D. Lawrey Vorhees Well, it's Monday and tonight is the meeting of the New Mexico Watercolor Society. My friend, Marcy Boushelle, is doing a presentation on "Abstract Design Using Collage." I am really looking forward to her demo. I'll report on that tomorrow.
Which reminds me of something I wanted to mention. Marcy and I are members of the Local Color Art Group which meets twice a year on Mondays for 10 weeks. The group used to be part of the students of Dorothy Vorhees, a well-known instructor in Albuquerque. This lady taught 3 classes on Monday and Saturday for many years and taught almost until the day she died at 89 years of age. After she passed away, a large body of her students, not wanting to break up, decided to continue the Monday and the Saturday groups.
The Monday group has carried on in a structured way, keeping to some of the schedule that Dorothy maintained for years. We start by having announcements, a short presentation by one of our members, a few hours of painting time and then - at the end of each day, we all get together and critique each other's paintings. Everyone signs up and takes turns at doing presentations, the "Inspiration Table" (still life set up), bringing food (very important for our ability to work, according to Dorothy), and cleanup. In the summer, we sponsor an instructor for a three-day workshop. This year it will be Gale Webb from Texas. Last year it was Jan Hart and the year before it was Dorothy Peterson, both NM artists.
Through this we have all continued to grow artistically, and our friendships and fellowship has grown so much stronger. It is a great group and to be able to continue the legacy that Dorothy left with all of us is truly a blessing. A recent exhibition of our works revealed how much all of us had grown - through Dorothy, and from our continued efforts to share and learn from each other. We have now opened the group up to others who were never blessed with being a part of Dorothy's "family." But they will benefit from knowing her students and being a part of the Local Color Art Group.
Dorothy, we know you are still guiding us, and we miss you!
