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A passion for pastels: UT-AAUP director works in misunderstood medium |
| By
Deanna Woolf |
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Mar 24, 2006 |
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"You would think Ohio isn't so interesting as far as landscape is concerned," said Mary Jane Erard. "But I like the beauty of the land."
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| "Golden Farmland” by Mary Jane Erard |
Through the sweeping golden fields and twisted, green trees in her paintings, Erard is making others appreciate the beauty she sees in northwest Ohio's natural features. This self-described agricultural landscape artist has received more than 25 awards and has shown her work in more than 50 juried exhibitions.
Erard, executive director of the UT chapter of the American Association of University Professors, works in pastels — a medium with as many misconceptions as her subject matter.
"They're not chalk," she said of pastels. "They may look like colored chalk from grade school, but they're pure pigment with a little bit of binder." The word "pastel" also doesn't refer to washed-out colors. It comes from the French word "pastiche," or paste," which refers to how the pigments are mixed with binder and formed into a paste before being rolled into a stick, she explained.
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| Mary Jane Erard holds her pastels. |
Erard first worked with pastels when she was a child. Her father, a structural engineering, had "a lot of neat pencils and artwork lying around ... I tried all of his supplies," including pastels, she recalled. "I found them difficult to work with and stayed away from them. I worked in oils and watercolors, and 10 years ago, I tried pastels again ... I had seen the work of artists in town, and I thought the richness of the colors was beautiful. I picked up a box." And the rest is art history.
Even as an adult, Erard finds pastel work challenging. "To manipulate the medium, you are working strictly right from your hand to the pastel to the paper. You don't have a paintbrush or a pen or anything like that to help you manipulate the pigment — you're basically getting your hands dirty," she said.
In addition, artists typically do not shade with pastels the way they do with other media and must layer the colors to achieve different effects. "It is challenging to build layers upon layers and not have it look dirty or smudge," Erard said.
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| “Autumn Pathway” by Mary Jane Erard |
What makes Erard's work more amazing is that she has no formal training. She followed her father's advice: "He advocated lessons to learn how to use your medium of choice, but that one should then create one's own style. He said in order to be an individual, you have to go your own way with it."
Erard's own way has included winning first place at the 2005 Crosby Festival of the Arts and at Best of Show at the 2003 Art on the Mall. Her pastel works have been shown at the 2005 Annual National Juried Competition of the Cincinnati Art Club and at the Marziart Internationale Galerie in Hamburg, Germany.
In addition to judging entries for the 2006 Crosby Festival and Art on the Mall, Erard is selling her paintings year-round at the Toledo Museum of Art Collector's Corner and at a Columbus gallery in the North Shore district. She may try something different with her work. "I have a desire to venture into what they call indoor landscapes," she said. "They're scenes from inside a home, such as windows and furniture and still life."
But her medium will stay the same. "I'm really partial to pastels," she said. "They're gaining a lot of respect and interest with collectors. I want to stay with it and see where it takes me."
A three-person exhibition featuring Erard's pastel artwork runs from March 27 through May 5 at the Parkwood Gallery, 1838 Parkwood Ave. An opening reception with the artists will be held on Friday, March 31, from 6 to 8 p.m.
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