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| Artist Statement |
I believe that only one person can proclaim that one is an artist, and that is oneself. I am not sure when I actually became aware of the fact that I had made that declaration but I know it made a huge difference in my life. The search for beauty is not the search for the sublime but the awareness of what is, what it was and what it will become.
Because of my visual and audio orientation I am stimulated by what I see and hear. My work in art is the constant process of perceiving reality and interpreting how I feel about it and how I wish to pass on my interpretations of it. I feel strongly about our environment and what is happening to it. I care about how we are coping with the sights, sounds, small pleasantries, unparalleled disasters and heinous assaults upon our senses that we must live with today. The Muses must weep. I do not know if I respond in a recognizable fashion to any of these things with my work, but they drive me.
I have drawn since a child and always loved anything that would make a mark on something else. I always doubted my own abilities, but persisted and trials of a lifetime have given me some confidence. My love of the landscape came from my youth, much of it spent out of doors in Michigan. Since then I have always felt it necessary to be close to woods and water and have always lived within a few miles of them.
When I first went to Washington I was overwhelmed with the galleries. Certain paintings were like revelations to me. When the large Frederick Church painting of the Icebergs was discovered and shown I was transfixed. Later after being sated with a large exhibition of the Treasure Houses of Great Britain at the National Gallery, I found a small room with only several small landscapes by Courbet, I was completely captivated.
Many people have encouraged, influenced and taught me along the way. Some I have had the pleasure to actually meet, some I have studied with and others I have never met accept through their work and or writings. The paintings of Sargent and Homer have been great inspirations and learning tools. Many of the great 19th C. Watercolorists are special to me. I have had the pleasure of working with Charles Reid, Tony Van Hasselt and Nita Engle and found them all brilliant and fine painters even though I do not paint like them. I paint for myself and hope that someone else might see and feel what I do. You never really know. Douglas H Teller |
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