Creative Woodworks & crafts 2000-03, страница 108
i.v > -iiwPyipjPP 'Pickin' Flowers" oil painting w$m?mmmmmfm Ivan Whillock is a very versatile artist. From the time he was Iwelve years old and a traveling artist gave him some of his old brushes and tubes of paint, Ivan has had an abiding interest in art. During this time, his parents owned a small upholstery shop, and carving lools were often used to replace broken or lost carvings on furniture, so Ivan had an early exposure lo carving and woodworking, too. "When the town you live in consists of 650 iolks," Ivan explains, "almost everybody knows who you are and what your interests are." As Ivan grew up, he became known as the kid who was interested in art. The town librarian, an amateur artist herself, found art books for him to read. The barber up the street lold of his famous artist classmate, Mark To bey, who also grew up in the small town of Trempealeau, Wisconsin. Eventually, whenever anyone in town had an art project that needed to be done, whether is was drawing a sketch for a poster or repairing a plaster statue for the local church, they called on Ivan. He seldom said no. Ivan explains, "One of my father's favorite sayings when confronted with a new repair challenge was, "Somebody did this.' He meant that he, also being a person, could eventually figure it out, too. He loved to repair the unfixable." By the time Ivan graduated from high school, where no art was taught, he had sold numerous art works, one painting garnering the then huge sum of S40! Those were the days when a young man, doing farm work, might earn $100 in an entire summer. When Ivan entered college with an art major, he was exposed to his first formal art training. "It was awkward at first, because most of my classmates had some high school training, and even some art institute experience. I had a reading acquaintance with art and artists, but whenever I spoke I showed my ignorance by mispronouncing the names of artists I had seen in print but had never heard pronounced." Ivan's primary interest in college was drawing and painting. He enjoyed doing portraits and asked fellow students to pose for him. On one occasion, one of the models brought along a friend, pretty Mary Landro, who four years later became VI rs. Ivan Whillock. During his college years, Ivan obtained several portrait commissions—children who seldom sal still, a ^businessman who wanted lo be painted with more hair, and a woman who .wanted to be painted with i-iher dog. Even though college ;;.gave him the opportunity |to explore many different ^mediums, painting in oils and vvatercolors remained fhis favorite. He used oils Ifor his portraits and often : walked to the lakes in the fMississippi backwaters near the college, a roll of watercolor paper under his arm, to paint landscapes. The water used to wet the ■paper and thin the paint :came from the lake he ^painted. | A young artist who Swants to build a reputation Soften tries to do so by ^entering competitions; Sthus, during his college |years and for several years |after, Ivan submitted his |works to juried shows. He |won several ribbons but ?-was disappointed in the ^inconsistencies he found. :A painting that won a rib- .... ......_...........................,Jpon in one show could eas- The Roosevelts'' cast hydrastone j|y be rejeclecl in another. "I was teaching art in Faribault, Minnesota when the Art Center president called me and asked me if I coulcl teach pottery. Actually, I had done very little pottery. I did a little hand building of pots in college, but had never used a potter's wheel or fired a kiln. True to my father's 'Somebody did this,' I answered yes. He hired me for classes that were to start in September. I began reading books on wheel throwing, glazing, and firing and spent 108 |
