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Ad Code: 4
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An example of work by Izzie Barth
Artwork images are copyright of the artist or assignee
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This biography from the Archives of AskART:
| The following was submitted June 2004 by the artist of Chalfont, Pennsylvania:
I was born November 13, 1931 in Reading, Pennsylvania. The farthest I went to school was 12th grade. I was always interested in art. Being a product of my generation, my parents said they could not afford to send the girls to college, so take the secretarial course. I did that, married at age 20, and had four sons.
About 1962 I took oil paint lessons at a local high school. In 1964 I became pregnant with my fourth child, so I concentrated on raising him and left paints behind. In 1974 I decided on getting back to painting. I decided to use acrylic because I hated the smell of oil paints in the house all the time. (I was probably allergic to them). I went to a class and started with the acrylic. In oils and water colors if you mix the same two colors, the results are almost identical. I had these 'rules' in my head. I hated the colors I was mixing. And, my teacher Marcia Weikert said she was also unfamiliar with them and she could only critique my work. She offered to let me try her watercolors. I did and was hooked.
I went to a new teacher, Kass Morin Freeman, about 1980. This woman knows more about watercolor than most. She taught things I had never heard of. She taped up all my paints that had black in them. I started mixing colors without black and learned how much fresher a painting was. In one of our sessions she said that the next week she would show us watercolor 'tricks', and she showed us many techniques and told us to choose one.
I chose an instrument called 'the spray fixative' tool, or in her words, "The poor man's airbrush". I had also read an article by Herb Mahaffey about this technique. I tried several things for homework. I was excited. When the next class arrived she told me, "I think you've got something here".
My technique: I do my drawings on tissue paper first. This eliminates erasing on watercolor paper. When I'm satisfied with drawing, I trace it to the water color paper. I then apply Frisk Film over drawing. I cut out a stencil. I mix my water colors in small jars. From the jars I use the spray fixative attachment and spray the painting. This causes little dots of color to appear. The closer you spray, the bigger the dots. I start lifting the pieces that will be the darks, moving through the middle shades to the lightest. In a perfect world I am able to get what I want just by painting all the colors one on top of another, to get the real darks.
Occasionally I have to replace some stencil pieces. With this technique you never make "mud" as in cases where you overpaint with a brush. Most of my paintings need a bit of brush work to finish.
I love this style. I've won many awards. I belong to at least eight art associations.
I just remembered something. The spray fixative tool has a three inch hollow stem that I place in the color containers. It is hinged and has a two inch mouthpiece to blow through. You blow through the mouthpiece to get color to paper. I had no idea how it worked until an engineer told me I was creating a vacuum.
The following supplementary information was submitted by the artist in 2006:
Exhibitions include:
"Continuing the Bucks County Landscape Tradition," Bianco Gallery, September 2000
E.T.S., Princeton, New Jersey (solo), January, February 2000
Annual Bucks County Artists Exhibit, Golden Door Gallery, New Hope, PA, Jan. 1997
Daylesford Abbey Annual Show, 1992, 1993
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, April 1993
Handcrafter Gallery and Studio, Telford, PA (solo), May 1993
Art Association of Harrisburg, Featured Watercolorist, Six Person Show, August 1993
St. Francis de Salles College (solo), Octoer/November 1993
Juried Show (International):
American Watercolor Society, April 1998 (Chiara Memorial Award), 2005, 2006 (Ogden/Pleissner Award)
Philadelphia Watercolor Society, October 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2005 (Holbein Award)
Northeast Watercolor Society, September 1992, 1993, 1995 (President's Award), 1997 (Award), 1998 (Award), 1999, 2000
National:
Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, October 1993 through 1994 (Award), 1995 through 1998(Award), 1999, 2001, 2002 (Schriever Mem. Award), 2003, 2005 (New Jersey Watercolor Society Award)
Pennsylvania Watercolor Society, September 1993 through 1999 (Award), 2001, 2003
Midwest Watercolor Society, August 1993
Baltimore Watercolor Society, May 1993 through 1999, 2001(Framing Award)
Kentucky Watercolor Society, August 1998, 1999 (Award), 2002, 2003, 2005
Salmagundi Club Non-Member Art Exhibit, May 1995, 1996 (Award), 1998
National Association of Women Artists, 1997 and 1998
Art Association of Harrisburg, April 1992 and 1994
Adirondacks Ntional Exhibit, August 2000
Audubon Artists, Inc., September 2000 and 2001
State:
Art of the State-Harrisburg, PA, June 2003
Regional:
Bianco Gallery Annual Juried Exhibition, June 1994, 1996
Philadephia Sketch Club, June 1992 through 1994 (Grumbacher Medal), 1995 (Hon. Mention), 1996, 1997, 1998
Lehigh Art Alliance, 1992, 1993, 1995 through 1999, 2001 through 2005 (Air Products Foundation Award)
Phillips Mill Annual Fall Exhibit, September 1992 through 1996, 1998, 2005
Doylestown Art League 1985 through 1994 (Award), 1995, 1996 (Award),1997 (Best in Show), 1998 through 2001 (Best in Show), 2003, 2004 (Hon. Mention), 2005 (First in Watercolor)
Oreland Art Center, 1991 (Prize) through 1994(3rd Prize), 1995 (Award), 1996, 1997 (Spealer Memorial Award), 1998 through 2001
Woodmere Art Museum, April 1993, 1994, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002
Coryell Gallery, 1992, 1993, 1998
Banana Factory-Abstract Show, February 2000
Greater Norristown Art League, 2001 (Honors Award), May 2002 (Merit Award), 2003, 2005
Louisa Melrose Gallery, October 1999 (Hon. Men.), March (Best of Show) and October 2000 (Best of Best of Watercolor), March (Second Place) and September 2001
Berks Art Alliance, July 2002
Perkiomen Valley Art Center, Inc., 1997 (Hon. Mention), November 1998 (2nd Prize, Watercolor), 2000, 2004
Her work is represented in several corporate collections, including: The Dietrich Foundation, Philadelphia, PA; Dontech, Inc., Doylestown, PA. Also in private collections in the U.S. and Europe.
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