Lady in White by Mary Qian |
Mary Qian
Growing up in China, Mary Qian spent her free time poring over art books and teaching herself to paint. But although painting was her passion, she studied science instead, even attending dentistry school for one year. “I always liked art, but it’s hard to get into art schools in China,” she says. Her parents, both scientists, had a friend working at Brigham Young University; with their blessing, she decided to move to the United States to study art.After graduating from BYU in 1998, Qian moved to Salt Lake City, where she’s gaining recognition for her subdued, Baroque-inspired figurative paintings like Lady in White.
She’s won numerous awards in competitions around Utah, including a merit award at this year’s Springville Museum of Art Spring Salon. Now 27, Qian works full time as a graphic designer and devotes five hours each night to painting. On Saturdays, she and a group of fellow artists spend the morning painting figures and the afternoon painting landscapes or still lifes. “Everything is just starting for me, but it is getting exciting,” she says. “I look forward to improving my art skills—that is the most important thing to me.” Qian is represented by Creekside Gallery, Park City, UT, and Scottsdale, AZ. —AH
Charles Waldman
After a quarter-century as a physician specializing in family practice, Californian Charles Waldman retired from medicine last year to devote himself to painting full time. Painting is no hobby for Waldman, however. In fact, for the last decade he has been a professional artist attracting the attention of galleries and collectors. While practicing medicine, Waldman also practiced painting, beginning in 1988 when a friend, landscape painter Heine Hartwig, suggested that he give it a try.
Curtis Creek Autumn by Charles Waldman |
“I’d always liked to sketch but had never pursued art before,” says Waldman, who spent a year receiving weekly instruction from Hartwig. Next Waldman was accepted into a workshop with artist Clyde Aspevig. “I started painting outdoors then and have been doing so ever since,” he says. Leaving his medical career has given him more time to paint, travel, and study with other artists. “Painting is pretty intense—one of the more tiring things you can do,” he says. “But even when I’m tired it’s hard not to get excited about it.” Waldman is represented by Heritage Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ; De Bruin Galleries, Naples, FL; Vault Gallery, Sonora, CA; Phoenix Gallery, Topeka, KS; and Trails West Gallery, Ketchum, ID. —MB
Jerry Greenberg
A Summer View by Jerry Greenberg |
Jerry Greenberg has had several careers—advertising executive, film producer and director, insurance executive—but he’s always wanted to be an artist. To that end he has spent a year studying with artist David Caton and taken workshops from such well-known painters as Michael Lynch, Scott Christensen, Clyde Aspevig, and Quang Ho. Greenberg started to experiment with pastels after working in oils for many years and quickly found an ease of expression that had eluded him in oils. The Houston artist travels throughout Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, and California in search of beautiful landscapes. Of A Summer View, Greenberg says, “I was driving down Highway 1 south of Carmel, CA, when I came around a bend in the road and suddenly saw all this color. I nearly drove off the road. The ice plants turn such dramatic shades of red and orange.” Greenberg took lots of photographs of the scene and made sketches to use as reference when he later painted the piece in the studio. He is represented by Harris Gallery, Houston, TX; Barbara Able Gallery, Santa Fe, NM; Morseburg Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; and Metropolitan Gallery, Austin, TX. —KB
Featured in “Artists to Watch” October 2000