Experience art this weekend

Iolans this weekend have two chances to experience art first hand.
On Saturday, Winfield artist Callie Seaton will hold a free public demonstration of her abstract oil techniques at the Creitz recital Hall in the Bowlus Fine Arts Center from 10 am to 11:30 a.m.
“I’m going to show the kinds of tools I’m using, including brushes, a palette knife and a brayer,” which is used to spread ink in printmaking, Seaton said. Seaton also uses “a shower squeegee, plastic putty knives and good paper towels to make marks on the paint.”
Although the tools she uses elicits ideas of thick pastes spread upon a surface, “I’m not using a heavy coat of paint,” Seaton said.
“I’m doing a lot with transparent colors,” she said, “Which allows you to achieve more fine detail. It’s like using more water in acrylics,” Seaton said. And although she uses oils, “I don’t use turpentine,” Seaton said.
Seaton paints flat, so she plans an intimate demonstration, with Iolans watching over her as she works.
“I like squares,” She said. “I like the format because even if you’re painting something that’s just barely abstract, (the square shape of the canvas) helps you get that idea of abstraction across.”
On Sunday, a reception for Seaton will be held at 2 p.m. at the Bowlus, when she will give a talk about her work.
Seaton, from Winfield, moved to Kansas in 1974 after growing up in Maine. She returns to Maine twice a year, she said, both summers and winters, and is inspired by landscapes of both states.
Seaton said Maine’s coastline is rocky, and “I love painting the granite quarries. There is a lot of reflection off water — basically, its pretty dark.”
In Kansas, she favors plein air painting in the Flint Hills. Both landscapes become shape and form and color in Seaton’s abstract works.
“I don’t start with anything in mind,” she said. “I just go for it and then I have to reign things in and come to a conclusion.”
“I’m really free with color,” Seaton said.
Both Saturday’s demonstration and Sunday’s reception are free and open too the public.