How to go
What: Exploring Watercolor by Nita Leland’s students
Where: Hithergreen Center, 5900 Hithergreen Drive, Washington Twp.
When: Through Dec. 20
Hours: 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday; 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday
More info: (937) 435-2415; www.hithergreen.org; www.nitaleland.com
They all work with brush, canvas, paint and water; but the similarity stops there. “Exploring Watercolor” is like a visit to many countries, with various cultures, styles and language.
Hithergreen Center is showing off its senior art students with a wide selection of paintings that run the gamut from serious to frivolous, realism to abstract. At the helm of the watercolor class is artist/teacher Nita Leland.
“The thing I’m proudest of with this class is that I wanted them to work on original material and do a little bit larger works than they started with,” said Leland, who has taught art classes at the center since 2001. “All are working with different subject matter, and they all have unique styles.”
Like Karen Livingston, who painted a portrait of a longhaired cat, “Amazing Grace.”
“Karen painted a cat that she knows and she put in a very creative background,” Leland said.
Misuk Goltz painted a vibrant cityscape titled “South Park Cafe.”
“Misuk is quite an amazing Asian-American artist. She was taught to use a brush at a young age with calligraphy, so she’s very comfortable using a brush,” Leland said.
There are a total of 57 works in the show by 35 artists. Leland’s classes have grown by word of mouth. She started with 15 student in 2001 and now she has 30 students with a waiting list.
“We’re very proud of our art classes,” said education/recreation coordinator Rick Lewis. “We have one photography and four painting, and we rotate two-month shows for each one every year.”
Leland has written seven books about color, creativity and collage. All are still in print; three have been revised. She has a bachelor of arts in English from Otterbein College.
She has taken more than 70 classes and workshops in watercolor, drawing, design and applied arts. Besides Hithergreen, she has been an art instructor at Riverbend Art Center and Sinclair Community College.
Contact contributing arts writer Pamela Dillon at pamdillon@woh.rr.com.
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