Area artists’ works among selections in watercolor exhibit

Joyce Hartmann of Clinton had this painting, 104 and Holding, selected for this year’s Mid-Southern Watercolorists exhibition, which is on display at the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock.
Joyce Hartmann of Clinton had this painting, 104 and Holding, selected for this year’s Mid-Southern Watercolorists exhibition, which is on display at the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock.

LITTLE ROCK — Two artists in the River Valley & Ozark Edition coverage area have works on exhibit in the Mid-Southern Watercolorists 45th annual juried exhibition.

The exhibition is on display in the Samuel Strauss Sr. Gallery at the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock. There is no charge to view the show, which will continue through April 12.

Mary Ann Stafford of Maumelle won the Austin Wiggins Memorial Award of $500 with her entry With Strings Attached.

Even though Stafford’s works have been selected for this show in years past and have won awards, she said this year’s award is special.

“This is the most prestigious award I have won at MSW,” she said. “It’s especially important because the show is at the Arkansas Arts Center.

“I actually felt as if I had finally ‘come of age’ as an artist. I am 82 years old.

“I’ve won awards before, but not one this prestigious.”

Stafford is primarily a pastel artist but also does watercolors and colored-pencil drawings. She teaches drawing and pastel at the Maumelle Senior Wellness Center and recently retired as a faculty member at the Arkansas Arts Center.

“When I paint a still life, it is because I am attracted to shapes, contrasts of value and intensity, colors and strong design elements,” Stafford said in an artist’s statement.

“The smocks and aprons used by artists, both children and adults, in Studio I at the Arkansas Arts Center were my inspiration for With Strings Attached.

“Paint-smeared, dirty, many-colored, overlapping and cluttered, they hung from pegs on a horizontal wood piece with their ties hanging down the wall,” Stafford said. “I took a photograph and used it as a reference for my watercolor painting. I used a white background to emphasize the subject matter, which made the composition almost abstracted. I adjusted the colors so that there was always something different to look at. Needless to say, I had a lot of fun with it.”

Stafford began her teaching career at Pine Bluff High School in 1965, when she started the art program at the school. She also taught English and humanities for 16 years and was the assistant principal there from 1985 to 1990. She retired from the Arkansas Department of Education in 1993.

Stafford is a member of the Arkansas League of Artists and the Conway League of Artists and is a founding member of the Arkansas Pastel Society. She holds signature membership in the Pastel Society of the Southwest, the Mid-Southern Watercolorists and the Arkansas League of Artists.

Clinton artist Joyce Hartmann’s painting, 104 and Holding, is among the 30 paintings in this year’s Mid-Southern Watercolorists exhibition.

“I paint nearly every day, trying to get better and better,” said Hartmann, 81. “A good way to measure improvement is to enter juried shows.

“The MSW exhibit is one of the finest water-media shows anywhere, and to get accepted in this prestigious exhibit is such an honor,” she said. “This is the fourth time my work has made it, so I’m closing in on my goal to get accepted five times, when I will achieve signature status. I think that is a true recognition of ability and will be a real kick-up-the-heels-and-celebrate achievement. One more time, and I’m there.”

Hartmann said her painting is the result of an event she attended last summer.

“My husband, Bob, and I met this wonderful 104-year-old woman last summer in Steelville, Missouri, at a plein air competition,” Hartmann said. “We went to her 600-acre ranch to visit, and I was just so impressed and inspired. She wrote poetry or correspondence every morning, expressing her gratitude for nature’s beauty.

“An educated woman, she had taught in a little one-room schoolhouse and shared many stories of Ozark life back in the ’20s,” Hartmann said. “Bob’s family had lived in Steelville back then, but they’ve all passed on.

“This sweet woman remembered teaching Bob’s mother and two aunts when they were little girls and spoke of visiting his grandmother overnight (said she was a spotless housekeeper and a great cook). I asked her if I could take her photograph, and one of her cats jumped up on her lap. In 104 and Holding, I hope I kept intact her essence, as well as that of her guard cat.”

Hartmann studied art in grade school and high school. She received a bachelor’s degree in 1955 from Washington University in St. Louis, where she majored in physical education and health. She received a Master of Science degree in 1968 from Pittsburg State University in Kansas, where she majored in health, physical education and recreation, and minored in art.

She taught physical education for many years. She paints at her Rock ’n’ Pine studio, located on 45 acres she and her husband own in the mountains of north-central Arkansas.

Hartmann is president of the North Central Arkansas Artist League, a member of the Conway League of Artists, a docent for the South Fork Nature Center and a member of the Little Red River Audubon Society.

This is the first year in a three-year partnership between the Mid-Southern Watercolorists and the Arkansas Arts Center.

“We are thrilled to have the exhibition return to the Arts Center,” said Jeannie Fry of Cabot, president of the Mid-Southern Watercolorists. “This juried exhibition and its prestigious location help fulfill the MSW’s mission of enriching the stature and encouraging the recognition of water media.” Fry said the exhibition received 149 entries by 81 artists. Guest juror Linda Baker of Charleston, South Carolina, narrowed the entries down to the 30 works selected for the exhibition. Baker is a signature member of the American Watercolor Society and the National Watercolor Society.

The Arkansas Arts Center is at 509 E. Ninth St. in Little Rock. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 1-5 p.m. Sundays. The museum is closed on Mondays.

For more information on the exhibit, call the Arkansas Arts Center at (501) 372-4000 or visit its website at arkarts.com.

For more information on the Mid-Southern Water-colorists, visit www.midsouthernwatercolorists.com.

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