Artist Marie Spaeder Haas
Marie Spaeder Haas will exhibit watercolors and pen and ink drawings at Cleveland State Community College, Sept. 30 - Oct. 24, 2002, in the Adkisson Administration Building, first-floor Hallway Gallery.
There will be a "Meet-the-Artist Reception" with light refreshments, on Wednesday, Oct. 2, from 5-7 p.m. at the exhibition. Admission is free, and the exhibit will be open Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. - 8 p.m.; Friday, 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.; and by appointment on Saturday and Sunday.
Marie Spaeder Haas has been painting and drawing pictures from her earliest days growing up in Erie, Pa. After many years of teaching biology while doing her art “on the side,” she turned her attention to serious studio work in 1984. She soon established herself as an avid watercolorist in Northwest Pennsylvania, where she ran her own Sycamore Gallery and conducted watercolor and drawing classes.
Haas currently works out of her studio in Ocoee, Tenn., as well as on her travels throughout North America and Europe.
“Painting and drawing," she said, "are my ways of interacting with my environment, whether that is a mountain peak in Alaska or an old barn in Pennsylvania, a fiddler or a concert violinist, a flower in my backyard or a dancer on the streets of Mexico. When I paint or draw something, I experience it in a way different from any other. It is my way of getting to know my surroundings.”
In recent years, her pen and ink gesture drawings have become increasingly popular. Drawn on location, these rapidly executed drawings capture a moment with the simplest of lines.
Concerts, the banks of the Ocoee, crowded airports - all these become her studio as she “scribbles” lines that respond to what she sees.
"The first work that I saw by Marie was in the 21st Annual Tennessee Valley Art Competition," said Jere Chumley, CSCC art director, and curator of exhibitions. "It was a gestural ink drawing of a cellist, and it was aptly selected for an award," said Chumley.
Haas frequently exhibits her drawings and watercolors in solo, juried and invitational shows throughout the United States. Her work is found in private and corporate collections in the United States, Australia, Canada and Japan.
In addition to work included in the Cleveland State exhibit, Haas has also been involved in therapeutically interactive art for nursing homes and children’s hospitals.
Over a decade ago, in response to a challenge from a local nursing home to produce some tactile art for their Alzheimer’s unit, Haas began doing Touch-art, highly tactile art that is designed to engage a patient in conversation and memory sharing.
Touch-Art has also been adapted for children’s health facilities, where it is used to distract and entertain young patients during long or frequent hospital stays.
Haas' Touch-Art has been installed in over two dozen hospitals and nursing homes throughout the Midwest and Eastern United States.
For additional information contact Jere Chumley, (423) 472-7141, ext. 431, or email to:
jchumley@clevelandstatecc.edu
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