This week’s featured artist: Steve Bleinberger, member since 2013 (this time around!)
ME: For as long as I can remember I’ve liked to draw. Encouraged and prodded by my high school art teacher AWS watercolorist Jim Iams to pursue art, I embarked upon what was to become a successful career in the graphic arts/ design/ film /directing/ writing world, while in my free time (ha!) continuing to hone my watercolor and photography skills. I received a BFA, Communication Arts and Design from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), with Advanced Studies in Painting and Photography.
I reside in Towson, but consider Annapolis my “home away from home” because I spent my childhood and young adult summers living, playing, exploring, and sailing on Thomas Point; a wonderful experience! I paint in my Towson studio, and I explore Maryland’s Western and Eastern Shores – sketching, plein air painting and photographing. Sometimes I poke my classic rowing skiff up creeks and near moored vessels in order to get “up close and personal” with my preferred subject matter.
MY ART: I paint in transparent watercolor, working to capture the look – and most importantly – the feel of Chesapeake Bay and Tidewater seascapes and marsh-scapes as well as the region’s myriad work boats – the more hardscrabble the better. My watercolors are realistic with an impressionistic twist. In my photography, I experiment with “old school” 35mm film blended with digital. I look for beauty, color, composition and texture in unexpected situations or objects – striving to compose and crop within the camera so as to avoid using digital retouching or manipulation if at all possible.
MFA & ME: I actually joined MFA (the first “pen and ink” entry won a ribbon!) way back when I was a kid in high school in the late 60’s. College, career, and family conspired to detour me from the local fine art scene. I rejoined in late 2013. What took me so long?!
I was attracted to the organization’s diversity of art mediums, range of styles and talent, and its full calendar of shows and events. The Circle Gallery is quite impressive with its blended historic and contemporary environment. MFA has grown in stature, membership and scope since the days when it was a new art “experiment” on sleepy Maryland Avenue.
Spread the word about…YOU: Every week, we feature an MFA member for “Me & My Art Monday.” If you would like to be featured, please submit a photo and three paragraphs: one each about YOU, YOUR ART, and MFA & YOU totaling approximately 350 words, to meandmyart@mdfedart.org.
