Elizabeth “Liz” Amy Ohl Rhoades 1973 Reflects on her Art

 

Throughout my life, I was always the class artist. During my five years at Hamden Hall, I could always be found in the art building, making something out of clay or painting. Mrs. DeCarlo, the art teacher back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, had a profound influence on my life as an artist and nurtured my artistic spirit. My loving mother was a wonderful artist. She loved to draw from the model and was very good at it. Her drive to improve her own mastery was my role model and inspiration. She was very encouraging, and kept all the artwork I made. She had a close friendship with the Paiers of the Paier College of Art. Ed and Adelle Paier, who founded the school, were often at my home, as were many renowned artists, and I was always encouraged to pursue my art.

 

I found teaching art to be very rewarding and satisfying. When I earned a Girl Scout badge in third grade for teaching an art class to the kindergarten, I knew I had found my passion. I taught for 34 and-a-half years in Connecticut public schools after receiving my degree in art education from what was then Southern Connecticut State College, now part of the state university system. I continued with a master’s degree from Wesleyan University. I loved my career as an educator until the tides of change became uncomfortably contrary to my philosophy.

 

During the coursework of completing my 6^th level postgraduate degree, I took a course in dry pastel at Central Connecticut State University. That was back in 2001, and since that class I have been absolutely smitten by the pastel medium. Since retiring from teaching public school elementary art in June 2014, I have been focusing all of my energy on my second career as a professional full-time fine artist. Throughout the last years of my employment as an art teacher, I worked at my painting during non-teaching hours. By the time I retired I had garnered an impressive list of acceptances into highly competitive national group exhibits and was achieving prestigious “signature” memberships in significant art associations and clubs. Since my retirement, my work has been recognized with dozens of additional awards and important recognition. Just this past year, I received three separate awards for my paintings in the Salmagundi Club NYC and enjoyed several sales of my work there as well. I have also had great success at North Shore Art Association in Gloucester, Mass., The Rockport Art Association, The Lyme Art Association, The American Artists Professional League, Audubon Artists, The Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts in Mystic, The Connecticut Pastel Society, The Pastel Society of New Mexico, The Pastel Society of the West Coast, and The Connecticut Plein Air Painters Society. I am an elected or signature member of all of these organizations. In addition to my wide-ranging acceptances into highly competitive national exhibitions, and I have been juried into an impressive number of Plein Air Competitions. Having a coveted spot amongst the top painters in America has been extremely rewarding. I was a featured artist in Plein Air Magazine Oct/Nov 2016 edition, a publication that boasts the largest reader base of any national fine art publication. I was invited to exhibit at the Bennington in Vermont, in their every five-year show “Artists of the New Century.” I am presently looking forward to participating in an exclusive invitation-only artist retreat in Wyoming in June 2018. I now teach workshops in pastel painting and am always on the lookout for more opportunities to paint and exhibit my work.

 

I have always been a landscape painter, perhaps because I grew up in New Haven and longed for open space. I am drawn to the spirit of nature, what’s less important to me is manmade. My work is an expression of the connection I feel between the landscape and my inner being. I most enjoy a vista and painting water. The effects of sunlight intrigue me, although I enjoy painting a nocturne as well. I alternate between painting outdoors, in the moment, as I am a Plein Air painter at heart, and in my studio. My work is an emotional and spiritual response to the view or my digital reference, never just a copy of a photograph. I internalize the picture and express my feelings for the place. My work is painted from my heart.

 

I am married to my best friend. Kevin is a wonderful man who supports my passion, helps me, and encourages my art career. He makes my frames, and even paints with me so we can explore deeper off the beaten path. Together, we have had the most amazing adventures. Places we have experienced include Ecuador, Paris, England, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Puerto Rico, California, Mexico, Belize, Cozumel, and throughout the Northeast. He is my sweetheart.

 

I have two grown children from an earlier marriage. My son, Nathan, is an electrical engineer working in the Buzzards Bay area of Cape Cod. Recently, he solely designed and patented a device to improve billiard skills, the DigiCue which has met great success. His wife is a chemist. My daughter, Julie, is stationed at Beale AFB in Northern California. She is a second lieutenant in the Air Force, and her job has to do with space and satellites. Her husband is a fireman and emergency first responder.

 

I have already had a wonderful teaching career, and now I am on to a whole second life. I have it on pretty good authority that I shall live to be 100. That means mountains of paintings in my future. My plan is to fill the world with so much beautiful art that people won’t hesitate to choose a painting instead of a new TV. My work transcends the rapidly changing world we live in. My wish is that the generations to come can still enjoy what I try to save in my work. My words of wisdom for the next generation and ones to come is this: A job is not a career unless it involves your passion. If it is your passion, it will grow and change, and the work gets harder all the time. But a career gives you freedom, success, and satisfaction. If it is only a job you take, it will be predictable, steady, but lack excitement and advancement. Figure out what your passion is and don’t ever stop trying to master it.