a contemporary vermeer: edward j. (ted) reed @ the art league
Excitement is building over The Art League’s upcoming September exhibition featuring the solo works of painter Edward J. (Ted) Reed (http://www.edwardjreed.com/index.html). This author is the first to call Reed, with solid justification, “The Contemporary Vermeer.”
Vermeer was a Dutch Baroque painter who specialized in ordinary domestic interior scenes, he is arguably most known by his work “Girl With a Pearl Earring.” Although largely unrecognized while alive, Vermeer’s work is now acknowledged as one of the greatest of the Dutch Golden Age. He is particularly famed for his use of light and masterly technique. Vermeer is said to have worked slowly, probably producing three paintings a year during which he produced unique transparent colors by applying paint to the canvas in somewhat loosely granular layers (a technique called pointillé).
Vermeer’s works all contain distinctive and certain light and perspective effects including the earth colours umber and ochre which are understood as warm light within the painting’s interior and which reflect multiple colors onto the background. Vermeer’s works exemplify an understanding of Da Vinci’s observations that the surface of every object absorbs the color of the adjacent object.
So too, we find modern day painter Reed seemingly unaware that he is channeling the spirit of Vermeer (but hopefully not the Dutch painter’s financial troubles) in the former’s acclaimed portraiture studies. Three of many masterful works are shown above: Louder (Pippi Takes a Ride), 46 x 28, oil on linen, 2006; Annalise, 15 x 15, oil on canvas, 2003; and Vigilant, 17 x 15, oil on canvas, 2005.
Reed, (known as Ted), lives in Vienna, Virginia and paints in his home studio. He teaches portrait, figure, and still-life painting at The Art League School. Reed won a variety of collegiate level awards. Sadly, from 1987 to 1989, while attending Harvard Law School, he stopped painting in the misguided belief that the demands of a legal education required him to forego all distractions. While practicing law, he rarely lifted a paintbrush.
They say gifts are embedded in life’s hardships. Ted became disabled with a permanent, chronic pain condition and was forced to retire from legal practice at the end of 2000. The hidden gift was that in 2001, he began painting again to the extent that his disability allowed. His return to art was difficult. The pain he experiences was and is a constant impediment. Additionally, the decade of art talent neglect had stripped him of the few skills he’d developed through his college years.
By 2003, Reed began teaching art intermittently and in the fall of 2004, The Art League asked him to join the faculty. It is easy to understand how his newly re-found dedication has manifested itself through Reed’s artist statement. Like Vermeer, Reed is captivated by people. Individual portraits dominate most of Reed’s work to date and will continue to comprise a large part of his artistic efforts.
Reed says his work couples the structure of classical portrait and figure painting with clear, brilliant colors rarely seen in traditional or contemporary works in these fields. He portrays what he finds most compelling about his subjects’ character and personality through expression, gesture, setting, composition, color, and brushwork. We believe the devil’s in the detail, and in Reed’s work, the angel’s in the light. Any lover of Vermeer can gaze for hours at streams of sunlight radiating through an open window, or streams of light hitting a balancing scale. For us, the light is the love of the work and is the most captivating aspect of it.
Reed likes to work from life whenever possible. This generates energy (or light) unachievable through other means. To bolster this energy, he rarely asks subjects to hold still, unlike Vermeer who is argued to have possibly used camera obscura as a technique method in captivating exactness. People reveal themselves to Reed when they relax, talk, and laugh. Because of their movement, he may catch a mouth at one angle and eyes, or other features, at a slightly different angle and this also is in direct contrast to Vermeer’s stillness, stiffness, motionlessness, and rigidity. But still, there is the light and particularly, the light of the face. Pop a pearl earring on Annalise and you can’t tell me you don’t have the modern Mona Lisa of the North. Reed paints light shifts as faithful depictions of parts of the same person at different moments and this creates for him and for the viewer, both movement and a sense of timelessness.
Reed attributes his style to a dependence upon classical structure inspired by the works of John Singer Sargent, Anders Zorn, Rembrandt, Frans Hals, Carravaggio, and traditions of realism tracing back to the Renaissance masters and it’s interesting to Alexandria’s Shauna Lee Lange Arts Advisory that he’s not yet drawn the parallel to the Dutch masters.
The rich, vibrant colors Reed adds enhance his paintings’ emotional impact and this is in direct correlation with Vermeer’s style. In fact, many scholars believe Vermeer must have been gifted paint (often expensive material paint) by virtue of the artist’s poverty and indebtedness. However, Vermeer is credited with the detailed application of paint layers and color infusion. Reed, on the other hand, draws inspiration from the paintings of Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida, who he believes is perhaps his greatest influence, and also from the optics of direct color application explored by the impressionists.
Vermeer is said to have painted slowly. For Reed, injuries to his hands, which disabled him from a former legal career, cause chronic pain that ensures he will never be as prolific as other artists. Across time, the silvery cord that binds and ties all art lovers has magically united Reed with Vermeer. Both are said to cherish each moment they paint and both are driven to achieve as much as they can with each work. Well, why don’t you just come and see for yourself.
In The Art League Gallery:
“Presence”
Exhibit Dates: September 5 – October 6, 2008
Opening Reception:
Thursday, September 11: 6:30 – 8:00 pm
Mr. Reed will give demonstrations, painting from a model in the gallery on the following dates:
Saturday, September 13, 12:00 noon – 3:00 pm
Saturday, September 20, 12:00 noon – 3:00 pm
Sunday, October 5, 1:00 – 4:00 pm
New Gallery Hours:
Monday – Saturday, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Sunday, 12:00 noon – 6:00 pm
Open every Thursday evening until 9:00 pm.
Exhibitions and events are free and open to the public.
howard alan events to host 6th alexandria festival of the arts
Alexandria’s own first woman veteran owned arts writing, arts designing, arts coaching, and arts consulting firm, Shauna Lee Lange Arts Advisory, specializes not only in acquisition and placement of art works, but also in determining appropriate market price points so you know you’re getting value for your art investments.
cartoonist shaun boland
Shaun Boland’s got some pretty crafty cartoons on his site and we love this one about crayons and color as recently published in The Metro Herald.
arts advisory to attend connoissuership and collecting seminar
Image Credit: Shauna Lee Lange Arts Advisory, “Antique Sign” August 2008.
bulger/lange photography and advisory collaboration ensues
About a year ago, Bulger and Lange worked together in taking an initial look at marketing Bulger’s work. Many artists who live in rural-suburbia find it a challenge to find pathways to large metropolitan art markets. To some in the arts world, this is known as regionalism – a work in Paducah doesn’t sell in Paducah, but bring it out to La Jolla and suddenly they’re charging at the door. In New York markets, out-region artists are highly courted for representation. For many artists, regionalism is a double edged sword.
The metropolitan market doesn’t necessary know who’s out there in the yonder regions and the out-region artist feels (s)he can’t get placed in the big city. For Bulger, Lange made detailed recommendations about presenting Bulger’s work via the Internet. Lange also provided tips on creating a “branding” presence through a web site. The two then explored ways Lange could channel DC photographic opportunities to Bulger. Ultimately, Bulger decided to continue to do the day-in and day-out of what was working for him at the time. The effort of the two is a credit to the adage for artists especially in minding your relationships as they often return unexpectedly.
Photography chose Bulger at an early age. Purchasing his first 35mm camera at 16, photography became firmly entrenched as part of his self-identification. Studying the work of the photographers that he most admired; Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Alfred Stieglitz, Elliot Erwitt, and Henri Cartier-Bresson, a common thread was realized and switching to B&W seemed a natural transition.
Working solely with B&W film for the next 20 years, Bulger developed a style that notices the details and displayes them in a unique way by separating them from their surroundings to concentrate on their inherent beauty. Bulger’s work has been displayed in many exhibits, published in text books, has won numerous awards, and is included in several private collections. In 2001, “A Portrait of the Yucatan,” a collection of photographs from Mexico was also published.
Like all masters, Bulger’s turned to sharing and teaching aspects of photography to students with a different vision. Three years ago, Bulger switched to digital capture and output and he has slowly begun to reintroduce color into his work. Bulger currently teaches “Black and White Darkroom” and “Introduction to Digital Photography” at Kimball-Jenkins School of Art in Concord, New Hampshire where he also sits on the School of Arts Advisory Team.
In the future, when the opportunity arises, Shauna Lee Lange Arts Advisory looks forward to sharing with gallerists and museum curators the unique challenges Bulger’s work represents. In the meantime, Lange is very pleased to hear of Bulger’s continued photographic success.
Featured small scale images are directly from the artist’s website. Arched Door, Concord, NH, Aug 08; Double Door, New Hampton, NH, May 07; and No Trespassing, Epsom, NH, Jul 06.
about us
Shauna Lee Lange creates life effectiveness strategies for global women and girls through relentless work in achieving equality for women in the digital divide. Digital literacy, women and the Internet, and how the lack of women’s technological advances creates economic and political disparity are all pillars of how information and communication technologies MUST act as catalysts for global feminism and equal rights.
I believe the single most growing threat to the physical, emotional and financial health of women worldwide is information systems illiteracy and when left unaddressed, will eventually lead to women’s complete exclusion and invisibility to the extent that it will ultimately trump and surpass existing or historic strongholds!
I have many experienced years in management consulting, leadership training, and serving the public in advisory information brokering. What that means is that I am qualified to work towards empowering women and communities to envision, enlarge, and exemplify their best based on sound practice, research & analytics, and contemporary techniques.
I also teach, write, lecture, exhibit, jury, curate, build teams, assess performances, motivate, research, promote, counsel, conceptualize, market, facilitate and measure. Recent subjects include access to technology issues, social hierarchies, cultural elite, art as economic leverage, technology literacy as anti-poverty, information societies, net neutrality, and the absence of women in technology developing professions.
Previously, I was the very first woman-veteran founder of a full-service arts advisory, design studio, and organized creativity expertise providers in the Commonwealth of Virgina (founded in 2006) with a motto: “progressive art, global women, and creative empowerment” or “more art is more love”. I also served 6 years with the U.S. Navy on Italy’s island of Sicily and over 15 years nationally with the U.S. Federal Civil Service as a management, program, and transportation analyst.
Fully believing in the therapeutic impact and applicability of the arts, education, technology and creativity in one’s life, I work to encourage people to embrace full expression aided by education, free speech and free expression. My own inspired, self-taught, late-emergent, exhibiting artist art work concentrates on these themes in vintage and contemporary thematic collage, art journals, visual diaries, sketchbooks, and paper & book arts in the exploration of personal geographies.
Social equity requires a commitment to women’s equality. Women’s participation in the information economy carries enormous value to all girls and women. Technology literacy for women is a strategy I intend to tirelessly illuminate, use and promote for true liberation, global connectedness, and leveraging tools in societal struggles.
Conquering the digital divide means a focus on: 1) infrastructure; 2) limited telecommunications networks; 3) bandwidth capacity issues; 4) non-availability of hardware & software; 5) poor transportation networks; 6) uninterrupted power supplies; 7) non-availability of financial resources; 
non-availability of trained technicians; 9) lack of technical maintenance staff; and most powerfully, 10) prevalence of negative attitudes.
If those challenges weren’t enough, women in China, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Mexico, Brazil AND fully developed countries like the United States most often face difficulties in technology access with: a) male attitudes; b) lack of family support; c) institutional barriers; d) facilities issues (such as transportation or child care availability); and e) insensitive aid workers or instructors. These obstacles create an often unexplored gender dynamic in the world of technology where there is now limited effort to fully address issues of access, content and the positive impact of technology where women’s lives are concerned – not a women’s agenda, but one of ultimate human and civil rights. Civil rights in a technological age – a multidisciplinary, fascinating journey that I fully invite you to accompany.
703.960.0616
shaunaleelange@gmail.com
All rights to this site and its contents are retained and all original artwork is copyrighted. Click here to learn more about our licensing and permissions for text and artwork through Creative Commons. The firm of Shauna Lee Lange is comprised of professional service providers and administrators. Proud 2010 members of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) and the National Association of Investigative Specialists (NAIS). Life Coaching Certification was achieved in 2010 through the Advanced Life Coaching Institute (ALCI). Shauna Lee Lange is also member in good standing with the International Coach Federation (ICF) through March 2011. It’s important that coaches stay in the know about field developments and that they network with other coaches. We participate through Coach U and the ICF in the Career Coaches Special Interest Group which helps us give to the profession on an ongoing basis. We also hold Certifications in Civilian Leadership Development as a Trainer for Mentor/Assessment Training; Management Development Certifications for Leading People; High Performance Development Model; Ethics Training; Mastery in Alternative Dispute Resolution; Team Skills; and multiple other skills proficiencies in quantitative and qualitative analysis. Shauna Lee Lange is an advocate of 1st Amendment Free Speech, Net Neutrality, Open Internet, and Social Media.
