Choosing Life as an Artist: a Guest Blog Post by Abigail Synnestvedt
Table with Dog, Oil on Board, 12 and 1/2 inches x 16 and 5/8 inches. Painting by Abigail Synnestvedt.
Art was always in the background for me growing up. My mom was an art teacher, and there were always pencils, markers, and large rolls of white paper in the house. She also had a decent amount of art books that I looked through often. I didn't take the interest seriously until I was a junior in high school.
In my junior year, I had an incredibly passionate, serious, and generous painting and drawing instructor, Keith Gruber. He modeled that life as an artist was an option, and I fell head over heels for it ever since. My most profound experience was working on a take-home painting project for our final assignment. I chose to copy the painting "Apple Blossom Time" by George Inness. (Years later, when I went to school at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, I found out that this painting is in their permanent collection). While I was working on this project, I experienced what psychologists identify as a flow state, where one is completely absorbed and focused on an activity, losing all sense of time. This mental state brought such comfort, purpose, and peace to my teenage self. Experiencing the state of flow through painting is why I got completely hooked on making art, I think.
"Window with Flowers," Oil on Paper, 30x22 inches. Painting by Abigail Synnestvedt.
I knew from then on I wanted to study drawing and painting. At the time, my mom was taking classes at the Barnstone Studios in Allentown run by Myron Barnstone, and I knew I wanted to go there after high school to build an art portfolio and my skills. Myron was an influential and charismatic teacher. Although I no longer consider myself to work in the method he taught, I owe much of my drawing background to him. I learned the value of persistence, showing up when you don't want to, and work ethic from him. He exposed his students to a wide variety of art and loved to exclaim the Chuck Close quote: "Inspiration is for amateurs — the rest of us just show up and get to work." His mantra was that anyone could learn how to make art; they just needed helpful instruction and hard work. He was one of the first people that opened my eyes to the beauty and magic of art.
“Tulips and Sink,” Acrylic on Board, 16 inches x 15 and 3/4 inches. Painting by Abigail Synnestvedt.
After spending three years at the Barnstone Studios, I went onto the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA). At PAFA, the instructors blew the roof off of my carefully constructed ideological view of art and my place in the art world. I made friendships there with students and faculty that molded me into who I am today. The instructors at PAFA addressed the technical skills of art-making, but they also wove helpful mentalities into their teaching about how to approach life as an artist. One particular example of a mindset that was communicated by Carolyn Pyfrom is that we need to ask questions in our work and not look for answers. I primarily studied drawing and painting while I was there, but dabbled in printmaking and sculpture a bit. In my dream life, I would keep going back to PAFA, but each time studying one of the four disciplines they offered when I was there - drawing, painting, sculpture, and printmaking.
The artist in her Souderton, PA studio with Piper, her faithful canine muse!
Note from Lauren: I was lucky enough to meet Abigail Synnestvedt last year at the local figure drawing group that I run through Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. Impressed by her drawings in that group, I jumped at the chance to take a Figure Drawing Class that Abigail taught in June, and I gained so much from that class. I continued to follow her work throughout the summer, delighted by the freshness of her vision and her loose, thoughtful handling of paint. This fall, I asked if Abigail would be willing to participate in a two-person show with me in my studio-gallery, and she agreed! In Plain Sight opens November 29th, 6-9 pm in my studio gallery in Easton, PA.