The tradition of painting returns to Gettysburg National Military Park

WASHINGTON DC, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES, October 5, 2017 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Gettysburg National Military Park, in cooperation with the non-profit National Parks Arts Foundation (NPAF) and the Gettysburg Foundation, announce Pennsylvania native Susan Semenick’s artist-in-residence for October - November of 2017. She will be among the artists this year to represent the Arts Revolver theme, which welcomes artists whose work combines the techniques and disciplines of several arts. Ms. Semenick will reflect on her art and residency at an Artist Showcase Presentation at the David Wills House in downtown Gettysburg on Friday, November 3, at 5 p.m.. The event is free, and open to the public.

Ms. Semenick was born into art; indeed, her mother was herself an artist, and inspired Ms. Semenick to create art from an early age. Now, after a long career, Ms. Semenick still looks back fondly at her time as a little girl, watching and admiring her mother’s capable hands.

While Ms. Semenick’s first love was art, her second was science. She was torn between pursuing an art major or one in biology while in college, and though the art faculty tried their best to change her mind, Ms. Semenick ended up completing her Bachelor’s Degree, and later her Master’s, in biology - a subject she taught for 33 years. After Ms. Semenick retired from teaching, she opened her own art gallery in central Indiana’s Hendricks-County town of Danville, and served as a board member at the prestigious Stutz Artists Association. She’s been a finalist for Watercolor Magazine’s American Artists Cover Competition, and has worked as Artist-in-Residence at Crate Lake National Park in Oregon. Her extensive background in landscape painting has made her an obvious choice for residency at Gettysburg, in whose hallowed and beautiful fields she played as a child.

Ms. Semenick will address her career and her work - in particular the painting of portrait and figure, a subject that has long been one of her favorites. She is meticulous in her work, spending hours on each preliminary sketch, and minimalist in her technique, employing a limited palette of bold colors and only one or two brushes. She notes that, “so often, watercolors are small, delicate pieces of work”, an idea she likes to dispel by creating “large, bold pieces” in the genre, using multiple washes and glazes, and finally building the intense medley of colors that has become something of her signature.

Programs like Gettysburg National Military Park’s artist-in-residence series, in which acclaimed artists find inspiration from the beauty and history of our national parks, and agree to share their ideas with park patrons, represent some of the highest aspirations of the National Park Service. “Gettysburg National Military Park has offered inspiration to artists for more than 150 years,” said Bill Justice, acting superintendent at Gettysburg National Military Park. “The Artist-in-Residence program continues the tradition begun by artists like Alexander Gardner, Alfred Waud, and Gutzon Borglum, while simultaneously engaging our visitors and telling this story in new and compelling ways."

This year is the FIRST YEAR we have introduced program themes to the Artist in Residence programs, in order to diversify the interconnection of the arts with broader demographic inclusion, including U.S. Military vetrans. These programmatic themes will alternate through 2017 & 2018 :

U.S. Military Veterans Artists in Residence: During January, July and November 2017, Gettysburg’s Artists in Residence bring U.S. Veterans to Gettysburg NMP for a unique and historical perspective of those who serve our country.

Arts Revolver: The months of these AiRs are open to any and all artistic media including cross-overs or hybrids with any of the other programmatic themes represented in the other months of Gettysburg Artist Residencies. This is for all artists in all artistic media.

ALEMBIC ARTS (New Media) – this includes many varied and mixed arts media: virtual reality, film, photography, augmented reality, computer imaging, and any and all combinations of these in themselves, or in combination with classic art media.

LiterAudiArts: NPAF’s most fascinating theme focuses on many and all aspects of speech: words, sounds, song, and music. A few examples of this are POETRY, screenplays, spoken word, environmental recordings, sound art, wall of sound experimentation.

The National Parks Arts Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to the promotion of the National Parks of the U.S. by creating dynamic opportunities for artworks that are based in our natural and historic heritage. This project is supported by the Gettysburg Foundation and other generous benefactors. NPAF National Park projects are supported entirely by donation and generous partnerships.

All NPAF programs are made possible through the philanthropic support of donors ranging from corporate sponsors and small businesses, to art patrons and citizens- lovers of the parks. NPAF is always seeking new partners and donors for its wide-ranging philanthropic programs.

For more information on how you can support the Gettysburg National Military Park Artist in Residence and other NPAF arts programs nationwide contact :
Website : www.nationalparksartsfoundation.org
Email : admin@nationalparksartsfoundation.org
Phone number : 505-715-6492
For more information about Gettysburg National Military Park “Artists Presentation” call 717-338-4469.

Cecilia Wainright
National Parks Arts Foundation
505 715-6492
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