Barn Studio and Pat Witt

This is a magical woman; a force of nature in the world, but in particular, in Southern New Jersey.  The light in which she is  enveloped is from "The Art Spirit." For almost 50 years Pat Witt, founder of The Barn Studio of Art, has been imbued with the Art Spirit, and a passion to pass it on to generations of children and adults, through her art classes. In honor of her life of dedication to the Arts and her community, Pat has been declared the official "Artist Laureate" of Millville, NJ.

 I fell in love with Pat when I was about 17, and she was about 28. She is 10 years and 1 day older than me, and we maintain a tradition of having dinner together every February, to celebrate our birthdays, sip Martinis, talk "Art," and chuckle at the thought that everyone in the restaurant surely assumes we are lovers.

 

Last Year Pat and her daughters, Nancy and Carol, decided to offer to students of The Barn the first "Maurice River Intensive Landscape Painting Workshop." Here you see one of the instructors, Jill Rupinski, doing a pastel demonstration, inspired by the lush pond, at the Barn.

 

Throughout the week morning demos by instructors were followed by a very full day of painting by students, "En Plain Air, at a variety of locations in the Maurice River Valley.  Here is a demo done by me, in oil, looking out over the Maurice River. (Oil on panel, sold to a collector.)

All of the students were from South Jersey, and were prepared for the hot afternoons of
painting along the Delaware Bay. Here we were painting the East Point Lighthouse, in water color. 

At the end of the intense and informative week, we had a well attended showing of paintings created by the students and instructors, in a gallery in Millville. The Workshop was a success, and this year's Workshop
will be held from Sunday 11 July thru Saturday, 17 July, 2010. For information go to Barn Studio.org or call 856-825-5028.  Sign up. Learn. A guaranteed good time will be had by all.