Berryman, James River Sunset (Ancarrow’s Landing), oil on canvas, 30 x 24"; Barbara Nuss, Mood Indigo, oil on linen, 10 x 16"; Jette van der Lende, Who is the real dragon?, oil on panel, 16 x 16"
Patricia McMahon Rice, Turning Five & Practically Perfect in Every Way, oil on linen, 16 x 20"
Animals also appear in many other works in the show, such as Linda Besse’s Ice Bear. One of Besse’s favorite areas to paint is the great north of North America. She has spent countless hours scanning the remote Manitoba horizon for polar bears. But, when a polar bear comes in to view, it is so obvious. Their white hollow fur almost glows and there is nothing quite like it. It is that glow she wanted to capture in her painting Ice Bear.
For her painting Who is the real dragon?, Jette van der Lende was inspired by an Eastern water dragon that she saw while visiting her daughter in Australia and decided to combine it with two other “dragons.” She explains, “I am playing with the word dragon. The Chinese dragon is well known and the dragonfly visits us in Norway every autumn, so I figured that the word dragon is different for each person. It depends what you are thinking about.”
Brenda Will Kidera, Languid Lilies, oil on panel, 18 x 24"
Cher Anderson’s Aussie Rosellas is also in the show. “Nature has the ability to regenerate and recover after disasters. This painting is a celebration of life after the fires in Australia,” Anderson shares. “The sky fills with crimson rosellas in flight and shows their colors as proof that life goes on! My passion for nature’s beauty, chaos and wonder has led me to create images that bring to life the spirit of what I see in quiet places, and try to make you feel the awe and the essence of its beauty.”
Jan Dale paints birds as well, with hers often being a blend of nature and still life with narratives that reflect her storytelling nature. Morning Essentials, which shows a bird perched atop a coffee grinder, is one painting in this theme. Like many of Dale’s paintings, this one seeks to portray the age-old mutual fascination between birds and people.
Jorge Alberto, Study for Violin, oil on panel, 28½ x 17½"
Still lifes are always prominent in the IGOR exhibitions. Jorge Alberto’s Study for Violin is one such example. “I always have been fascinated by musical instruments, especially the violin. As a child, I wanted to learn how to play it but never had the opportunity,” he shares. “Study for Violin is a painting about the beauty and the sensuality of the violin and my love for the instrument.”
Collectors will also find a number of figurative pieces in the exhibition. Afloat, an oil on aluminum paintings by Erin Schulz, depicts a young girl in profile outside in nature. The painting is a response to the current times. Schulz says, “As we continue to watch COVID numbers rise and fall, we try to stay afloat—a bit fixated, a little number and in an isolated trance.”
Top: Aleta Rossi-Steward, The Ropewalk, oil on linen, 18 x 24" Bottom left: Patsy Lindamood, Where the Locals Congregate, graphite on cradle, 24 x 36" Bottom right: Kathleen S. Giles, Heading Out, watercolor on paper mounted on board and varnished, 22 x 29"
Tracy Frein’s colored pencil drawing Calm is the Norm without Sound is a contemplative nude. “My inspiration is drawn solely from my subjects and their hidden emotional truths,” he says. “Each subject is a compelling visual portrayal of the human spirit, determination and courage. I strive to show the viewer that while at first glance, my subjects seem serene and normal, but show a sense of inner fragility.”
If you are unable to visit the gallery in Charleston, the complete show is offered online through the gallery website at www.principlegallery.com. —
International Guild of Realism 15th annual Juried Exhibition
When: Through October 31, 2020
Where: Principle Gallery, 125 Meeting Street, Charleston, SC 29401
Information: www.realismguild.com
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