Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 15, 1994 TAG: 9405180049
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-14 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By KATHIE DICKENSON SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Long
As former president and current exhibition chairwoman for the Blacksburg Regional Art Association, Allen has given much of her time to bring the work of New River Valley artists into public view.
Now, as president of the Virginia Watercolor Society, she is helping to bring its Fifteenth Jurored Exhibition to the Perspective Gallery in Squires Student Center at Virginia Tech May 21-June 25.
Allen's energetic approach to the business of art is hidden beneath a calm, soft-spoken demeanor. Having coffee in her country kitchen feels comfortable, like a neighborly stop to share local gossip or recipes. A former home demonstration agent, she and her husband have lived in Blacksburg for more than 30 years, raising two daughters and two sons and now entertaining six grandchildren on their farm off Glade Road.
Allen began painting in the early '70s and by 1975 was so determined to paint that she quit her job as woman's editor for a local newspaper to work on a master's degree in art education at Virginia Tech.
Graduation in 1979 turned out to be a family affair - with one son graduating from Blacksburg High School and another son graduating from Virginia Tech at the same time Allen received her master's degree.
When she couldn't find a teaching job, she began offering painting classes through the YMCA Open University in Blacksburg.
She also has taught painting, batik on paper and art appreciation through New River Community College.
"She's very community-minded," said Marge Bond, director of the Open University. "She's dedicated to her work - she enjoys teaching and relates to it."
One of the YMCA classes that Allen leads regularly is the Tuesday Night Paint-Out, which is for those who have taken her classes and want to continue painting together and with Allen.
"It's important to me to keep painting with my students. I enjoy it - a teacher always learns more than anybody else," said Allen. "I try to make the classes fun. No grades."
She tries to inspire her students to paint - and in painting an object to really see it.
That principle is one of the most important things Allen has received from art.
"I see the world in a different way, through a different eye than previously. I have a greater appreciation for the beauty around me and pay more attention to detail."
The facility for seeing things in new ways led to what Allen believes is her strongest work, a series of paintings of farm machinery.
In the summer of 1987, she explained, she wanted to paint something new to exhibit at the Virginia Highland Festival.
"I was looking for a recognizable subject and a style to call my own - something few others were doing ... Every day when I pulled in the driveway, I would see that old disk in the field, and I began to notice the different ways the light would play on it."
Even though the rusted metal machinery had a familiar quality, Allen still could give the paintings abstract qualities.
"The subject gave me a chance to play with opposites - warm versus cool colors, dark versus light, rough versus smooth textures."
As she found other farm machinery to paint, she became bolder in her treatment, darker in her colors. The difference is so noticeable that when her paintings were exhibited at the Shenandoah Valley Art Center in Waynesboro, they were placed in distinct groups in two separate rooms.
"I compete with myself," Allen says of her painting, although she also tries to have fun and learn with each new work. "I've learned to paint layers of color over color, to mix crayon with watercolor.
"Sometimes I feel art has consumed me - I live it, breathe it ... sometimes I'm literally covered up with it."
Allen confessed, however, that it is her volunteer work that has most consumed her during the past couple of years.
About five years ago, she became vice president and program chairwoman of the Blacksburg Regional Art Association, an affiliate of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. The association brings museum lectures and programs, such as the Artmobile, to this area of the state.
Later, as president and exhibition chairman of the regional association, Allen and other members sought ways to make the community more aware of local talent.
Five area businesses exhibit the work of New River Valley artists.
The group also has established "New River Art," a jurored exhibition of work by artists who live within 100 miles of Blacksburg. The exhibition takes place every other year.
The first show in 1991 was in the Fine Arts Center for the New River Valley in Pulaski. New River Art '93 took place in Virginia Tech's new Perspective Gallery.
The 1995 show will be in Radford University's Flossie Martin Gallery and will travel to the Alleghany-Highlands Art Center in Covington.
One thing seems to lead to another, Allen said. When the group was seeking a place for New River Art '93, she contacted Tom Butterfield, director of the Perspective Gallery. The gallery ended up scheduling not only the New River Art show, but also the Virginia Watercolor Society exhibition.
As president of the society, Allen invited artists from across the state and looked for a judge for the show.
Allen thinks the exhibition of some of the state's finest watercolorists will enhance the New River Valley's increasing awareness of regional art and artists.
Still, Allen is looking forward to getting back to her own painting when the show is over.
With her sight set on a September exhibit at the Montgomery Museum in Christiansburg and one in the Fine Arts Center in Pulaski in October, she is planning a new series of work called "Pertaining to His House." The series will be based on churches and religious symbols in the region.
"Art has opened many new doors for me," said Allen. "I've met a lot of interesting people and made some good, strong friendships. But the most important thing about art is that there is always something new to learn."
by CNB