Bay School News

Teacher Profile - Nan Rothwell July 02 2017, 0 Comments

Nan Rothwell began teaching clay classes at the Bay School in 2015.  Her next class, Take Your Throwing To The Next Level, will be Saturday & Sunday, August 5 & 6 9:30am - 5pm.

 

 

 

Nan started making pots in England, where she studied in private studios and at the Harrow School of Art. Since 1973, she has been a studio potter in Virginia. She makes functional stoneware pottery that she sells in a variety of settings including juried exhibits, solo shows and galleries. She also teaches pottery at City Clay in Charlottesville and at multiple outside venues.  She and her son made two teaching DVD's that were published by Ceramic Arts Daily.  Last month, a new online teaching company called TeachinArt.com filmed Nan for a six-week throwing course that will be published soon. 

A few questions to Nan:

 

 What made you start teaching?

I had several generous, creative teachers when I first started potting, so I feel the need to pass the favor on.

What do you get out of teaching?

Two main things:   First, it's challenging and creative to help someone figure out how to take an idea and translate it into clay.  Second, since I am an introvert, teaching gets me out into the world and interacting with other people.  It's easy for me to just stay in the studio and work.  Teaching forces me to exercise my social side.

  

 

Tell me something people would be surprised to find out about you.

I fell in love with clay at 19, and except for a brief period when our children were young, I have been potting my entire adult life.  Recently, when we decided to sell our rural home and studio, I thought I would stop working in clay and try doing something else.  That idea lasted less than a month, and now I am in the process of setting up a smaller and more low-key pottery business in Charlottesville.  

 

 

 

 


Teacher Profile - Kathleen Noffsinger June 15 2016, 0 Comments

Kathleen Noffsinger will be teaching Painting the Summer Landscape - Shimmering Beach Scenes in Watercolor! Friday & Saturday, July 22 & 23, 10am - 3pm at the Bay School.  Join Kathleen as she shares her secrets to painting summery light and shimmering color.

Kathleen Noffsinger is an award-winning professional artist and educator from Hartfield, Virginia, who expresses her talent in colorful watercolors of wildlife and nature.  From the simple design of a wading egret to the tranquil beauty of her butterfly garden, Kathleen’s works are images of nature that elicit an appreciation for the simpler things in life.                     

Having spent many enjoyable hours on the Rappahannock and Piankatank Rivers and the Chesapeake Bay with her husband, Tom, Kathleen chooses the water and its many facets as one of her favorite subjects.  Preferring to work from her own reference material, she often takes photos of the wildlife she loves to paint, capturing “close ups” that force her to use her creativity.  She labels her style of painting impressionistic realism.

Drawing and painting since childhood, Kathleen holds a BS in education from the University of Maryland and has been teaching adult watercolor and drawing classes since 1998. Her students love her organized approach to teaching art as well as her hands-on demos and one-on-one individualized instruction.  As an award-winning artist she has been featured in national juried shows locally and throughout the South including Naples and Marco Island, Florida and the Florida Keys.  Since 2007 she has led Travel and Paint workshops in Bermuda and Florida. Her paintings have been featured in numerous publications, including Chesapeake Bay Magazine (February, 2002) and she has appeared in a segment on the Chesapeake Bay for PBS.  In 2010, her painting “Pastel Cottage, Bermuda” was accepted into the National Watercolor Society Juried All-Member Show in California.  In 2016 her painting “Mangrove Sanctuary”  won an Award of Excellence at the Annual Virginia Watercolor Society Exhibition in Gloucester, VA.

Noffsinger is a member of the National Watercolor Society (Associate), Virginia Watercolor Society (Signature Artist Member), Rappahannock Art League and the National League of American Pen Women.  She exhibits her work in galleries and juried shows throughout the East Coast.

To learn more about her paintings, show schedule and classes, Kathleen may be reached at her studio in Virginia.

 

A few questions to Kathleen

 

Kathleen's Process:

Kathleen begins her paintings with a compositional plan of lights and darks in a 2” x 3” sketch and proceeds to a full-size drawing on her watercolor paper.  Working in both her studio and on location "en plein air",  she then begins adding color using both large brushes as well as a “pouring” technique.  Vibrant colors are added in layers of transparent glazes which allow the white of the paper and previous layers of color to visually mix in the viewer's eye.   Working with “purist” watercolor techniques as well as combining pen and ink and mixed-media collage with watercolor, Kathleen’s goal is to capture on paper a memorable and creative visual impression for the viewer. 

 

What do you get out of teaching?

 

I was trained to be an elementary school teacher at the University of Maryland and love to teach!  My beginner adult watercolor students often say it's a good thing I know how to teach first graders.  It is a special joy to share what I have learned in watercolor and to see artists fall in love with mixing color right on the watercolor paper and then improve their skills until they are proudly framing their first paintings.  I now have many students who are winning top awards in juried art shows and I am the one who is proud of them.

Tell me something people would be surprised to find out about you.

I think people might be surprised to find out that I consider myself an absolutely terrible public speaker ...except when I am teaching an art class.  Then the spirit of this creative gift that I have been given by God to share with others just gives me all the right words.