A Message from our president
Meet our President
Joan Larson MPAC, SFCA
I have been the PAC President since 2021 and an active member and PAC supporter since 2013.I’m also a 40 year veteran of working with pastels almost exclusively in my professional career as an artist.I first fell in love with pastels when my son was born (he is 43 now). I needed a medium that I could put down and leave at a moments notice and of course that brought me to pastels. Initially I thought of pastels as “drawing with colour” but that changed decades ago into what I consider a far more apt description of “painting with pure pigment.” That is what brought me to pastels but what keeps me here is the incredible inexhaustible range of expression that this medium offers to its fortunate devotees. I am now pushing the boundaries and working more experimentally with pastels. Whether it is through underpainting using any number of different liquids and substrates, using liquid fixatives as a painting medium or applying barrier coats of fixatives (to avoid glass) this medium continues to fascinate me. It is my love of pastels that motivated me to accept this position within PAC and it is my mission to further educate both artists and the viewing public about the beauty of this timeless medium we call “pastels.”
Kathy Hildebrant is the PAC Past President
Curent and Previous messages
What an Unusual Time This Is
How quickly things change, and you realize your control over the world around you really is an illusion.
End of Year Update
End of Year message With 2019 coming to a close
Jurying the Pastel 100 competition
I recently had the privilege to jury the Still Life
The Lowdown on IAPS
Over 750 pastel enthusiasts attended the IAPS 13th Biennial convention
Inspiration Abounds!
WOW!! What a hectic and inspiring couple of weeks I just had!
Mentoring
There are many ways to grow as an artist. Taking regular classes, attending workshops and most importantly, practise, practise, practise! But there is one way that can be invaluable to longer term growth, and that is having, or being, a mentor.
Winter 2019 Update
I hope everyone’s 2019 is off to a good start and you are getting many opportunities to paint. I usually find the winter months to be more productive for me, but this year has been an exception so far.
Why Still Life?
Among many other things, I’ve been asked numerous times why I paint still life? Why not landscapes? Why not figurative or narrative works? Why not florals? My answer is always the same – “because I enjoy it!”
The Importance of Volunteerism
Our cross-country membership comes with some unique challenges; how to serve the members in different areas, staging exhibitions and workshops that benefit all members and communicating information of interest and relevance to the pastel medium. To do that, we need willing volunteers from across this great country.