a drive by "arting"...

Thanks to Terry Zitrick-Dennehy of My Color Image Boutique and Gallery on Frazier Ave in Chattanooga as I got to meet Janet Helseth this morning. This meeting was because I'd asked Terri some weeks before about artists in Chattanooga who created figurative works. Janet creates drawings and sketches from live models and I wanted to meet her and learn more about her work.
So on my drive down to the gallery on the North Shore this morning I crossed the Market Street bridge and caught a glimpse (they're actually pretty hard to miss), two larger-than-life-size female figurative sculptures flanking the South side of th bridge. (the image here depicts one of these said sculptures one named "Spring" and one named "Summer" were created by Daud Akhriev and both were dedicated last fall. Sidebar, the City of Chattanooga purchased these sculptures and have met some controversy...of course.)
Well, Janet and I talked for over an hour and spoke of figurative art and its many controversial facets. (She clued me in on some of the controversy that surrounded the City of Chattanooga purchasing "Spring" and "Summer" for the bridge.) Heck our conversation spanned topics of artist mediums, lighting, creating figurative works from live model versus photos, interpretation of poses in said artwork, artist's choices of how they depict the female figure (melancholy, fearful, provocative, graceful, classy, and what makes up the variations of these). It was ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING this conversation!!
Many thanks to Terri for arranging this meeting and to Janet for her willingness to meet with me this morning. The real point being, that I met with Janet with the intent to commission her to create some drawings for my growing collection of original artwork.
HURRAY for art therapy in the form of discussion!!
(and yes, the cold temps are primarily keeping me indoors...but exploration and adventure can also be a simple matter of perspective.)
**** As a sidebar, I went back down to the same gallery this morning and met with Daniel Gill, another fab figurative artist! What a wonderful experience meeting artists here in Chattanooga!