Not Just a Painting Class 2024
"Not Just a Painting Class"
Show Dates: September 20 - November 3, 2024
Open House & Artist Reception, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024 5-8pm
Description:
The painting classes that have been taking place on Robin Caspari’s scenic farm aren’t just art classes anymore. They have morphed into an artistic community. There is a feeling in the air that is openly acknowledged, a duty to create, and the group speaks louder than the individual. The gathering has a soul all its own, and this has propelled each individual into a deeper understanding of the search for artistic freedom, potentiality and capacity. On a regular basis, new students emerge, and old ones pass on, but there is never a skip in the step, never an interruption in the rhythm. All is one, and one is all. It is a truly magical experience.
A note from instructor Robin Caspari:
It all started as a class with an instructor. Over the years, I had gained such a remarkable amount of knowledge from training with master painters; I clearly had an obligation to pass on this special wisdom. The classes started as a group of about 5 painters once a week. Within a few years, it had blossomed into 4 classes a week with 12 students in each. Then all of a sudden, we had a wait list of 15! What was happening? “Classes” had turned into something different. It was now a community; it was larger than me or any individual painter that was attending. As with most communities, we all created a bond, we all started learning from and trusting one another, and we all shared a similar comradery as artists living in and negotiating a sometimes not so artistic society.
As a painter, I never imagined I would become a teacher, and quite frankly never even really wanted to. Then it all just happened. Here is the amazing magic for me:
- I had no idea that I would become a MUCH better painter because of my students. This is an understatement.
- I had no idea that I would be propelled to study more in depth because of my students.
- I had no idea that my students would feed my creativity in ways I could have never imagined before teaching.
- I am indeed the largest beneficiary of this incredible, gracious and giving community of artists.
Because of this, I completely feel uncomfortable calling them “my students”. It is so clear and evident that I am as much of a student as they are. I am truly indebted to each and every student who has crossed my path, and I rarely go a day without feeling gratitude for that fact.
This collection of paintings is a glimpse into the small world we have created together. I hope you can look at this work through a new veil of understanding; an enlightened state that these paintings emerge from a magical and inspired space that is shared among the group.
~Robin Caspari
