Artists Pages

Alex Powers


Alex Powers Studio
401 72nd Avenue, Apt.1
Myrtle Beach, S.C. 29572
(843)497-7204
alxpwrs@yahoo.com

AlexPowersArt.com

Blue Nude: Oil and acrylic. Size:31 1/2"x 61"

Inspiration:".... My art buddy, Katherine Liu, made the most interesting comment that I have heard regarding this painting. In response to some good-hearted criticism by some of my art friends, Katherine Liu said," This painting is fine because this early painting shows a direction in which Alex will later go on. The one I object to is A Gull Flew By, which is too influenced by the artist Andrew Wyeth".

How Piece was Acquired: Purchased in 1971:Funds from Belk-Conway.


Ocean Forest in the Fog: Watercolor. Size:31" x 37"

Inspiration: The oceanfront Ocean Forest Hotel was one of Myrtle Beach's few landmark buildings. It was demolished. It was a cliché' subject to choose to paint, but at least I shrouded it in fog and subdued its image with the related sand fence.

How Piece was Acquired: Purchased in 1973


Dennis:, Watercolor. Size: 21 1/2" x 17 1/2"

Inspiration: "...Dennis was a model that I had posing for my local art class and for me. In most of my later portraits, I would choose an opposite relationship of figure and ground than the one that I chose here. At that time, I predictably painted the black face nearly silhouetted against the lighted background wall, using the values that I saw of the face and the background wall. Later I would not paint the obvious silhouette of the African-American face. Instead I would show that the model was Afro-American, which I think is less obvious and more intriguing approach."

How Piece was Acquired: Purchased in 1973:Funds from the Myrtle Beach Farms Company.


A Gull Flew By Watercolor, Size: 25"x 37"

Inspiration: "....without the influence of Andrew Wyeth, I may have given up painting in my early days. Wyeth has said that he may have done more harm to American art that any other artist. If this is true, it wasn't his fault. It is the fault of artists like me who stole his soul. He painted what I was seeing and feeling. It was not until later that I found my own way and that way is different from Wyeth's."

How Piece was Acquired: Purchased in 1975:Funds from the Waccamaw Arts and Crafts Guild.


Female Nude: Pastel Size:27"x 33"


Inspiration: "....my early training was Old Master-related for I began art from pedestrian beginnings and 'rigid' realism was the only was I knew. The lying down pose of the model made it intriguing for me. Could I represent the figure as it receded back into space?"

How Piece was Acquired: Purchased in 1976:Funds from James H. Burroughs Memorial Purchase Award.


Boat at Hughes Landing: Watercolor. Size: 22 1/4"x 29 1/2"

Inspiration: "....Hughes Landing at Murrells Inlet ,which is 10 miles south of Myrtle Beach, was a favorite painting location for me in the late 1970s. It offered rugged, yet accessible, subject matter for me. The ruggedness of the old boats and other boat-landing images did not fight my interest in loosing-up the representation of the objects that I was painting."

How Piece was Acquired: Purchased in 1979


Dock Fishing II Watercolor. Size: 32 1/2"x 40 1/2"

Inspiration: "....this won't mean much to the non-painter, but this painting was the first painting that I did on very smooth watercolor paper. Textured watercolor paper allows the wet paint to settle in the little valleys between the bumps of the paper texture. Smooth paper shows the evidence of every touch and movement of the brush with the opportunity for more surface texture and a looser paint quality, which I wanted."

How Piece was Acquired: Purchased in 1981:Funds from The Sun News


Current work:
One and All: Gouache,charcoal& pastel;2001, Size:30" x 40"

Inspiration: The painting won Best-in-Show at the SC Watercolor Society Annual Exhibition in 2001. "A general interpretation of the content of the painting is pretty obvious. There is a figure on the left by himself and a group of figures on the right. It means that we can stand apart for some of life's endeavors, but that we need to work together because we are all a part of humanity. Other viewers have interpreted it in more specific ways, such as the artist separated from society. Bringing your own agenda to a piece of art, of course, is fine. Alex Powers color print at the museum for the Web Site.

Acquisition: Currently for sale -set price- alxpwrs@yahoo.com


Links:
http://www.newbygallery.com
http://www.cityartonline.com

Artist's History:
Birthplace:
St. Charles, Virginia
Education:
Art Students League, Woodstock, New York
Cape School of Art, Provincetown, Massachusetts


Awards:
Purchase Award, Huntsville, Alabama Museum of Art, Watercolor USA Members Exhibition
4th Place Award in Louisiana Watercolor's Society's 2001 International Exhibition
Award in Southern Watercolor Society's 2001 Annual Exhibition, Columbia, South Carolina
Award in San Diego, California International Juried Watermedia Exhibition,2001
Award in National Watercolor Oklahoma Juried National Exhibition, 2001
2nd Place, Adirondacks, New York National Juried Exhibition of American Watercolor,2001


Best of Show Awards:
Rocky Mountain National Watermedia Exhibition, Golden, Colorado
Oklahoma Gala National Exhibition, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Southern Watercolorists Exhibition, DeLand, Florida Museum of Art.
Aqueous ¹93, Kentucky Watercolor Society National Exhibition.
American Watercolor Society 130th International Exhibition, New York, New York, Gold Medal, 1997.
Artists Magazine Art Competition 1999, Experimental Category.
South Carolina Watercolor Society's 24th Annual Exhibition, Hilton Head, South Carolina,2001
Kentucky Watercolor Society National Juried Exhibition, Louisville, Kentucky,2001


Invitational Exhibitions:
Face of America, Contemporary Portraits in Watercolor, Old Forge, NY Art Center
Republic of China, USA, Australia Watermedia Exhibition, Taiwan,1994
Nahan Galleries Art View Network, (computerized images of painting for art dealers), New Orleans, New York, Hong Kong, 1993
Art Communication International¹s Virtuosity: The Juried Exhibition, New York, New York, 1996
State of the Art ­ International Watercolor ­ East/West at Parkland College, Illinois Gallery, 1997
In the Spirit of Martin: The Living Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., 2001 and traveling exhibition, 2002
100 Years/100 Artists, South Carolina State Museum, Columbia ,1999-2000
Accepted in Watercolor USA 2001 Juried Exhibition


Shows:
Solo show at City Art, Columbia, South Carolina(November-December,2000)

Workshop Instructor:
Teaches about 12 workshops per year (including the Intensive Studies Seminar in Taos, NM, which he, Katherine Liu, Christopher Schink,Fran Larsen and Skip Lawrence organize each year)
Taught non-painting, 5-day workshop Art of the Last 30 Years for the third time.


Author:
Painting People in Watercolor, A Design Approach, published by Watson-Guptill Publishing


Included in Books:
Painting Faces and Figures by Carole Katchen
The Creative Artist by Nita Leland
Splash 2, Northlight Publ.,1993
Exploring Transparent Watercolor- by Gerald Brommer Davis Publ.,1993
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Watercolor, Watson-Guptill Publ.,1993
Enliven Your Paintings with Light by Phil Metzger, Northlight Publ.1993
Painting Light and Shadow in Watercolor by Skip Lawrence ,Northlight Publ.,1994
Color and Light for the Watercolor Painter by Christopher Schink, Watson-Guptill Publ.,1995
Creative Watercolor by Mary Ann Beckwith,Rockport Publ.,1995
The Best of Watercolor - by Serge Hollerbach & Betty Lou Schlem
New American Painting,The Open Studios Press,1997,1999
In the Spirit of Martin: The Living Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., William Morrow Publications, 2002


Included in Magazines:
American Artist, Watercolor Page, Feburary, 1995
The Artist Magazine, Mar. 1986, December, 1999
Watercolor, quarterly magazine by American Artist, 1994, Spring 2001
Watermedia Focus, quarterly publication by Christopher Schink and Skip Lawrence, 1995, 1999
Watercolor, quarterly magazine of American Artist, about the Intensive Studies Seminar, 1995
Watercolor Magic, quarterly magazine of The Artist Magazine, Fall 1996,Winter 1996,1998


Juror for Exhibitions:
Southern Watercolorists VIII, DeLand, Florida  Museum of Art,1993
Rocky Mountain National,Golden,Colorado,1992
Louisiana Watercolor Society International Exhibition, New Orleans,Louisiana,1994
Northwest Watercolor Society National Open Exhibition Seattle, Washington ,1995
New Mexico Watercolor Society Annual Exhibition,1997
Adirondacks National Exhibition of American Watercolors, Old Forge, New York,1997
National Watercolor Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 1999
Juried (with Charles Reid) and judged the Hilton Head, South Carolina. Art League's National Juried Exhibition, 2001
Juror of Awards, National Watercolor Society, Los Angeles, California, 2001
Sole Juror, Watercolor Society of Indiana Annual Juried Exhibition,Indianapolis, Indiana, 2001
Sole Juror, Portrait of the Day Juried Exhibition, Associated Artists of Winston-Salem, South Carolina ,all media, 2001


Collections:
Numerous private, public and corporate collections in US and abroad.

Gallery Affiliations:
Gallery on 8th, 714 8th Avenue North, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina 29577 (843)497-7204
Spratt-Burroughs Gallery, 19 North Congress Street, York, South Carolina 29745 (803)684-6419
City Art, 1224 Lincoln Street. Columbia, South Carolina,(800) 535-5908
Maralyn Wilson Gallery, 2830 6th Avenue South, Birmingham, Alabama (205) 322-4141
Design Consortium Gallery, 2012 Madison Road Cincinnati, Ohio (513) 321-1800
Karen Newby Gallery, 19 Tubac Road, Tubac, Arizona (520) 398-9662,karinnewby@aol.com
Gallery at Newcastle, 100 Queen's Court, Brunswick, Georgia (912)466-9791 jpowers@gate.net
Gallery A,105 Kit Carson Road, Taos, New Mexico (505) 758-2343,gallerya@taosnet.com
Corporate Art Source, Art Agent, Montgomery, Alabama,(334)271-3772
Alex Powers Studio, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina (843) 497-7204; alxpwrs@yahoo.com