Soup's On!

 
 
There was more than a soupcon of soup at the Lakewood Arts soup tasting event last night --in fact, there were 11 different soups to taste, which made judging the best a difficult task!  From vegetarian lentil, to creamy ham and potato, spicy chili and even a sweet dessert soup,
 
the crowd enjoyed sitting down to a bowlful of deliciousness and going back for more.
 
 
Crockpots made space for the feisty Instapot newcomers, and lots of powerstrips kept it all hot.  The cooks and visitors sampled as many as possible, mopped it up with cheesy bread and when all were sitting back in their chairs fully satiated, the judge and jury counted votes and declared it a ham and potato win by an overwhelming majority!

 Congratulations to Sheila McFather!  With the prize basket placed in her outstretched arms she had to laugh and say her kids will be amazed since she really doesn't like to cook.
 
 Coulda fooled us, Sheila!

Artist in the Spotlight: Joel Witliff

How did you get started in creating art?

I started drawing in grade school to keep myself entertained, doodling in the margins of notebooks and homework papers. Later I attended Rocky Mountain School of Art and Design and took all the art classes I could but I didn't graduate because I had no care to enroll in the core classes like English and Math.

 
What is your favorite medium and why? 

Currently, I am enjoying mediums that allow me to work on canvas. In the past, I was mostly a digital artist creating illustrations for game companies and publishers. However, much of what I do starts out in my sketchbooks with a sharpie, over a cup of coffee. That is the intimate side of art for me, where anything goes, and no one needs to know what I am up to.

What are your favorite subjects?
 
While you don't see it much in the paintings I display people and figures are my favorite subjects, both real and imagined.

 
Do you have a vision for your work?  For a body of work that you would like to create?

In the future, I would like to move towards painting ideas. The crazy thoughts in my head would like to have an outlet. It's difficult though because I have a hard time breaking self-imposed stigmas of what fine art painting "should" be. My influences early on were the illustrations on fantasy and sci-fi book covers. I would like to go back towards relying more on my imagination and less on reality but in a more conceptual way. As far as what’s next on the horizon we will see. It will be as much of a surprise to me as anyone else.

 
How did you find out about the Lakewood Arts Council and Co-op?  What do you find most
enjoyable or beneficial about being a member?
  
I met Viv, a member of LAC, through a chance encounter and found out about the gallery. It took a while for me to come around and have a look see, but I was very attracted to the idea of meeting other creatives and being an active part of the local art community, as opposed to what I was doing, which was being holed up in the studio watching paint dry

What’s next on the horizon?

My art is constantly in a state of change. Most changes are brought about by just getting bored and wanting to try something new. I have the attention span of a squirrel and in addition to that, I am insatiably curious.

A New Year, A Few New Members

 
The first co-op meeting of the year started out with an artwork change-out.  Co-op members came in early Saturday morning to not only switch out their artwork, but to switch places in the gallery to allow for the inclusion of new members, and to give a fresh new look to the walls. 

Everyone brought in a pot-luck dish to share for breakfast (do cookies count as breakfast food?) We all enjoyed our tasty treats and got started on the first meeting of the year.  
It was agreed that committees are working smoothly, with a large percentage of members helping out with duties.  Kudos to a group that can work so well together, with the inspired leadership of Ann Quinn as Gallery Manager.

We welcomed new members Ron Cable, photographer, 
Joel Witliff with his stunning landscape paintings and sometimes whimsical subject matter.
 
Jane Dorsey has come back to us with her always enjoyable paintings and sculptures. 
 
And Jean Alles has graced our front wall with her eye-catching florals and landscape paintings.  We look forward to seeing more of what they have to offer!