Pastel Society of North Carolina

A group of NC who love to express themselves using soft pastels.

From the Pastel Society of America,

Claudia Seymour, PSA Signature member and President of the Salmagundi Club, NYC, has announced that Mrs. Flora B. Giffuni, founder of the Pastel Society of America, advisor in the founding of over thirty pastel societies, and patron of the Flora B. Giffuni Gallery for Pastels at the Butler Institute for American Art, will receive the Salmagundi Medal of Honor at the club’s President’s Dinner on April 23rd. This is the highest honor the 138 year-old artists’ club bestows upon an artist.

Rae Smith, President of PSA, Jimmy Wright, PSA treasurer and O. Aldon James, President of The National Arts Club, will give tribute to Flora at the dinner. Salmagundi President Claudia Seymour will present the Medal on behalf of the club’s Board of Directors and membership.

Flora is the person who introduced pastel to contemporary America. Artists, collectors, art material manufacturers, and publishers owe her a debt of gratitude for her non-wavering enthusiasm and generosity to the pastel community.

This year will mark a milestone birthday for Flora (90!). Though you may never have met Flora Giffuni, and if you are so moved, you can write her a note of congratulations on receiving this honor, care of the Pastel Society of America, 15 Gramercy Park South, New York, NY 10003.

(painting of Flora B. Giffuni by Joe Hing Lowe)

In 2009, we started a new trend of introducing members to a book or DVD at our meetings that has been helpful to one of us in developing our journey as artists. Mandy Roeing brought in Art Marketing 101 back in January and the publisher now has special pricing on the entire series of books.

More details on each of the titles at the ArtNetwork website.

Paint the quaint rural beauty of a charming town in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The Appalachian Pastel Society is sponsoring a Landscape Workshop with Jack Pardue from June 1-5 in Brevard, NC. The fee is $400 and there will be a limit of 16 students. For information or to register contact Everett Schmidt at (828) 884-7699 or Jack Pardue at (703)-765-2622.

From Jack Pardue’s website:

Jack welcomes all levels of participants in his workshops. Students will learn to paint in an impressionistic manner and to isolate a specific portion of the landscape without being overwhelmed by the expansive view before them. They will also learn the importance of an accurate but loose drawing with competent composition / design before moving to color and value. Jack will give individual at-the-easel instruction throughout the workshop. There will be daily demonstrations & critiques. Class members will gain lots of ideas on color techniques and ways to loosen up their pastels.

Download the application form.