By Anne W. Semmes
Hidden away on the third floor of what was Greenwich’s first Town Hall, now the Wallace (Senior) Center and the Greenwich Arts Council, are artists of all ages, teachers and students of the Studio School of the Greenwich Art Society School of Visual Art.
Think back to those impressionist artists from the Cos Cob Art Colony, Elmer MacRae, J. Alden Twachtman, animal sketcher Ernest Thompson Seton, sculptor Edward Clark Potter, of those New York Public Library lions, “Patience” and “Fortitude.” Those artists were a pioneering part of the Greenwich Society of Arts created over a hundred years ago with the prompting of patroness Louisine Havemeyer. That name changed to Greenwich Art Society (GAS) in 1958, but its illustrious membership and support of artistic talent has been a continuum since the Society’s founding in 1912.
To be clear, the Society today exists “to further education and stimulate interest in the visual arts by means of classes, lectures, demonstrations, exhibitions.”
The Studio Student Exhibition
Proof positive was found in the current Studio Student Exhibition in the GAS Gallery on the second floor – on view from April 10 to May 9. Entering the Gallery there were a number of dazzlers, and shimmering in the corner was an oil painting of row boats entitled, “Safe Harbor” by its artist Tim Werbe. Finding NFS under his name, it appeared not for sale. Also listed was his class title, “The Craft of Painting” and instructor Anna Patalano. Werbe was present and shared he was in his third year of classes. Beginning in 2019, he’d been halted by Covid to “painting at home,” before returning to advanced classes in 2022 and 2023.
The eye moved on to a canvas of rooftops in oil with glowing sky – its title “Essaouira Night,” and its painter standing by – Yelena McRae. “That was painted in Morocco,” she told with “It’s nice to have connections of travel.” It too was a keeper. With McRae was another traveler painter, Beth Breakstone, pointing to her bright blue oil, “Chairs Hawaii.” “I started taking pictures on my travels of chair shadows all over the world,” she noted. “That was in Kauai at a shopping mall…” The price was listed as $1500.
Both McRae and Breakstone are classmates of Werbe’s Anna Patalano class. The classmates were sharing their painting experiences. “If you worked with our teacher, you get 90 percent of it done in 10 percent of the time. And then the last 10 percent is 90 percent of your time. We think we’re done, right?” “You need another layer of paint,” another said. “You paint the whole thing again in another color, and then it all shines through.”
A fetching drawing of a perfectly drawn daisy in graphite was entitled “She Loves Me,” also NFS. The artist was familiar, Joe Kantorski, who chairs the Byram Neighborhood Association. Introducing his wife Patricia, he noted,” She plants the flowers and I paint them.” His class was “The Art of Nature” with teacher Lauretta Jones.
What followed was an invite to see that creative process up close in two classes, Anna Patalano’s “The Craft of Painting,” followed by “Creative Art for 9-12 Year Olds” taught by Mary Newcomb.
An Adult Class with Anna Patalano
As introduction Patalano had shared an information sheet of herself with a telling line: “I create an environment in which the individual student feels comfortable expressing their own ideas.” Patalano has been teaching at GAS since 2007 while serving as GAS Board President from 2009. Since classes began in the late 1950s, she told, “hundreds have come through the GAS Studio School.” She noted, “We are the oldest arts organization in Greenwich comprised of artist members and teaching artists.” And “completely self-supporting, often fundraising to exist.”
Entering Patalano’s Wednesday afternoon class of “The Craft of Painting” one was met with the stillness across the studio with students at work on their easels, some seven to nine, with a few going and coming. At the end was the one male present, Tim Werbe, seeking counsel from Patalano on his nearly finished oil painting of “Stonington Harbor” Maine.
Again, one saw those students of different nationalities capturing on canvas sites in their countries. Stefania Jove was painting a statue by Canova called “Venere Italica” she’d seen in her native Italy. Beth Breakstone was painting a scene in Matera, Italy seen recently in a James Bond movie. Next to her Marisol was displaying all the bright colors of Mexico on her canvas.
Many of the students had been coming for years, like Kim Richard who had painted a fetching portrait of her cat. And surely a family treasure was that painting, “The Chess Lesson,” showing a younger brother teaching his older brother. There was still work to do to flesh out the faces said the painter, not wishing to give her name.
Mary Newcomb’s Young Students Class
There was a feeling of camaraderie amongst these students, all intently focused on their work but aware of each other’s efforts. And quietly there for counsel was teacher Anna Patalona.
That quietness of concentration was also present amongst those in Mary Newcomb’s one-hour class of “Creative Art for 9-12 Year Olds” visited last Friday afternoon (the class runs from 3:15 to 4:15). Four girl students were fully invested in their collage projects. With selected paper cutouts they were creating a face. Newcomb, an award-winning artist, has co-chaired the Studio School with Anna Patalano since 2010. “What’s next,” instructed Newcomb, “I want you to outline the background with white, then add eyes, nose and mouth in black.”
Each student’s collage had a different look. Greta, age 10, a fifth grader, had an array of colors and patterns in her face. Lila, a 12-year-old sixth grader, had a mix of pastel colors. Maddie, age 10 and a fourth grader, had pulled together paper cut outs of text – her way of addressing April as poetry month. Then lastly there was Francie, age 10, and a fifth grader., pasting very bright colored cutouts on her face. “I’ve known you since you were…” “A baby,” said Francie. Her older sister was taught by Newcomb.
“These girls are so creative,” told Newcomb, “Like you can see.” And they are busy, one left early for tennis lessons. And Lila had decided to call her pastel face, “Patricia.” “I always name my art Patricia,” she told. But there was a collaborative work of art by these students Newcomb wished also to share. Located outside of the classroom was a massive totem pole of artfully decorated boxes. “Each had a box they decorated. Isn’t it so creative?”
So, add to all this creative teaching, Newcomb’s extra ordinary outreach, her program for under-served students from Bridgeport’s Read Elementary School (MingledArts.com). Once a year (depending on funding) she welcomes 100 students to the Studio classroom, 50 at a time. “It’s tight,” she said. “It’s the size of the whole second grade at Read Elementary.”
Newcomb’s approach is “to offer the children a multi-sensory learning experience” she believes “enhances learning and retention.” “I bring in live music,” she told, “a hands-on art project and some movement, all based on the life and art of a well-known artist.” Her hope is that teaching students about an era of history/culture will stimulate their own unique gifts and talents, she said, as “Art often introduces us to ourselves!”
For more information on the GAS Studio School, visit www.greenwichartsociety.org
