Alma Artist Displays Paintings in Art Gallery
Dottie Wassenaar’s enjoyment of painting has included periods with
oils and acrylics, charcoal and pencil drawings, and silk screening.
Now she happily concentrates on pastels.
The Alma artist provides a retrospective of her lifelong interest in
painting during an exhibit at Alma College. Wassenaar presents “My
Journey in Painting” from Monday, Jan. 7 through Thursday, Feb. 7 at
the Flora Kirsch Beck Gallery in the Clack Art Center.
Admission is free and open to the public. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 5
p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays. An
artist’s reception will take place in the gallery from 6:30 to 8:30
p.m. Feb. 7, with a gallery talk at 7:30 p.m.
“My interest in art started as a child filling notebooks with crayon
and pencil drawings and continued from there,” says Wassenaar. “I was a
business major in college and later studied at Mienzingers Art School
in Detroit. My work has evolved over time. In the last 10 years, I have
focused on pastels and some mixed media.”
Wassenaar paints landscapes of various places in Michigan and elsewhere
and also portraits of her grandchildren and friends. Favorite painting
locations other than Michigan include Ghost Ranch, New Mexico; Monhegan
Island, Maine; and from her travels.
“Pastels fit my lifestyle,” says Wassenaar. “They are very forgiving
and elegant; they have so many advantages. I take great pleasure in the
visual arts. I enjoy this as much as anything I do.”
She has studied with numerous notable artists, including Jan Mayes,
Bill Hosner, Bob Rohm, Doug Dawson, Gil Dellinger, Jim Markle and Larry
Blovits. She prefers plein air painting when possible; otherwise, her
work is from personal photography and on-site sketching.
She has exhibited with Creative Arts Guild of Mid-Michigan, Art Reach
of Mount Pleasant and the Montcalm Area Art Association and enjoyed a
mother-son gallery exhibit in Charlottesville, Va. She is a member of
the Great Lakes Pastel Society, Great Lakes Plein Air Pastel
Association and Montcalm Area Art Association and is co-founder of the
Creative Arts Guild of Mid-Michigan.
She also is active with Keep Michigan Beautiful and started the group
that did the original flower plantings in downtown Alma. “I love living
in Alma,” she says.
She also is grateful for the support of her family and especially her husband, Frank, who frames many of her paintings.
Her exhibit at Alma includes some of her early oil paintings as well as
pastel portraits and landscapes. The exhibit includes more than 50
pieces.
Posted: Mon, January 7th, 2008 at 9:29AM
