After competing with a growing number of events in August, the Jackson County Art Walk has decided to move its annual art walk up a few months to next weekend.
From 4 to
7 p.m. Friday, April 27, guests are invited to visit the art walk in Holton to
see local artists’ works, sit in on demonstrations and create their own art.
This
year’s featured artist is Martin
Bourbeau, a Rossville artist with a peculiar painting style.
Bourbeau doesn’t use paint brushes, referring to his pieces as “paint
sculptures.”
“I use a
palette knife on the background and what I do is I start on the very furthest
point back on the canvas and I just start building out,” he said. “I’ll build
out with these pastry bags. ... And the paint comes out of the canvas anywhere
from 2 to 3 to 4 inches off the canvas.”
Bourbeau
will be featured at More than Lemons, a gallery and studio at 424 Pennsylvania
Ave. After the art walk, he will host his class, “Sip and Squeeze,” where
guests can bring beverages and learn his painting technique.
Starting
out, Bourbeau said, he never believed he could sell his art. He began creating
in high school. His wife, Mary Bourbeau, said she remembers the intricate
wooden sculptures he used to make. While attending boarding school in Michigan,
Bourbeau learned about glass blowing, sculpture, sketching and painting.
After
moving to the Rossville and St. Marys area, Bourbeau began considering being a
full-time artist. He was working as a surgical orthopedic technician, and after
realizing it was possible to make a living selling his pieces, he began
weighing the possibilities. It has been about six years since he made the
transition, and he now says he could never go back.
“We had a
little rough patch, so I did a short two-month stint at a factory,” Bourbeau
said. “I can work 12 hours a day with a big giant smile on my face out here (in
my studio), as opposed to working eight hours in a factory. It was just
miserable.”
Many of
Bourbeau’s early works were more abstract floral pieces, but as he expanded his
customer base, he needed to expand his body of work. Bourbeau’s collection
includes animal paint sculptures, city skylines, nature pieces and a line of
desert pieces.
“He does a
10-week art expo in Scottsdale, Ariz., and I think that more than anything else
has really influenced his work,” said Mary Bourbeau. “There’s a huge demand for
desert life paintings in the Scottsdale area, and to meet that demand he really
opened up into that new desert area. Without it, I don’t think he would have
ever gone down that route.”
Bourbeau
will oversee and instruct 10 students at his class after the art walk and will
provide a pre-painted background for students to build upon. The class costs
$110. To register, call Mary Bourbeau at (586) 453-8942.
Other
featured artists at the Jackson County Art Walk are Joshua Cochran with his
fantasy-style artwork; Chuck Watson, who specializes in glass and ceramics; Lea
Heryford, displaying acrylic abstracts and watercolor landscapes; and Kathleen
Cobb, showing oil and watercolor landscapes and cityscapes.
For more
information, visit the Jackson County
Art Walk Facebook page.
You can watch Martin paint at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZXxXB49Mn8&feature=youtu.be
