The Professional Artists of St. Augustine (PAStA) Fine Art Gallery, of 214 Charlotte St., St. Augustine, has announced an inspirational, educational and purely fun Abstract Art Workshop to be held at the gallery from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 6. All materials are supplied, and attendees may want to bring either an art smock or apron. Attendees can sign up at pastagalleryart.com/events. The cost of the event is $20, plus taxes and fees. Snacks will be provided.
“If you have ever found yourself in a museum staring at an abstract painting and saying to yourself, ‘I don’t get it,’ then this is the class for you,” said Jenny Keyser, artist member and workshop instructor. “Not only will we give you a background and history on this game changing art form, but we’ll explore our own abstract ideas in paint on paper, so you too can take home your own abstract art masterpiece.”
The concept of abstract art and its art form have been around for more than 100 years. This radical art form is rooted in Impressionism, post-Impressionism and Cubism. These artistic movements led to the general belief that art could be non-representational, meaning there was no actual reference to “real world” objects. Many instead, insisted that abstract art was created from the artist’s interior “feelings” and the paint, collage, sculpture, etc., evoked that feeling, allowing viewers to transcend the representational and experience their own unique feeling.
Keyser is an award-winning artist whose work has been shown internationally in galleries and museums, and has been acquired by the Joan Flasch Artist Book Collection at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland, Oregon. Her paintings consist of watercolor, colored pencil, acrylic paint and oil on archival paper or canvas.
Recent shows include Works on Paper at the Long Beach Island Foundation for the Arts and Sciences as juried by Esther Adler curator at MOMA; Loss, Redemption and Grace at EBD4 in Atlanta; and Lon Art’s Sheroes Revoluciones London exhibition. Additionally, she is the founder of the Mother Art: Revisited collective, which has had recent shows in both London and Scotland. She teaches children through adults across the United States. Her formal education includes a B.S. in biology from Vanderbilt University, a certificate in Museum Studies from Northwestern University, and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
