April M. Rimpo Art: exhibitions

Showing posts with label exhibitions. Show all posts

Saturday, April 24, 2021

"Fishing Day"

Fishing Day by April M Rimpo

I grew up with a father who loved to fish. He didn't get to do it terribly often, but when he did he was the happiest I ever saw him. He either went out on a boat he owned with one of my uncles or went to a quiet spot, without the chaos shown here on this fishing pier. My mother's father was also a huge fisherman. He loved to fish on the Jersey shore, just standing on the shore in his waders. I heard so many times about his love of fishing and saw so many pictures of him that I feel like I saw him out there, but in reality I don't think I ever actually saw my grandfather at the shore. It's interesting how family stories become real images to us. His sons followed in his footsteps in their love of fishing as did one of my uncles sons, who still fish nearly daily, one still in waders in New Jersey, the other now in Florida.

Although my family didn't fish off of fishing piers, I find the interaction and camaraderie on this pier mesmerizing, where fishing is almost a team sport.

Fishing Day was selected for the Watercolor Art Society of Houston's exhibition in 2019 and for the Illinois Watercolor Societies 37th National Exhibition 2021.

Interested in April's artwork or taking one of her classes? Consider becoming a Studio Friend by signing up for her weekly email. April segments her newsletter so you can select topics you'd like to hear about when you sign up. For those who Select the General Interest topic you will receive emails about twice-monthly. If you are only interested in classes, then the emails will be much less frequent discussing upcoming classes and how to register. Thank you for your support of April M Rimpo Art. Oh, and please be sure to click on the link in a second email to verify your interest in joining my newsletter. Without the verification you will be left in a limbo state where you will not receive my emails and I can't complete the verification on your behalf. If you receive a response that you are already subscribed, email me to confirm and I can send you a different link to update your profile and get the verification email resent to you.

Contact April and see more of her art on her website

Thursday, September 5, 2019

Art Reception of Work by Students and Faculty at Columbia Art Center

Student/Faculty Show at Columbia Art Center

April's paintings included in this exhibit are:
Coming in for a Landing, Family Day, and A Cheery Place

Join me at the Opening Reception and Pot Luck on Sept 14, 2-4pm. On the evening of the reception there is an opportunity to vote on your favorite work. An award will be granted to the artist with the most votes.

This exhibition celebrates the work of the Students of Columbia Art Center. Attend the reception and vote on your favorite student piece. 2-D and 3-D art will be on display. April plans to have 3 paintings representing her Fun with Fluid Acrylics classes taught earlier this year.

Interested in April's artwork or taking one of her classes? Consider becoming a Studio Friend by signing up for her twice-monthly email. April segments her newsletter so you can select topics you'd like to hear about when you sign up. For those who Select the General Interest topic you will receive emails about twice-monthly. If you are only interested in classes, then the emails will be much less frequent discussing upcoming classes and how to register. Select as many topics as sound of interest. Thank you for your support of April M Rimpo Art.

Contact April and see more of her art on her website

Saturday, January 12, 2019

Creative ART Coaching - How did we get here?

Elaine Weiner-Reed and I met nearly 20 years ago in an art workshop sponsored by the Laurel Art Guild and taught by Joe Mayer. He was a very well known and accomplished artist in Maryland. I don't recall the exact title of his workshop, but in essence his workshop was about finding your artistic voice. He had images of a wide variety of famous artists posted on the wall. He had us decide which of these images spoke to us the most and told us to think about why. He, of course, gave a great deal of other input that day. We were to do a painting from our own reference material in a style consistent with the image we selected.

Elaine and I were sitting near each other and interacted a little during the day. By the end of class I remember Elaine looking at my painting and commenting that I should definitely pursue that direction in my art because she loved the result.

It turns out that Elaine and I supported the same customer in our day jobs, but we didn't discuss that at that first meeting, nor did we have any interaction with each other in a business relationship. Our only continuing connection was through the Baltimore Watercolor Society, since we were both members. Even that connection was fairly superficial, but I knew I really enjoyed her company from the beginning. It wasn't until about 5 years ago that we reconnected and became friends.

At that time I had retired to pursue my art full time and she was planning to do the same. We spoke one day at an exhibit reception and discovered our common backgrounds and paths forward. We started to meet with each other periodically and a great camaraderie began.

Our paths into art and our direction in our work are extremely different but we are equally driven by our new art career paths and give ourselves wholeheartedly into this adventure.

Our endeavors overlap in our desire to share our art and expertise through our blogs. We've both participated in numerous National, International, and solo exhibitions. I spent the first four years in my full time art career refining my skills by painting five days per week, spending countless hours reading art marketing and business blogs, attending art business webinars, and participating in a two year Art Business Academy lead by Jason Horejs of RedDotBlog. Apparently the results of this hard work were noticed.

Over time organizations have reached out to me to give presentations on a variety of art business topics. I recognized that the time spent preparing to do a better job on the business-side of an art career positioned me to help other artists. I designed a few two-hour presentations and full day course, which has morphed itself into a course with three, half-day sessions.

Elaine has been called a critical thinker, problem-solver, and "idea person." One of her strengths lies in helping others discern and fine-tune their unique voice, personal style, and creative vision. Elaine is a contributing author for the creative living-focused blog Live An Artful Life, her art-related blog posts include a three-part piece From Artist to Art to Art Shows, Building Bridges with Art, and Risking Everything For A Great Painting. She has participated in over thirty five International and National exhibitions.

Elaine and I have grown to understand that bringing our vision and expertise together results in a partnership that is greater than the individual pieces. Our different perspectives on art and the horizons that can be achieved allow us to offer a unique experience. We are now offering Creative ART Coaching.

Creative ART Coaching with Elaine Weiner-Reed and April Rimpo is designed to be an interactive session focused on helping serious artists looking to bring their art and their art business to a new level.

If you feel stuck in achieving your professional goals, whether it is increasing your exposure through shows and exhibitions, planning a solo exhibition, building a portfolio, finding a gallery, or understanding what people mean when they say they are looking for "a consistent body of work," our goal is to provide you with insights on how to get beyond your current hurdles.

Our first Creative ART Coaching session is scheduled for May 15, from 1 - 3:30PM Eastern Time. This session will be held at Slayton House, 10400 Cross Fox Lane, Columbia, MD 21044, in the Bill White Conference Room. Click here learn more about our coaching session.

More information about these coaching sessions will be announced through my email newsletter. Sign-up here. April segments her newsletter so you can select topics you'd like to hear about when you sign up. For the Creative ART Coaching session, select Interested in Creative Coaching.

Contact April or see more of her art on her website

Wednesday, September 5, 2018

An Adventure in Raleigh: Touring Art Galleries

This adventure started when a friend of mine told me about a gallery in Raleigh, North Carolina where she thought I might be able to have a solo exhibit. It is 311 Gallery at 311 W. Martin Street. I looked up their website and discovered they hold several national exhibits each year; one of these is a Landscape and Seascape exhibit. Although my friend reached out to the owner to direct him to my website, I thought it might be a good idea to apply for this exhibit to see whether my art was selected and how it would do in the show.

City Reflections II, Tenement, and Fresh Fruit to Go by April M Rimpo

City Reflections II by April M Rimpo

My painting City Reflections II was selected by the panel of jurors and will be on display from September 6 - 29th at 311 Gallery. I wanted very much to attend the reception for this exhibit and meet the owner, however the reception is the evening of September 7th. I am teaching a class on September 8th here in Maryland so the timing doesn't work. Another option was to either deliver the art or pick it up from the venue at the end of the exhibit. I opted to deliver the art, so my husband and I drove to Raleigh last week.

Before leaving, I researched other galleries in Raleigh and came up with a list of three galleries, in addition to 311 Gallery, that I wanted to visit. Much to my delight, when I delivered my work, the owner of 311 Gallery offered me a map of galleries in Raleigh and suggested four others he thought I should check out that were in the same downtown area. The three I had selected were included in his recommendations. Considering that I started with a list I found on the internet of over a dozen galleries, I was proud that my own selection overlapped with his.

My husband and I spent the rest of the day wandering from gallery to gallery. My goal was to try to get a feel for each gallery to see if I was interested in any of them as a possible representative of my art. For most, I introduced myself as an artist who had delivered a painting to 311 Gallery's Landscape exhibition and that I was just interested in seeing more art in Raleigh. I said nothing about being interested in representation. I wanted to see how they treated me and others who wandered into the galleries and also spend some time seeing how the art in the gallery correlated to mine.

When looking for a gallery, I want one that has a variety of art where I believe my art is within the boundaries of what they have selected to represent. In other words, consistent with the other work while not being so similar that it would compete directly with art that gallery already carries. I also pay attention to media. Some galleries prefer a specific medium, such as oil paintings, and nothing else. Since I do watercolor and acrylic paintings, it is likely they will not be interested in my art, although that alone would not rule them out as a gallery to approach. I also pay attention to how the artwork is priced and whether they only carry local artists' work or only nationally known art.

One of these galleries rose to the top as one I should definitely reach out to for representation. They were busy that day taking down a show to install another pop-up event that would occur the next night. Although they were very busy, the owner took time to talk to me and describe the upcoming event. She even talked to us about the hanging system she uses to hang work in her gallery, which has 15 foot tall ceilings. I was pleasantly surprised that she stopped what she was doing when she was so busying preparing for the next day. That demonstrated to me that anyone who visits her gallery is no doubt treated with genuine interest and welcomed.

One, which was my favorite when I researched their website, was disappointing based on its size, presentation of the art, and my overall reaction of the space. It was in what appeared to be a historic house, but smelled quite musty and damp.

The one I had not found myself is in the process of working with a potential buyer; the owner is planning to retire as gallery owner and focus on producing her art and teaching workshops in Europe. I also received some input on the health of the art market in Raleigh, which was great to learn and consider before approaching a gallery for representation.

The nicest surprise during my tour was when I stopped at the Artspace Gallery, where there are a large number of studio artists. As I was wandering the halls I saw the work of Ryan Fox, who is a fellow watercolor artist that I have come to know through Facebook. We often have work selected for the same national exhibitions and both know each other's work. I immediately hunted for his studio and found him working there. We had a great time visiting, since we had never actually met face-to-face. My sweet husband wandered down the hall to kill time while Ryan and I talked. I also had a nice conversation with another artist that I didn't know, who was in her gallery waiting for a canvas to dry and contemplating her next steps. She and I chatted for some time about art, national exhibits, and her art. Although I am not sure whether a gallery like Artscape is the right answer since I am not local, the great experience made me include them as a place I needed to understand better. They do have a membership that includes remote artists that I need to understand.

All in all it was a very helpful trip that gave me lots to think about. I'm waiting to hear from a galleries I approach in Annapolis just before heading out on this trip, so the result from that gallery will determine what I do with the Raleigh galleries. I only want to add one more gallery at this time and Annapolis, being closest, is my first choice. The close proximity will make delivery simpler.

A wonderful post script to my trip to Raleigh. I found out that my painting, City Reflections II, received the Second Place Award in 311 Gallery's Landscape and Seascape Exhibit. My thanks to the jurors of selection and awards.

Click here to Contact April

Interested in learning more about April's art inspirations, tips about her painting process, or art business tidbits? Want to know when her art is in exhibits? Consider joining her friends and collectors by signing up for her twice-monthly email.

Sunday, July 1, 2018

"Main Street" 9" X 12" Acrylic on Canvas

April M Rimpo standing under her painting, Main Street.
See the little red dot on the tag? It was sold at the reception.

Main Street by April M Rimpo

Main Street

9" X 12" painting

14" X 17" frame

$360

SOLD

Through the Howard County Arts Council Gallery
8510 High Ridge Rd, Ellicott City, MD 21043

Re-Create Ellicott City Benefit Exhibit

July 9 - August 17, 2018

How can you help Ellicott City artists on the road to recovery? Visit the Howard County Center for the Arts to see our Paint It! Ellicott City show and the Re-Create Ellicott City Benefit Exhibit. A percentage of sales goes to the Re-Create Ellicott City Grant that will provide funds to artists and non-profits recovering from the May 27th flood. April is contributing 75% of the sale of this painting.

Contant April here

Sunday, April 29, 2018

Feature Exhibit at HorseSpirit Arts Gallery

After a little over a year with HorseSpirit Arts Gallery, I am delighted to be featured in the gallery, from May 6 through May 27, 2018, along with Alice St. Germain-Gray.

Alice St. Germain-Gray’s creative expressions merge both art & science to produce delicate and evocative pieces born of fire and glass. Her art has been featured in numerous publications, and she is a sought after contributor in workshops and conferences with national and international artists.

I share stories of places I've visited through my paintings. Some pieces are an amalgamation of various places, bringing the essence of each together to create an emotional expression, rather than a representation of just one. It is important to me to use color to express my feelings about a place, so

my color palette varies with my emotions. Here are a few of the 24 paintings you will see at HorseSpirit Arts Gallery during May. HorseSpirit is located at 8090 Main Street, Ellicott City, Maryland.

Glacial River by April M Rimpo

Paddling by Aprl M Rimpo

The Dugouts by April M Rimpo

Dinner Line by April M Rimpo

Snack Time by April M Rimpo

Caboose by April M Rimpo

I'd love to see you at the gallery. If you can't attend on May 6th, let me know when you plan to visit and I'll try to meet you there.

Purchase through HorseSpirit Arts Gallery

410.461.3505 info@horsespiritartsgallery.com

Open 6 days a week (Closed Tuesdays)

April’s paintings can be found in several editions of Arylicworks: The Best of Acrylic Painting and in the 2018 edition of Splash19: Illusion of Light, Best of Watercolor.

Click here to Contact April

Interested in learning more about April's art inspirations, tips about her painting process, or art business tidbits? Want to know when her art is in exhibits? Consider joining her friends and collectors by signing up for her twice-monthly email.

Friday, April 6, 2018

"Construction Rhythms" 12" X 20" Fluid Acrylic

Construction Rhythms I by April M Rimpo

Construction Rhythms

Fluid Acrylic

12" X 20" painting
18" X 27" bronze-tone metal frame

$960

Artist's Artwork Statement

Construction Rhythms was a fun painting to design. Whenever you have figures in scene they become an automatic focal point. Deciding where to place them was the challenge. I also loved the ladders and orange lifts, but didn't want them to take precedence over the men. After playing around with different croppings I decided to use this Cross layout, placing the standing man next to the crossing point. He is also between the two orange lifts, which are color spots that will automatically attract your eye. I'm hoping the man on the lower-right platform is a happy surprise.

I love the patterns of the construction platforms, the ladders, and the architectural lines; so I decided to incorporate additional subtle patterns in quieter passages of the building to repeat those shapes.

For the color scheme I decided on a triad of blue, orange, and yellow. Browns are considered part of the yellow family and can be mixed using combinations of blue and orange. The grays were combinations of all three elements of the triad.

Construction Rhythms received the 3rd Place Award in the MFA 2018 National Online Exhibition "Working for a Living"

Construction Rhythms was also exhibited in the Illinois Watercolor Society's 34th National Exhibition, May 3 - May 24, 2019

Also see Digging a Hole - another painting of men at work

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

A Presentation on "The Art and Science of Acceptance into Juried Shows"

A local fine arts association asked me to give a talk on getting into juried exhibitions. Some of their members were aware that my art has been selected into several National and International exhibits in the last several years.

Many years ago I had taken a one-day workshop on the jurying process which included a panel of jurors who reviewed art provided by those present to select an imaginary exhibition. Before they provided their selections they explained the jurying process, including the speed with which images are viewed. Each image is seen only for a couple seconds, two or three times, while the selection is made. They presented the images to the audience just twice at the typical speed and asked us to select just 10 image to be included in a show. Then each of the five jurors presented their choices. It was easy to see that several of the jurors had a few of the same images in their selection. I was delighted that I had some of the same images. This workshop taught me a few things:

The selection process is very subjective (since each juror had different criteria they used to select the show), but most of them were looking for pieces they thought would make a cohesive show.
There are some qualities in artwork that do cause people to pay attention and those pieces had a higher probability of being selected.

I went home feeling much better because I understood how many excellent pieces didn't make the cut and that you should not let a "not selected" decision make you stop entering exhibits.

As I've started to move from entering local exhibits to National and International exhibits, the number of entries and quality of entries has increased. Often jurors speak about their choices while providing some rules of thumb on what they look for. Over the years I've been able to learn what types of things make a difference. What are those qualities that make a piece stand out on the National scene.

Some of these are no surprise:

Your ability to technically handle your medium must be excellent. This will not guarantee your work will be selected, but if technique is lacking you will likely not be selected.
Your piece needs to have something unique that catches the juror's eye. Design, perspective, color choices, and high value contrast are some of the characteristics that will make a difference. Every piece doesn't have to have all of these, but some combination that will make the judge think, "Hey that's different and I want to look at that some more."
Emotional content in the piece is another attribute that is hard to explain but can make a difference. What I mean by this is that the painting is not just a pretty picture but it also says something: tells a story or makes a statement about something.

Samples of April M Rimpo paintings
selected for Major Art Exhibitions

Spend some time examining your own work to see which pieces have been selected for shows and which pieces have received awards. This analysis doesn't have to take a lot of time, but will probably teach you a lot and help you focus on what you enter. If you haven't received awards, then spend some time looking at the pieces that did get awards and try to understand what made them stand out. You may not like the work, but try to get to the essence of what may have made it special to the judge. Whenever possible attend receptions to hear the juror speak; it will be informative. This doesn't mean you paint subjects you don't care about or change your style. You have to paint what you love.

In my talk I'll expand on these concepts and use my work to illustrate my point. I'll also discuss other aspects of entering exhibitions that might help you figure out the right exhibits for your work. Costs and time commitments will also be covered.

Update: There was a great turnout at this program with lots of good interaction through questions and comments. I think everyone was surprised that I had them be the jurors of a simulated show. I presented 20 slides of art. Each slide was shown 3 times for 3 seconds each time. Their job was to familiarize themselves with the entries on the first pass; eliminate half on the second pass; and downselected to 3 images on the last pass. The top 3 most-voted-on images were then discussed in terms of how they corresponded to typical jurying criteria.

Comments like, "I spent months working on a piece and the juror looks at it for 10 seconds?" told me the message got through. No one should every feel pain from rejection since your time in from of the juror is very short and extremely subject. I did elaborate on tips that might help their chances of being selected.

Saturday, January 6, 2018

Exhibit at Children's National Medical Center

January 10 2018 - March 31, 2018

The Children's National Medical Center

West Wing corridor

A Taste of Touchstone

111 Michigan Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20010

Buyers are to contact directly with Greg Scott, Gallery & Exhibit Coordinator, at the Children National Hospital.
25% OF SALES GOING TO CC&TAS/CNMC

This exhibit features a variety of artwork by members of Touchstone Gallery. We each have a small sampling of our art intended to nurture wellness for the patients, their families, and the staff.

Creative & Therapeutic Arts Services Coordinates the Gallery & Exhibit Space

Children’s National has provided artistic programming to patients, families and staff since 1978. Our Creative & Therapeutic Arts Services team of professionals brings the cultural and healing arts to over 10,000 patients annually regardless of condition. Our mission is to integrate the expressive arts, therapeutic animal visitation, the performing arts and healing space design with traditional medical practices to foster a holistic health experience where patients may continue their learning and growth development process during their hospital stay. Our goals are to foster an atmosphere of cultural tolerance, promote wellness through self-expression, support patients and their families during a difficult time, offer patients choice and variety, and create an aesthetically pleasing environment…all through the power of the arts.

Bumblebee
Watercolor
22" X 15", available framed in a 27" X 20" brushed silver frame.
$500

Lakeside

Acrylic on Canvas

9" X 12" painting in a 14" X 17" frame

$325

The Conservatory

Watercolor

18" X 12"

in 24"X18" brushed silver frame with white mat

$600

Thursday, October 5, 2017

COLORFEST - Mini Shows within BIG Show at Touchstone Gallery

April's Paintings included in COLORFEST
"Race", "Free Living", and "The Orator"

The October Member Show at Touchstone Gallery is

COLORFEST

You can purchase one of these paintings here.

Touchstone artists burst with color along with the Fall foliage. Get to know your local arts community as each artist displays a micro-show of selected artwork. Each artist’s personal style and color selection creates a cohesive presentations of their art and individual points of view.

It is great to have more than a single piece on exhibit this month. I helped to hang this exhibition and love how each artist has a micro-show that holds its own within the whole of the larger exhibit.

To see larger images of these pieces go to my Touchstone Gallery artist's page.

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Lakeside and Standing Tall VI 9X12 plein air paintings

Lakeside by April M Rimpo

Lakeside

Acrylic

9" X 12" in

14" X 17" frame

$325

Purchase Lakeside Now

What a perfect paint out as part of the Columbia, Maryland 50th Anniversary celebrations. The weather could not have been better. Temperatures ranged from 60 - 70 during the day with a lovely breeze. The views were incredible around Wilde Lake. Painters had the option to paint at either Wilde Lake or Lake Kittamaqundi in Columbia, Maryland. The turn out by local artists was great. So many people came by while we were painting. Such lucky residents to live near all of theses wonderful scenes.

Standing Tall VI by April M Rimpo

Standing Tall VI

Acrylic

12" X 9" in

17" X 14" frame

$325

Purchase Standing Tall VI Now

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