2/22/2021 10:43:00 AM Seeing the sky from a brand new perspective
Joy Blewett’s painting, called Stewartville, MN, one of her nine works at the Rochester Art Center exhibition, was inspired by the stormy sky she saw on her commute from Rochester to Stewartville. “One day I saw white cumulus clouds and dark storm clouds interweaving,” she said.
A second grader at Bonner Elementary School at the time, Kendra Holtan painted Chinese Panda, drawing her inspiration from The Starry Night, by Vincent van Gogh (1889). “She loves pandas,” said Joy Blewett, Kendra’s art teacher.
Joy Blewett fell in love with art when she was a young girl. Her grandfather, a painter, worked as an illustrator and designer for Billy Graham's Decision Magazine. Her dad, also an artist, worked in advertising. She grew up going to museums and creating art at home. Even so, she didn't take a formal art class until she was in junior high school. After completing all the art classes her high school had to offer, in her senior year she advanced to secondary education early by enrolling at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, where she eventually decided to pursue an undergraduate degree. "Creating art has a calming effect that relaxes my central nervous system," she said. "Twenty minutes of art can reduce anxiety, release anger, and help process difficult emotions. Art has been very healing to me throughout my life." Two years ago, as the art teacher at Bonner Elementary School, Blewett applied for a Southeast Minnesota Arts Council (SEMAC) grant for emerging artists. As a recipient of the grant, she earned the opportunity to display her own and her students' artwork at the Rochester Art Center... For more on this story pick up your copy of the Feb. 23 Stewartville STAR.
