“Tangled Up in Blue” by Julie San Felipe
The following article was submitted by the Rahr-West Art Museum as a part of their Art Forward series.
Artist Julie San Felipe will teach two workshops at the Rahr-West Art Museum on July 19 in conjunction with the Road Trip exhibit now on view at the Rahr-West Art Museum. San Filipe will teach two classes: a teen class focused on Celtic Calligraphy and an adult class where she will focus on her watercolor calligraphy technique. She is excited to share the meditative aspect of the calligraphy and see modern interpretations of the ancient tradition.
Julie San Felipe is based in New Berlin, just outside of Milwaukee. She has been painting her whole life; professionally since the late 1990s. She has always been inspired by nature, especially the sky, the Irish language (she is Celtic), Irish dancing, and yoga.
Her work in “Road Trip” employs a method she has honed over the years that combines watercolor, collage, and calligraphy. In college she took a calligraphy class with artist Leon Travanti (coincidentally, Travanti’s painting “The Acrobat” is now on exhibit on the first floor of the Rahr-West Art Museum’s mansion) and used the skills from that class for years to make her Christmas Cards each year. They were all originally in black and white and soon she had the urge to add some color. She experimented with using colored inks but found she wanted more freedom and range of color.
She finalized her current technique after taking a class with artist Thea Kovak, who taught her a trick with gum Arabic and watercolor medium that made the watercolor paints more fluid and easier to work with. Since, she has been combining whimsical figures with calligraphy.
San Felipe is often inspired by poetry and notes Edgar Allen Poe, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Byron, Shelley, Tennyson, and Yeats as favorites that have inspired her painting. Lines of Petrarch are painted throughout her painting “Tangled Up in Blue” which was awarded 2nd place in the Road Trip exhibit. She particularly is inspired by poetry that implies movement. She likes her figures to express energy which she emphasized by putting spirals on their joints.
Narrative poetry also shows up in San Filipe’s work, often featuring various figures. In some degree, she believes her work to all be self-portraits. Other figures are characters from poetry, some are figments of imagination, and there is always a story behind her figures.
Course Details:
Teen Class: Celtic Calligraphy with Julie San Filipe
Tuesday, July 19, 2022, 2:00 – 3:30pm
$5 RWAM Members/$10 Non-members
Students will try their hand at Celtic calligraphy with artist Julie San Filipe, who is featured in the League of Milwaukee Artist’s Road Trip exhibit at the Rahr-West Art Museum.
Adult Class: Watercolor Calligraphy with Julie San Filipe
Tuesday, July 19, 2022, 6:00 – 8:30
$25 RWAM Members/$35 Nonmembers
League of Milwaukee Artist Julie San Filipe will demonstrate her method of watercolor calligraphy and guide you through making your own watercolor calligraphy piece.
Register online (https://apm.activecommunities.com/manitowoc/Activity_Search?txtActivitySearch=art&applyFiltersDefaultValue=true&cat=Activities) or call (920) 686-3090.
“Road Trip” will be on exhibit in the Ruth West gallery of the Rahr-West Art Museum through August 28, 2022. Get more information on visiting at rahrwestartmuseum.org and more information about the League of Milwaukee Artists at milwaukeeartists.org.
