Young at Heart: A Brush with the Past

Wednesdays, August 2, 9, 16, 23, 6:00pm - 8:00pm online in Zoom
During each two hour session, create a watercolor painting based on your own collection of personal and family photographs. Teaching artist, Wennie Huang, will begin each weekly session with a demonstration of watercolor techniques you can try from home to translate snapshots of travel, family, and friends into your own unique compositions. Just as the artist Frederic Church collected thousands of photographs throughout his life, participants will be encouraged to cull through their own collection of images and personal snapshots to find new artistic inspiration. This weekly series will take inspiration from students’ personal archive of photographs of places visited, people cherries, and memories worth revisiting. This program is designed for adults ages 55+ as part of Olana’s Young at Heart series.
This program is held in conjunction with "Terraforming: Olana’s Historic Photography Collection Unearthed." In addition to showcasing the work of contemporary artist David Hartt, Terraforming displays more than 130 historic photographs from Olana’s collection, illuminating the medium’s role in Church’s life and artistic creations.
Wennie Huang , PSA, received her BFA in Painting from Pratt Institute in 1994 and her MFA in Printmaking from the University of Michigan in 1996. Huang also teaches at Parsons School of Design, Wave Hill, and the Pastel Society of America. She has over 20 years of experience in art education and has taught a variety of children, teen and adult classes and workshops at 92Y since 2005. Her mixed media installations combine paper, wood, print, fabric and photography. Her work has been exhibited at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Wave Hill, Detroit Artists Market Biennial and in various NYC galleries. She has received grants from the National Endowment of the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the New School, private and public commissions including through NYC Percent for Art program, as well as residencies at the Lower East Side Printshop, Dieu Donne Papermill, Center for Book Arts and the Ragdale Foundation. She lives and works in Brooklyn.
All sessions will be held on Zoom with an optional site visit available to participants. A tech session will be available to those who are unfamiliar with zoom. A selection of basic materials will be provided to participants in advance of the program via mail. $250 for nonmembers/$150 for members. Advanced registration is required. Partial scholarships are available upon request. For more information email education@olana.org.
Photo by Wennie Huang