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It didn’t take long for area artist and pottery teacher
Chris Walton to fall in love with making art. “It all started with
a six lesson drawing class and I was hooked,” recalled the Glens
Falls resident and owner of the Studio Art, a drawing, painting and
pottery studio for children and adults on Glen Street in Glens Falls.
"I have had three very important teachers along my art
path. First, Jean Hastings, an oil painter in Lake George, and
much later while studying at Skidmore, Regis Brodie and Jill Kovochick,
professors and acclaimed artists in clay. In addition to formal
training, I realized I could challenge my skills and abilities by
reading extensively and practicing what I had read" |
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Formally trained as a nurse at Boston University, Walton
received her first taste of being an art teacher when a friend started
an art school and asked her to teach. “I started out teaching oil paintings to
eight-year-olds,” she recalled. “Perhaps not being intimidated by their
age, I began setting up curriculums and teaching more. I
approached the learning and teaching of art much as I had learned
medicine by understanding the theory behind the practice. In the
case of art, its principles allow for a strong foundation providing the
confidence to shape the raw energy of an original concept into a
picture, a vessel or any other art form.” With her clinical
background and newly found creative outlet, Walton began teaching art as
therapy. She became the art director at Prospect School, The
Double 'H' Hole in the Woods Ranch, and the Glens Falls Center for Independent Living, “teaching
out of a canvas art bag.”
Realizing that a home base was necessary, both as a place
to house her extensive art library and teach classes, Walton opened
“Studio Art,” in 1997. She finds it the perfect outlet for both
the artist and teacher in her. “I can make art accessible to
anyone who wants it,” Walton said. “It makes me as happy to open a
door for someone else in the art world as it does for me to work for
myself.” Walton said it’s been particularly satisfying to know
that the effects of her classes reverberate for years to come.
“Being involved with art is so therapeutic. It widens people's
senses; it increases observation, elevates self-esteem, introduces
problem-solving skills, enhances patience, supports socialization, and
is just plain fun.
Walton’s latest projects are porcelain vessels. Her
goal is to vary their forms and alter her carving techniques. “I
love forming vessels in a smooth, seamless, classical manner and then
offer them up to the serendipitous results of the Saggar firing process,”
she said. “I also reserve this time of year to get back into watercolor painting. I’m looking forward to exploring new techniques and
searching to find my voice in this watery medium…I will never stop
learning or creating.”
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