Sunday, November 3, 2019

Getting started in the art world.

Artists often ask each other how they became interested in becoming and artist.  The most common answer is that they were told as a child that they had talent drawing.  Although I enjoyed drawing, I never thought of myself as an artist.  The desire to be a painter and print maker came during my senior year in high school.  For talking in class, I was held in after school detention.  When I was released, the hallway was empty except for me and the abstract expressionist Charles Seliger.  He and his mother had a small business creating and selling hand painted silk scarves which they sold to
such stores as Henri Bendel  and Saks Fifth Avenue, plus a few stores in Greenwich Village.  Charles, and he was always Charles, not Charlie or Chuck, asked if I was taking an art class.  Yes.  Would I like to learn how to paint silk scarves?  Yes.  We would chat about the art world, while his mother complained we were not paying attention to our work.  Charles encouraged me to visit all of the art museums in New York City.  I was hooked.  Art world here I come.

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