Easely hooked
Members of the Mahoning Valley Watercolor Society who recently attended the opening of their show at Wittenauer's Cafe and Gallery in Poland, are, front row, from left, Susan Dryburgh, Irene Lehtonen and Sue Anzellotti, and, back row, Terry Wittenauer, Rick Shale, Betsy Ford, Beth Bacani and Mary Leo. Special to The Vindicator | Nancy Urchak
By JoAnn Jones
POLAND
Terry Wittenauer has been an elementary teacher and now, with her husband Doug, operates The Caf at Wittenauer’s on Main Street in Poland. But she’s rediscovered an old passion, too: watercolor painting.
“I’m the newest member here,” Wittenauer said of the Mahoning Valley Watercolor Society. “I never knew about the group until Noreen [Yazvac] and Betsy [Ford] asked if they could display in our gallery. I painted when I was in high school.”
“When they came in, I thought, ‘Wait a minute. I think I want to join this group.’”
And she recently did.
The Mahoning Valley Watercolor Society, founded in 1982 by 11 area artists to “encourage local watercolor painters,” opened a show at Wittenauer’s on Monday that will run through March 22. The show is open in the caf ’s gallery during regular caf hours of 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday. Wittenauer’s also offers a brunch on Sunday.
The show features watercolor paintings of all prices ($40 through $750) by artists of all ages (15 through 90), who are amateurs and professionals.
Any member of the group was permitted to exhibit two paintings.
Sue Anzellotti-Ray of Poland, one of the 11 founding members, said the show helps the public to learn more about watercolor painting. Other founding members who still belong to the society are Mary Kay D’Isa, Flo Hosa Dougherty, John and Terri Madden, Francis May, Nancy Morris and nonagenarian Irene Lehtonen, who has two paintings in the exhibit.
“Quite a few of us took a Don Getz workshop together,” Anzellotti-Ray said about the origin of the society. “He got us all to work together with no condescension or envy.” Getz is a professional watercolor artist.
“Our goal is to meet and bring things into our meetings,” she continued. “It’s also to just keep us all painting.”
“This is nice to have little shows for our members, especially the new ones,” said Yazvac, who is co-president this year with Ford. “Because it’s not a juried show, it’s a nonthreatening environment.”
Susan Dryburgh, of Boardman, a retired high school English teacher who has been a member of the MVWS since 2006, said the group will also sell original paintings at Boardman Park’s Annual Maple Syrup Festival during the last two weekends in March.
“These are original paintings from local artists,” Dryburgh said. “It takes quite a bit of time to paint these. People who buy them have an original, though, and no one else is going to have it.”
The society, which has almost 80 members from the Tri-County area and western Pennsylvania, meets 12 times a year in Boardman during all months except June, July, and August and meets twice a month in September, October, November, March, and April. The society has its own lending library of books, videos and DVDs as well as a website (mvartists.org) that www.apstylebook.com/ highlights an artist of the month. It also gives a yearly scholarship to a Boardman High School senior who plans to study art.
The meetings are valuable for the members because they are learning, painting, and gaining feedback on their work.
“The meetings are demonstrations by artists we admire,” said Rick Shale of Boardman, a retired YSU English professor. “I find those demonstrations incredibly educational. The type of paper, paints, and brushes the artists use is interesting.”
“Or we have a critique night,” he added. “It’s useful to get feedback on our paintings.”
“For this show we’re not picking winners,” Shale continued. “Our purpose is to exhibit.”
Yazvac explained a little about the paintings the members create.
“All the work is water-based,” Yazvac said, “watercolor, acrylic, or ink.”
Yazvac, a Canfield resident, said she has recently started working with alcohol inks on tile.
“I post my paintings on Facebook,” she said. “The inks are really vivid colors. I do the painting and then spray them. They’re 8-by-8, and I have them matted and framed. I’m an administrative assistant at YSU, but my passion is painting.”
Yazvac, Ford and Shale are taking a watercolor class from YSU art professor Christopher Leeper, a member of the society, who also has two paintings in the show.
“Taking the class was scary to me at first,” Shale admitted. “I took classes in high school, but that was a gap of 46 years.”
“There’s always something to learn,” Yazvac said. “Watercolor has a mind of its own. It is a technique, a whole different ball game.”
“There are many accidentals with water color,” Dryburgh added. “Tears go in the right place at the right time.”
Several of the members described how they watch and interact with a painter who is doing a demonstration at one of their meetings.
“When someone paints, we’re talking to them,” said Ford, who lives in Struthers. “We ask, ‘Which brush is that? What brand of paint are you using? What kind of paper is that?’ It’s a lot of give and take with the demonstrator.”
Anzellotti-Ray said the group purchased a Plexiglas mirror that goes over the artist so that it’s easier for the members to see what the artist is doing. She said that because it’s plexiglass, the members can cart it around to wherever they watch demonstrations.
“There is a really healthy art community in Youngstown,” Ford said. “At the heart of our community is the Butler, she said, referring to the Butler Institute of American Art.”
“Many of our members have exhibits in the Butler juried shows,” Yazvac added. “But we do shows that aren’t judged.”
Dryburgh and Yazvac emphasized that encouragement for one another is a key component to the success of the group that Dryburgh termed “close-knit.”
“We’re always trying to help one another,” Yazvac said. “We’ve formed close friendships, and some of us even travel together.”
“As Rick [Shale] said, the society keeps us painting,” Ford said.
“The world needs more creative energy.”