10 minute read
ANIMAL ART Jerilyn Weber
Raised in California, Jerilyn WeberÕs closest childhood friend lived on a 300 -acre ranch. She fondly recalls riding bareback together-- their steadfast Quarter Horses loping along scenic bluffs and expertly weaving through b eautiful river trails. It was an idyllic time for Weber, an avid animal lover .
She dreamed of painting professionally but other career opportunities and the birth of her two daughters, Ashley and Laura set her on a different path. When the girls started English Riding lessons in their middle school years, Weber joined them.
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Learning to ride formally was a lot more involv ing than her carefree days on the ranch, ÒBut I knew if I didnÕt try, I wouldnÕt be able to fully appreciate what my daughters were learning,Ó Jerilyn says, ÒAnd it gave us a wonderful activity to share together .Ó Meanwhile, art was never she dabbled with painting horses and dogs as a hobby and enjoyed various art classes. Then two events set her on a new professional career path. She received great praise from distant relatives for an oil painting she had created of her lesson horse and she was introduced to pastels. Weber displayed her work at veterinary offices, horse and dog shows. Soon she began receiving calls for commissions. Today Jerilyn lives in New Jersey and is an active member of the New Jersey Equine Artists Õ Association. She has received numer ous awards for her work including a Best in Show in the 2017 Pastel Society of New Jersey Members' Exhibition for her painting "Feeling His Oats.Ó Several of her dog paintings have received First Place awards in the New York Dog Fanciers Contemporary Do g Art Competitions. ÒI especially love painting horses. As a child, drawing a horse was a way of having a horse of my own. As an adult, I appreciate their amazing beauty. I love the way the roundness of their muscles contrasts with the linearity of their bone structure. I love the softness of their chest s. Most of all I love the features of their head Ð their nostrils, their ears, and of course, their lovely, expressive eyes. When I am pa inting a horse, I try to imagine how it feels to stroke their coat, to feel their warmth, and to smell their particular scent. ÓJerilyn finds her long-awaited career very gratifying. She enjoys bringing a beloved animal to life i n pastels for his or her owner and to know the client is happy with the work.
To learn more about JerilynÕs art visit www.jerilynweber.com
To contact her directly email jerilynweber@comcast.net
GUNNAR ØSTERGAARD: Get Up and GO & HIS HERS
With LA Sokolowski, equinista Photos provided by Gunnar Ostergaard
As a teenager, Danish horseman Gunnar Østergaard knew his passion was destined to be his profession. He apprenticed with Karl Diel in Germany (coincidentally at the same time as Herbert Rehbein) and after returning to Denmark at age 23, earned the attention of Gunnar Andersen, who provided the horses and chances to learn more, gain experience, and train up to Grand Prix level. In 1975, he was named National Danish Professional Champion and a year later, came to the United States, where his reputation and clientele grew to include schooling Olympic show jumping and three-day riders in dressage. In 1977, F. Eugene Dixon invited him to train his daughter, Ellin, so Gunnar and his wife Birgit moved to Dixon’s 500-acre Erdenheim (German for “home on earth”) Farm, launching a long, successful relationship that included a 1981 USDF Grand Prix national championship for the Dixon mantelpiece. Gunnar has trained dozens of Grand Prix horses and riders, won multiple national championships and Grand Prix titles at Devon and USET Festival of Champions, and served for two decades on the USET Planning and Selection Committee. Today, he and Birgit divide time between homes in Denmark, Tryon, NC, and Chester, VT. Gunnar modestly calls English his second language, but we’d say his undisputed fluency is in horsemanship.
HIS: I never had to send an résumé. Only signatures to US emigration – when I was getting my green card in 1976 -- about how dressage trainers were needed in this country. I’m a citizen now!
HERS: What was your first paying job? HIS: I was delivering newspapers when I was 13. That did not last long. Then helping my father in his trucking business.
HERS: If you worked outside the horse world what would you be doing? HIS: It would have been something with farming or forestry.
HERS: What do you remember about your first horse or pony? HIS: My first horse was Johnny, a spooky Danish Knabstrupper that my father liked to parade around town on Sundays. One day Johnny couldn’t decide if he was more scared of the railroad cars or the harbor – they wound up three feet away from getting soaked!
HERS: What do you like best in a horse? In a person? HIS: I love a happy horse with a good work ethic, and honesty and kindness in a person. HERS: What is your favorite quote? HIS: “Give a man a fish and he has food for a day. Teach a man how to fish and he has food for a lifetime.” (Confucius)
HERS: Describe yourself in one word? HIS: Reflected in the first two letters of my name: GO.
HERS: Is there anything you feel is true that almost nobody agrees with you about? HIS: Not sure. I believe many people agree that, the harder and better you work, the luckier you get.
HERS: What book would you like to time to read? HIS: I keep going back to a 600-page book about 300,000 Danish emigrants that settled in the United States between 1850 and 1920. There are so many stories about the hard lives they faced and many did not even survive the trip below deck on overcrowded boats.
HERS: Last streaming series you binge-watched? HIS: I don’t watch much TV, mostly news and politics. HERS: An instance where you faced and solved a difficult problem? HIS: I constantly face problems, in my own countless lessons! But I feel privileged that, by always trying my best, I am almost always able to make an improvement if not find a solution.
E E HERS: Where do you see horse sport headed in this new decade? HIS: It will grow and expand. As life gets more techdriven, people will come back to working with the world’s most beautiful creature and so, I hope, training dressage horses will never get “computerized.”
LOVE YOUR HORSE? LOVE YOUR SADDLE!
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Art & An�ques by Dr. Lori by Dr. Lori Verderame
When it comes to collectibles, it is always wise to know what you’ve got and know what it’s worth. Some objects like planters, mugs, cups, and vases can be very valuable but some are just collectible and cheap too. So, once you have an accurate appraisal of your antique and find out if it is trash or treasure, you might want to consider new ways to use and enjoy it. Repurposing is so popular that many folks are looking at some aging objects in a whole new way. Before you send that inexpensive vintage piece out to the curb, consider transforming it into doing double duty in your garden.
From broken brass saxophones to chipped German beer steins, anything can hold a plant, vegetable, or flower. Think about creating a colorful display in your garden by using value-less antique ceramics or even typewriters or suitcases as planters and garden dividers.
EverybodyGardens.com Editor, Doug Oster says “Any thing can be a container as long as it has drainage.” So don’t fret over that chipped beyond repair vintage ceramic tea pot or rusty filing cabinet. Paint it brightly and add some plant life to it.
Instead, make these old objects into a cute flower pot. Drill a hole for drainage and line them up with other repurposed pottery pieces on a patio stone wall or suspended on your porch near your hanging wind chimes. You can even secure each vintage coffee mug or teapot by their handles by sticking the handle in between the slat space of your picket fence.
Old metal desks, chairs, even beds can be transformed into flower or vegetable gardens by replacing seats, drawers or mattresses with plants or flowers. Chipped, cracked or broken items can have new life as hosts in your garden. Try it as Spring comes alive in your neck of the woods and use your antique, vintage or simply aging objects around the house as the focus of this year’s new garden project.
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The Italian master, Sandro Botticelli sprinkled one hundred and forty-one different floral varieties beneath the feet of his famous Neo-Platonic figures in the tempera painting on panel from circa 1470-80s. The figures in the painting, which hangs in Florence Italy’s famous Uffizi Gallery, include Venus the Roman goddess of love and gardens, Cupid, Mercury, Flora among others and was intended for the master bedroom suite of the Medici Palace. �������������������������������������������������� F Floral forms have long had a prominent place in the fine arts and antiques. The art histori cal symbolism of flowers from asters to zinnias has intrigued collectors since the Renaissance period. Flowers in art and antiques offer varied symbolism…love, fidel ity, prosperity to name a few. For instance, a rose’s association with pure love comes from the Bible’s description of the Virgin Mary as a “rose without thorns”. The carnation featured in one of Rembrandt van Rijn’s most famous portraits--the portrait of Jan Six with a Pink—speaks to the hope for fidelity or loyalty in a new marriage. When it comes to signs of prosperity, the welldocumented tulipomania which took place in the Netherlands during the 1600s resulted in a new group of collectors from the upper and middle classes as well as a host of new hybrid types of tulips like the bearded tulip and the broken or striped tulip for gardeners. It follows that tulips would become a visual sym bol of prosperity. The popular tulip and other floral still lifes of the Dutch Baroque age were highly sought after by art collectors and in today’s active art market, Dutch floral still lifes by the masters such as Willem Heda, Rachel Rauysch or Cornelius de Heem are quite expensive. Hidden meanings are typical when flowers are highlighted in art and antiques. For example, flowers with sitters in paintings sug gest their current situation. The appearance of a sprig of rosemary or a forget-me-not clued the viewer into the fact that the sitter shown in a painting was deceased. White flowers meant purity while red flowers referenced passion.
When it comes to antiques, like artwork, flowers have made their mark, too. In the early 1800s, the seeds of a new nation had been planted in America. Decorative arts featured straight lines and geometric elements that reflected a revival of classicism known as the American Federal style. Classical forms and its emphasis on formality did not discount the appearance of flower forms. Buds appeared on Chippendale, Hepplewhite, and Sheraton fur niture in the form of recessed rosettes, ancathus leaf sprays, and meandering garlands. From straight carved wooden legs known as spade legs to floral decorated drawer pulls, furniture embellishments were found in the form of leafy scrolls, daisies, roses, mums, and other garden life. Some flowers in art and antiques speak volumes about a particular time period and contemporary taste. This Spring as you consider your plantings and yardwork, remember various floral symbols also had a big impact on the history of artwork.
