Peggy Zehring has a large following of artists who have studied with her over the years at The La Veta School of the Arts in La Veta, Colorado and at La Conner Art Workshops in Mt Vernon, Washington near Seattle where she teaches every summer. We think it is becoming a “School” or “Movement” of related work, which is inspired by Wassily Kandinsky’s philosophy of art in the early 1900s. Kandinsky believed that art was “true” when it expressed an inner idea. He famously said in his book, Concerning the Spiritual in Art, originally published in 1914: “The artist must…watch only the trend of the inner need and hearken to its words alone.” As you will see, each artist’s work represents a unique, individual expression of his or her inner self, the essence of Kandinsky’s philosophy.The artists featured at the website www.InnerIdeaArtists.com are juried in by Peggy Zehring. All of Peggy’s students are welcome to submit work, which will be used to contact galleries for shows and to sell art online.
Mary Sewell Cooper was represented by www.art-exchange.com at the Red Dot Gallery in conjunction with Art Miami. Her art, featuring Bird of the First Tree 1, was inspired by images relating to Mayan creation mythology. The art was part of art-exchange.com’s digital media presentation at the show and is also available in a DVD. Her art can be seen on www.art-exchange.com, as well as on her own website www.marysewellcooper.com.
Peggy Zehring has received a Special Recognition Merit Aware for artwork in the “7 th Annual Color: Bold/Subtle Juried Online International Art Exhibition” hosted by Upstream People Gallery in Omaha, Nebraska. This exhibition received approximately 300 entries from around the world and 58 artists were selected by juror Larry Bradshaw, Professor of Art at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Professor Bradshaw states “Peggy Zehring of La Veta, Colorado is able to mix color in with thick impasto effects. ‘Harnessing the Yoke’ is quite rich in the highly saturated palette enhancing the character of the shapes. The sixty-six inch vertical arrangement is impressive.” The exhibition will be featured online for 12 months from December, 2009 at www.upstreampeoplegallery.com. Her art can also be seen on her own website www.PeggyZehring.com.
Mary Sewell Cooper, who has studied with Peggy Zehring for 6 years in her Experimental Drawing Classes wins Special Recognition Merit Awards for two of her paintings at the Upstream People Gallery in Omaha, Nebraska in their 11th Annual International On-Line Abstraction Exhibition. Art Professor Larry Bradshaw at the University of Nebraska at Omaha states,”Mary Sewell Cooper of La Veta, Colorado uses acrylic and collage in delicate yet strong works on canvas in two works: The Antelope Doctor is In and Running Bear, capturing a richness in abstract terms.” www.upstream-peoplegallery.com
November 6, 2009 - Frederic (Fred) Bender of Denver has a solo show at Artist’s On Santa Fe during Denver’s Art Walk on Santa Fe. Fred has been taking Peggy’s Experimental Drawing classes for five years and has developed his own unique style of stain painting on unsealed canvas. Peggy and other students, including Mary Sewell Cooper, Steve and Lana Wachterman, Maya Wachterman and Judy Wartel, joined Fred to celebrate his first solo show. It was attended by a huge crowd of people who turn out monthly May through November at the Denver Art Walk on Santa Fe. We had a great time and had a wonderful dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant across the street.
We would like to know about your experience in any LVSA workshop you took this year, including the adult workshops and Fridays For Fun for kids. We also would like to know about your experience in La Veta/Huerfano County when you took the workshop to help us collect information for the Huerfano County Tourism Board. A grant from the Tourism Board helped us start this blog. All the information will be grouped and no names or other identifying information will be included. We also welcome your comments as a blogpost. comment
THE LA VETA SCHOOL OF THE ARTS DRAWS TOURISTS FROM EAST TO WEST TO SOUTHERN COLORADO
The La Veta School of the Arts (LVSA) is located in the heart of Spanish Peaks Country, spanishpeakscountry.com, in the lovely little town of La Veta, Colorado, nestled at the base of the Spanish Peaks on the Southeast Front Range . Peggy Zehring, an internationally known artist from Seattle with an MFA from the University of Illinois, Chicago, and student of Elaine de Koonig, started the school ten years ago as a non-profit “designed to administer quality educational experiences in the arts for people of all ages, emphasizing creativity, originality and personal expression.” Peggy’s personal website is peggyzehring.com. The school has built very successful, high quality art workshop programs for both adults and children, and have been cooperatively involved with the community and public and private arts organizations in the region. Our website, thelvsa.org, includes brochures for adults and children and information about the school. Check it out.
“I have been involved in
art all my life but did not consider myself a serious artist until I took
Peggy Zehring’s one and two week classes called Experimental Drawing/Painting Workshops. I found myself painting images directly from my unconscious, which speak to me and others in an amazingly powerful way.”
Mary Sewell Cooper, Artist
“FRIDAY’S FOR FUN, Children’s Art Programs offers Music, Painting, lots of fun for youth during the summer tourism months! ”
Jill’s Painting Class 
