A Different Shade of Art
Museum exhibit "Pastels USA" highlights growing popularity of pastels as an art medium.
by Lori Gilbert
Pastel is not colored chalk, declares the association of artists who work with the pure pigment sticks. Nor does pastel mean every work is done in light shades.
Rather, pastel is an art medium gaining acceptance across the country. Some of the discipline's top artists will be featured as The Haggin Museum hosts "Pastels USA," the Pastel Society of the West Coast's 22nd international open exhibition.
It's the first time The Haggin has shown the organization's annual show.
The 99 pieces were selected from 488 entries from 191 artists representing 25 states, France, Germany and Canada.
The exhibit has come to Stockton in part through the efforts of Tina Moore, a local artist and president of Pastel Society of the West Coast.
"It's hard to find venues for art shows in general," Moore said. "We were looking at different areas. We'd done shows in Roseville and were trying to branch out, to cover the whole West Coast. A couple years back we asked The Haggin and they were willing to have us."
"We're very excited to have it," museum publicity coordinator Eddie Hargreaves said.
The Pastel Society is trying to "educate the public" about the medium, Moore noted.
"The biggest difference with this from anything else is you don't mix anything," said Moore, who has two paintings in the show, including "Lady Hawk," one of the award winners. "You can find the exact color you want. It is chalk, but it's pure pigment held together with distilled water."
Although she started with watercolors and has dabbled in oils, the 63-year-old Moore said she absolutely loves using the colored sticks.
"It's such a hands-on technique and the colors are so fantastic," she explained. "It's kind of an extension of drawing. Rather than an extension of a paint brush, you paint directly with your hands. It's very messy. Dust goes everywhere."
Pastel, which is more permanent than other substances, is the perfect element for portraits and landscapes, Moore said. Her own works in the show are figurative.
"Lady Hawk," which earned the Thelma Davis Memorial Award from a panel of judges, came from a photograph Moore took at her first Renaissance Fair. The painting shows a woman in a green gown looking curiously at the bird on her arm.
Moore's other piece is of a child she encountered in Mexico. Titled "Marisol," it shows a little girl in a red-and-white-striped shirt.
"I saw this little girl walking down the street in a little town near Mazatlan," Moore said. "She'd gotten home and was standing in her doorway and I asked if I could take her picture. She had such a sweet expression, and I always loved that picture."
The show includes other portraits, like Best of Show Winner "Mercedes" by Diana De Santis. "On Goldfish Pond" by Rae Smith, looks like a work by Monet, one of many landscapes that recall the great Impressionists.
Others, such as an orchid by Cuong Nguyen, look more like a photograph.
"There's a nice variety (in the exhibit) showing what can be done with pastel," Moore said.
