Rapid River Magazine, october 2006

Silver Fox Gallery
‘Fall Colors in Glass’
Victor Chiarizia
Friday, Oct. 6, 6 to 9 pm
Artist Reception
Silver Fox Gallery, 508 N. Main St., Hendersonville
828-698-0601 silverfoxonline.com
OPEN 7 DAYS/WEEK . FRIDAY TO 9 PM
R A P I D R I V E R A R T S & C U L T U R E M A G A Z I N E
by Glenn Garson
O
ne of the great gems of the
River Arts District is hard to
find but worth the search.
The Art Atelier is located
at 375 Depot St., on the left
side of the building, and
up the stairs, in an intimate
studio that glows in natural light. There,
students learn to see and capture beauty in
the tradition of the Great Masters at The
Art Atelier.
When Jim Ostlund and Michele
Mitchel came back from Europe, after
teaching and studying there, they entered
two national portrait contests. In one,
they tied for First place, and in the other,
one of them came in First and the other
Second. Since then they have done commissioned
portraits for Federal Judges,
actresses, Deans and Presidents of Colleges.
When they were going to have their first
child they chose Asheville and then opened
The Art Atelier to teach students through
RIVERARTS
Classes and portraits in the
tradition of the Great Masters
The photograph is one of their paintings.
a system handed down over the centuries
from the old Masters.
Each student is individually taught in
small classes that last 6 weeks. They will
also offer evening classes, if they have at
least 7 students. Watch their
web site for the start date of
their next class (www.theartatelier.com)
or call them at (828)
645-5101.
Each student is given their
own space and progresses from
charcoal to oil paint in a nurturing
environment. At an opening
for some of their younger students
one of the mothers began
to cry, explaining how their
teaching environment made her
feel like she was in a special
place.
Jim and Michele are treasures
from an era when artists
spent thousands of hours drawing
and painting from live models
and learning how to articulate the
music of color and light onto the
canvas. They draw on the tools of the Great
Masters to paint the beauty of today.
Won’t somebody tell me: What is a person?
WBy Glenn Garson
hen you
see August
Hoerr’s
portraits
up close,
you see an
oil abstract, but as you
step back away from the
painting, the epiphany
hits you that you are seeing
a person.
Blind Willy Johnson,
the preacher and blues
singer asks in one of his
songs “Won’t somebody
tell me: What is the soul
of a man?” Later he
answers his own question:
“Nothing but a
burning light!” August’s
paintings ask, “What is a
person?” And his answer
is just as universal.
August portrays
individual human beings
with a rich palette of impasto, which raises his
subject from the canvas and deconstructs them for
our eyes. August reaches his final portrait of the
person by steps, building upon previous steps, until
he reveals the person underneath. Rather than wipe
away his initial attempts to capture his subject,
August layers his later brush strokes over his initial
October 2006 — Rapid River ArtS & CULTURE Magazine— Vol. 10, No. 2
The Photo is a painting by August Hoerr titled
“Hidden Words in a Murky Tongue”
marks until a dense surface of
multiple workings evolves to
illuminate the person underneath.
One notable element of
August’s pieces are the seemingly
unintentional flourishes
in his images, which manifest
themselves as smudges and
splotches in the negative space
of his portraits. These artifacts
whisper into our ear, like a
sigh, that we are an audience to
real human beings with all their
associated imperfections.
August’s earlier paintings
were suffused in the warm
umber and sienna colored tones
of the old masters but over
the last 2 years he has brought
in more vibrant and pulsating
colors that grab the viewer and
convey a sense of tension and
release.
Bella Vista Art Gallery
will hold an opening reception
for new works by
August Hoerr on Saturday Oct. 7 from 1-4pm at
240 Clingman Ave., in the heart of the River Arts
District. Call (828) 768-0246 for business hours
and directions. Visit www.bellavista.com.