2005
Artists' Registry Exhibition
September 10 through December 11, 2005
More than forty paintings and pastels are featured in the American Kennel Club Museum of the Dog's Artists' Registry Exhibition, which opens in the Special Exhibit Gallery with a wine and dessert reception on September 10. Artists Bob Bertram and Joan Williams of St. Louis, Missouri, and C. T. Biggers and Vivian Moody of Atlanta, Georgia, will be available to meet visitors and answer questions about their art.
The AKC Museum of the Dog maintains an Artists' Registry that includes biographical information on over two hundred artists available by commission for dog portraits or dog-related art. By invitation, works by members of the Artists' Registry are highlighted in special exhibitions held annually.
Bob Bertram's distinctive art of sporting dogs is quickly making him a favorite with collectors, especially gun dog enthusiasts. His work has appeared on the covers of The Pointing Dog Journal and Covey Rise and will soon be on the covers of The Upland Almanac and The Shooting Sportsman, which listed Bertram among the top dog artists in the country.
Working in the medium of oil and acrylic, Bertram's highly finished canvases portray sporting dogs in highly detailed landscapes that beautifully depict the natural terrain of the hunt. Color, light, and contrast are important factors in Bertram's paintings. Although Bertram's main interest is gun dogs he has also painted other breeds. "I love the challenge of painting any dog, regardless of its breed or pedigree," says Bertram.
The Bertram family shares its home with two Gordon Setters, Ember and Coal, and "two rather catlike dogs."
Further information about Bertram and his sporting dog art is found on the artist's website: www.bertramgallery.com
Joan Williams lives in St. Louis with her husband and their German Shepherd dogs. She has trained and exhibited German Shepherds and other breeds in AKC obedience trials and the show ring for over twenty-five years and is also an American Kennel Club obedience judge. Williams works in oil, acrylic, pastel, and gouache depicting dogs in a realistic style. She attended Washington University School of Fine Arts in St. Louis and Kansas University in Lawrence with a major in painting. Williams's artwork has been exhibited at The AKC Museum of the Dog in juried competitions and in 2005 she was invited as a judge for the national juried art competition, The Art Show at The Dog Show, held annually in Wichita, Kansas. This event is organized by the Sunflower Cluster clubs.
"An artist should paint what they love, and for me that is dogs, " says Williams. "To generalize, I like to portray the canine in a beautiful manner and sometimes in a whimsical way. I have been known to add Swarvoski crystal to dogs on my greeting cards."
Williams has a line of greeting cards featuring a variety of breeds and sells her art once a year at the German Shepherd Dog National Specialty, which in 2005 will be in North Carolina.
C.T. Biggers was born and educated in North Carolina and moved to Atlanta, Georgia, in 1961. Her artistic career began in the early 1980s when she studied stone sculpture and clay, later moving from three-dimensional works of art to pencil drawings, oils, pastels, and charcoals. She has exhibited her art at the Swan Coach House in Atlanta and participated in juried competitions presented by the Portrait Society of Atlanta receiving The People's Choice Award on four occasions. Biggers has also exhibited at the Bascom-Louise Gallery in Highlands, North Carolina.
One of her more recent distinctions of merit is an interview on portraiture by Lynette Jennings for the Discovery Channel that includes information about her corporate and private commissions. A portrait by Biggers of Janette Barber, the first state advisor for the Future Homemakers of America, hangs in the Georgia State Capitol rotunda.
The exhibit at The AKC Museum of the Dog in St. Louis includes twelve canine portraits in oil on linen that demonstrate an appreciation for a traditional approach to dog portraiture.
Biggers is a past vice president and a Member of Merit of the Portrait Society of Atlanta as well as a member of the Atlanta Artist Center, the Southeastern Pastel Society, the American Society of Classical Realism, the American Society of Portrait Artists, and the Portrait Society of America.
Vivian Moody is also a member of the Portrait Society of Atlanta and describes herself as a "real dog lover" with a passion for painting dogs as her first love in life.
"For me, there can be very little theorizing about what I'm doing." says Moody. "A painting isn't just a surface or a work of the brush. It's an expression of the mind and heart, a search for beauty." Drawing inspiration from English sporting animals, Moody exhibits a remarkable talent for capturing the dog on canvas in its own surroundings, making this a hallmark of her art.
In the late 1980s, Moody redesigned the interior of her home in Atlanta's historic Druid Hills. At that time, she painted several dog portraits in the classical style and had them hanging on her walls. Her work was well admired by guests and friends. Soon she was receiving commissions as a sought after dog artist.
Moody has exhibited her paintings in juried competitions throughout the Southeast and Midwest including the national art competition The Art Show at The Dog Show; Arts Alive; and the Tennessee Valley Art Association.
The Artists' Registry Exhibition continues in the Special Exhibit Gallery through December 11.
