Right from the 1st, challenge. the van Gogh "Wheatfields with Cypress", the public has added an invigorating, integral component. The van Gogh took place in one day from 9 am to 3 pm. The stream of visitors was steady from start to finish. When the bell rang, we already knew that a second year was going to happen. 

The above picture is from year 5 when "American Gothic" by Grant Wood. To celebrate, we added a curveball. Russell is especially enthusiastic both with thinking them up and execution. To spruce up the Woods, we had to do it in the style of another artist. We all picked different victims, er, dead artists. The artists in residence above from left, Russell, in black shirt/tan shorts , Barbara, JoAnn and Leo intensely working or mingling with our guests. 

We like to approach our works in a lighthearted by meaningful manner. For instance, we sometimes refer to our chosen dead artists as our victims, in the best way possible. Our goal is not to reproduce, but to respectfully interpret our victims' artworks. 

At our fall planning meeting, we discussed how to honour our esteemed founding member, Enid Baker, who passed away in the fall of 2019. There hasn’t been a challenge without Enid. It seems fitting to remember by incorporating something symbolic of our friendship with Enid. I like to talk art in general so telling what icons I’m using is part of my fun. In the Ripoff Artist group Enid used 2 main media, quilting and painting. In the Harris Lawrence challenge, she painted three artworks in three different styles! She honed her art quilting skills with the much talented Fabricators quilting group. No more suspense: I will somehow incorporate a sewing needle, a paintbrush and a swirl of purple, which is a hair colouring trend Enid started years ago. 
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Our featured dead artist for July 2020 is Marc Chagall and “Blue Circus”, the Tate painting. Chagall used symbols known only to him in his works. It was enough for him to work in this personal manner. This was an ‘aha!’ moment for me when I read this in my research about Chagall. How serendipitously did we match our dead artist in the spirit of using symbols! I have high hopes for this July’s challenge at the Quail’s Nest Arts Centre.

We've added a blogging feature to our website in order to post newsworthy items about our Ripoff Artist activities. Please stay tuned. 
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