FVCC professor showcases 40 years of student art

Forty years of dedication to watercolor students at Flathead Valley Community College will be on display at the Bigfork Museum of Art and History starting this Friday with the museum’s January show featuring the students of Karen Leigh.

The show, “40 Years of Watercolor,” will consist of over 60 watercolors, all painted by her current and former students, spanning four decades. The exhibit will hang from Jan. 9 to Feb. 2, and then travels to FVCC for the month of February.

Leigh said the majority of the works are done by students who have become well-known in the art community or have made a career out of creating watercolors. One of those artists is Carol McSweeney, who took a class from Leigh about nine years ago.

McSweeney was a school psychologist at the time, working for the Whitefish School District.

“My original purpose (for taking the class) was to learn to facilitate a better art medium for kids,” McSweeney said. “I used to use art materials to give kids a way to communicate more effectively than just talking.”

Since that first watercolor class, McSweeney switched careers and made painting her primary source of income. She has won awards in national art shows and the painting she submitted for the show is called “Back to the Barn.”

McSweeney painted it two years ago and it follows along the lines of what she focuses on in her paintings, figures that pertain to the west. Three cowboys are walking away from the viewer and talking on cell phones in the painting.

She often photographs cowboys before painting them. McSweeney said she often notices they are doing nontraditional things and that was the inspiration for “Back to the Barn.”

McSweeney said Leigh was able to give her a good view of the many aspects of using watercolors.

“I think that she was able to provide a really great foundation for understanding the use of watercolors and its properties,” McSweeney said. “And I think that encouraged people to find their own directions artistically.”

Leigh is an artist with work included in the collections of Beringer Wineries, ConAgra Industries and the Smithsonian. She said she continues to teach because it provides a much needed balance for her.

“The students keep me energized and keep me reaching beyond my comfort zone,” Leigh said. “I organized the show this way because I thought it was the best way to celebrate 40 years, not to showcase my own work but to show off the work of students.”

In 1972, Leigh approached Flathead Valley Community College Dean of Students, Dr. Bruce Johnson, about the possibility of teaching a summer school class in watercolor. She plans on teaching long enough to have a 50 year anniversary show with even more student work to showcase.

She gains pleasure from seeing many of her students mature into people with skills so fine that they have entered the world of producing artists, selling their work, teaching, exhibiting in shows and galleries and winning prizes.

“I am excited about this show,” Leigh said. “To have a reunion with my “tribe” will be wonderful and to see their work up in this nice space will be a thrill as well.”

An artists’ reception, which is open to the public, will be held on Friday, Jan. 11 from 5-7 p.m. A Silpada party, hosted by local Silpada representative Karen Weaver and art museum Board member Lou McGuire, will be held during the reception. Silpada is a company that carries unique, hand-crafted Sterling Silver jewelry. All proceeds from the party will go to the museum.

For more information, call the museum at 837-6927.