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Art students re-create the classics
Students can learn much from imitating the ‘old masters,’ who, as instructor Michael Molnar pointed out, ‘already figured everything out.’ Top of page: Student Lorraine Elias painted ’Breezing Up,’ Bernadette Harrison painted ’The Nut Gatherers,’ and Jean Miller painted ’Sunflowers.’
AIMEE DILGER photos/THE TIMES LEADER
Art student Harry Grozio II, who is wearing a jester costume, and his wife, Dolores, admire some of the artwork on display in the ‘Old Masters’ 10th-anniversary exhibit.
AIMEE DILGER/THE TIMES LEADER
The jester is a big fan of weather.
Actually, Harry Grozio II of Hanover Township is not a full-time jester. He’s an art student who likes to paint rainy scenes, and he happened to wear a purple costume – complete with a white mask, a wild hat and bells on the turned-up toes of his shoes – to a gallery reception last weekend.
Lots of students sported Renaissance-style togs to Luzerne County Community College’s 10th annual “Old Masters” exhibit, in honor of the era during which such famous artists as Renoir, Raphael and Goya painted their original works.
The exhibit, set to remain on display in LCCC’s Schulman Gallery through Nov. 30, includes pieces by the art students of Michael Molnar, who assigned them to copy such original works as Bouguereau’s “The Nut Gatherers,” Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” and Caillebotte’s “Paris, A Rainy Day.”
Grozio, 61, painted that last one, taking care to make the cobblestones look wet and giving the passing Parisians plenty of umbrellas.
“There are no people; there are no buildings. It’s all shapes,” he said, explaining an artistic viewpoint to a bystander who tended to see the picture as a collection of people and buildings. And umbrellas.
Grozio also painted Remington’s “Howl of the Weather,” in which a handful of brave sea-farers struggle against the waves.
“Look at the motion (of the water),” he said. “They’re trying to beat the weather.
“Everybody talks about the weather, but you can’t do anything about it. I paint the weather.”
Other students also chose topics that interested them, with Lorraine Elias, 63, of Plymouth opting for “Breezing Up.” The painting shows three boys in a boat, and they don’t appear to be experiencing the problems of the older sailors.
“They look like they’re having a good time,” Elias said.
Using a very different style, Jim Lyons of Sweet Valley painted “Vanity” and “The Faithful Colt,” which depicted, respectively, a rose with a skull and a Colt handgun.
Lyons, 28, is a tattoo artist as well as a painter and said the rose, the skull and the gun would all translate well into body art.
Another student, Bonita Mattick, 61, of Shavertown, found herself attracted to images of traditional beauty, whether it was a ballerina in Degas’ “Fin d’arabesque” or a close-up of the goddess from Botticelli’s “Arrival of Venus.”
“I learned a lot about the basics and being organized,” Mattick said of Molnar’s class. “He’s all about keeping your palette very nice and clean. If you’re organized, your painting will be organized.”
The instructor also stresses the techniques that can be learned from the “deeply respected group of artists loosely referred to as the Old Masters.”
“Many artists are losing out on these valuable lessons,” Molnar said. “Artists don’t feel they have time to study previous artworks, because they are locked into their own styles. Copying the Old Masters has opened my mind to new techniques and ideas I wouldn’t have considered.”
Art-lovers who attended the opening reception seemed impressed.
“What talent!” Virginia Davis of Forty Fort said. “It’s amazing, what he gets out of his students.”
Before the evening ended, by the way, Grozio’s jester outfit took first place in a judged-by-applause costume contest.
His reward is a castle-like picture of a “Renaissance Tower,” which Molnar painted in the style of his former teacher, Maryland artist Joseph Sheppard.
“I’m going to put it in my studio,” Grozio said, adding he was excited to win and thinks his trip to a Bloomsburg costume shop was definitely worthwhile.
IF YOU GO
What: ‘Old Masters,’ works by Michael Molnar’s commercial-art students in the style of the Old Masters
When: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays until Nov. 30
Where: Schulman Gallery, Luzerne County Community College, 1333 S. Prospect St., Nanticoke.
More info: 740-0730