Artist Hummingbird Ferne Sirois brings watercolors to life:(10:00 PM PDT on Monday, May 26, 2008)
By PENNY E. SCHWARTZ
Special to The Press-Enterprise
Hummingbird Ferne Sirois demonstrates her painting technique during her Redlands adult school art class.
Her paintings will be featured at the Edward-Dean Museum in Cherry Valley starting Sunday.
Splashing watercolors onto paper, artist Hummingbird Ferne Sirois begins a painting with an abstract impression. Red here, blue there, with accents of green or purple scattered about. Her wet brush alternates between the paper and a strip of paint circles lined up on white plastic.
"I start with backgrounds but don't know who or what will be in them," said the Oak Glen artist, whose work will be featured in a show opening June 1 (2008), at the Edward-Dean Museum in Cherry Valley, CA.
She tosses in a sprinkling of salt crystals, which dissolve onto the paper, creating random splatters of dark and light. In the resulting swirls and whirls, Sirois discerns patterns, then designs, then definite shapes.
"I look for images, for faces or flowers or landscapes," she said. Sometimes the face is based on a person she has seen on the street. A flower might be one she knows from her garden.
Sirois (pronounced seer-WAH) specializes in paintings of the tropics, so her show is called "Island Get-Away." Images are drawn from her teen years spent near Kailua-Kona, on Hawaii's Big Island, as well as from visits to various Caribbean islands. Her other favorite subject matter features Native American themes. Sirois is of Sioux heritage and received her "medicine name" of Hummingbird from a Lakota shaman after a vision ceremony.
"When you have a vision, your name comes forth," Sirois said. "I am able to envision my paintings before they are done, which makes it easier to know when they are finished."
She considers herself a traditional painter of watercolors and oils, often working in the open air.
"I'll hike to a waterfall or a sand dune or sit on a rock and paint," she said.
She has painted scenes viewed from the window of a bus or train. But her favorite inspirations are myths, legends and historical stories, she said.
A Career of Art
A California native, Sirois began painting and drawing at age 5 and was awarded a scholarship to the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles at 16. She continued her graduate studies at Otis-Parsons School of Design -- now the Otis College of Art and Design -- also in Los Angeles.
"Painting was not my first art, however," said Sirois, 67.
Using the stage name of Kiahi Manu, she began her career in the performing arts as a hula dancer in Napua Stevens' Polynesian Review.
She continues to enjoy a passion for Hawaiian dance, which she will perform during the open house and reception for her Edward-Dean exhibit. While living in Hawaii, she was inspired to paint plein air watercolors of island scenes, including flowers, seascapes and the eruption of the Kilauea volcano.
"I continue to paint scenes of the coast and rain forest during many return visits to Kona," she said.
Sirois has appeared on more than 400 public television stations worldwide in the instructional art series "Joy of Painting." After being published on limited edition collectors' plates featuring gnomes from Fairmont China company, she was commissioned by The Hamilton Mint to create a series of paintings for collectors' plates depicting well-known historical romances.
Giving Back
For the past five years, Sirois has taught drawing and painting through the Redlands Adult School and can be found most mornings giving lessons at the Redlands Community Center.
"I enjoy teaching and painting equally and especially enjoy teaching while painting," she said.
She paints at least one work daily as part of her classroom demonstration. Beginner painter Herman Gallardo, 74, of San Bernardino, calls Sirois "brilliant."
Joseph Gusman, a Redlands artist who takes her classes, framed the works showcased in her upcoming Edward-Dean show. "She is very talented and brings out the art in people, even when they think they can't do it," said Gusman, 63.
Sirois said she encourages her students "to reach further than they think they can. If I die tomorrow, I'll know I have had a positive effect on at least 100 people in my life."
'Island Get-Away'
Paintings by Ferne Sirois, an Oak Glen resident, will be featured at the Edward-Dean Museum in Cherry Valley. Sirois, as artist-in-residence, will teach life drawing and plein air painting on Wednesdays and every other Sunday starting June 8 through mid-July.
Opening reception: 2-4 p.m. June 1, 2008 Exhibit: June 1 through Aug. 31, 2008
By PENNY E. SCHWARTZ
Special to The Press-Enterprise
Hummingbird Ferne Sirois demonstrates her painting technique during her Redlands adult school art class.
Her paintings will be featured at the Edward-Dean Museum in Cherry Valley starting Sunday.
Splashing watercolors onto paper, artist Hummingbird Ferne Sirois begins a painting with an abstract impression. Red here, blue there, with accents of green or purple scattered about. Her wet brush alternates between the paper and a strip of paint circles lined up on white plastic.
"I start with backgrounds but don't know who or what will be in them," said the Oak Glen artist, whose work will be featured in a show opening June 1 (2008), at the Edward-Dean Museum in Cherry Valley, CA.
She tosses in a sprinkling of salt crystals, which dissolve onto the paper, creating random splatters of dark and light. In the resulting swirls and whirls, Sirois discerns patterns, then designs, then definite shapes.
"I look for images, for faces or flowers or landscapes," she said. Sometimes the face is based on a person she has seen on the street. A flower might be one she knows from her garden.
Sirois (pronounced seer-WAH) specializes in paintings of the tropics, so her show is called "Island Get-Away." Images are drawn from her teen years spent near Kailua-Kona, on Hawaii's Big Island, as well as from visits to various Caribbean islands. Her other favorite subject matter features Native American themes. Sirois is of Sioux heritage and received her "medicine name" of Hummingbird from a Lakota shaman after a vision ceremony.
"When you have a vision, your name comes forth," Sirois said. "I am able to envision my paintings before they are done, which makes it easier to know when they are finished."
She considers herself a traditional painter of watercolors and oils, often working in the open air.
"I'll hike to a waterfall or a sand dune or sit on a rock and paint," she said.
She has painted scenes viewed from the window of a bus or train. But her favorite inspirations are myths, legends and historical stories, she said.
A Career of Art
A California native, Sirois began painting and drawing at age 5 and was awarded a scholarship to the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles at 16. She continued her graduate studies at Otis-Parsons School of Design -- now the Otis College of Art and Design -- also in Los Angeles.
"Painting was not my first art, however," said Sirois, 67.
Using the stage name of Kiahi Manu, she began her career in the performing arts as a hula dancer in Napua Stevens' Polynesian Review.
She continues to enjoy a passion for Hawaiian dance, which she will perform during the open house and reception for her Edward-Dean exhibit. While living in Hawaii, she was inspired to paint plein air watercolors of island scenes, including flowers, seascapes and the eruption of the Kilauea volcano.
"I continue to paint scenes of the coast and rain forest during many return visits to Kona," she said.
Sirois has appeared on more than 400 public television stations worldwide in the instructional art series "Joy of Painting." After being published on limited edition collectors' plates featuring gnomes from Fairmont China company, she was commissioned by The Hamilton Mint to create a series of paintings for collectors' plates depicting well-known historical romances.
Giving Back
For the past five years, Sirois has taught drawing and painting through the Redlands Adult School and can be found most mornings giving lessons at the Redlands Community Center.
"I enjoy teaching and painting equally and especially enjoy teaching while painting," she said.
She paints at least one work daily as part of her classroom demonstration. Beginner painter Herman Gallardo, 74, of San Bernardino, calls Sirois "brilliant."
Joseph Gusman, a Redlands artist who takes her classes, framed the works showcased in her upcoming Edward-Dean show. "She is very talented and brings out the art in people, even when they think they can't do it," said Gusman, 63.
Sirois said she encourages her students "to reach further than they think they can. If I die tomorrow, I'll know I have had a positive effect on at least 100 people in my life."
'Island Get-Away'
Paintings by Ferne Sirois, an Oak Glen resident, will be featured at the Edward-Dean Museum in Cherry Valley. Sirois, as artist-in-residence, will teach life drawing and plein air painting on Wednesdays and every other Sunday starting June 8 through mid-July.
Opening reception: 2-4 p.m. June 1, 2008 Exhibit: June 1 through Aug. 31, 2008