{"id":12183,"date":"2022-09-02T07:00:21","date_gmt":"2022-09-02T11:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lyndalambert.com\/wordpress\/?p=12183"},"modified":"2022-09-02T06:15:20","modified_gmt":"2022-09-02T10:15:20","slug":"the-evergreen-journal-31-discovering-an-art-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lyndalambert.com\/wordpress\/the-evergreen-journal-31-discovering-an-art-life\/","title":{"rendered":"#The Evergreen Journal #31 ~ #Discovering an Art Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Evergreen Journal #31<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0 Discovering an Art Life:
\n<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n

We All Begin Somewhere<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today, I am publishing TWO articles on<\/p>\n

The Evergreen Journal.<\/p>\n

Why?<\/p>\n

My NEW book<\/p>\n

Songs for the Pilgrimage<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

is selected by AllAuthor and is\u00a0 included in the<\/h4>\n

September Book Cover of the Month Contest.<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today’s post on The Evergreen Journal, reveals my entry into the world of\u00a0 ART and Literature.<\/p>\n

Everyone has to begin somewhere. Our life is about taking little steps in the beginning. We don’t\u00a0 know we are beginning a long journey. Yet, each little step begins the process.\u00a0 We are actually bringing\u00a0 the future into the present.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Discovering an Art Life: <\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

We All Begin Somewhere<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

by Lynda McKinney Lambert<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Author’s Note:<\/p>\n

This is my first article on the topic, Discovering an Art Life. I\u2019ll share my first tentative steps into the world of art and writing.<\/p>\n

This brief overview covers many years of a life in the art studio and beyond.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

First, I\u2019ll reveal my initial steps. I confess, I had no idea that I would ever become an artist or live a life of art as I have done for over forty-six years.<\/p>\n

In 1976, I was thirty-three years old, married to my high-school sweetheart, Bob.\u00a0 We had five children.<\/p>\n

As you can imagine, my life circled around my husband, our five children, duties at home, pets, church activities, and community service work. We were busy people with lots of obligations at home and in our community.<\/p>\n

My first oil painting in 1976 was a still life of a brown-glazed pottery crock and various dried weeds. That painting is still in my office to this day. When I experienced my first art class, however, I had no idea what an artist was or that art would become a passionate focus for the rest of my life.<\/p>\n

I entered into a painting class with a friend from church. She is a professional painter who taught classes at her studio. I learned basic techniques of painting and I had lots of experience entering art exhibitions. She gave me a solid foundation and in a few years\u00a0 I was ready to take additional courses in new studies.<\/p>\n

From those beginnings, my work received awards in nearly every art show I entered. I was painting one day a week in her studio during those three years. For the rest of the week, I painted after I got the children off to school.<\/p>\n

My kitchen table became my art studio. I did not know at that time that I had entered a life-long journey to a destination I could never have imagined during those early years. All I knew was that I was hooked on painting pictures. I was in love with paint. These small steps were my first encounter in learning to become an artist.<\/p>\n

After I attended classes at my friend’s studio\u00a0 for several years, I moved on to seek additional studies at a community art institute where I engaged in intense studies\u00a0 in color theory, art history, and different paint application methods. I studied with the director of the institute.<\/p>\n

During this time, my exhibition experiences developed into national recognition in juried shows, feature stories in publications and recognition of my paintings. At one of the local shows, the juror took me aside and told me I needed to begin work at a university and should enter a degree program. He was a professor of fine art, so I was deeply interested in what he told me. This little conversation set me off in a new direction, and it changed the trajectory of my life.<\/p>\n

Finally, after painting just about every day for nine years, I entered a university fine arts program. Now, I had an end goal firmly in sight. I would do whatever work necessary\u00a0 to get the education required to become a\u00a0 teacher in a university or college eventually.<\/p>\n

For the next eleven years, I worked on my studies at several universities in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. I had many opportunities that opened up for me during those years.\u00a0 One valuable experience was a trip to Europe in the summer of 1991.\u00a0 I was invited to attend a month-long course by one of my professors and that was another decision that brought new possibilities into my life in the future.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You see, each opportunity that comes to us will take us to a place we will need to be.\u00a0 I learned to never pass up an opportunity.\u00a0 The few times when I had not taken an opportunity, I learned later that it was a mistake.\u00a0 I see opportunities as gifts from God, that lead us to the next place where we need to go.<\/p>\n

I officially started my academic art journey<\/strong><\/em><\/h4>\n

in the summer of 1985.<\/strong><\/em><\/h4>\n

I participated in a landscape painting workshop in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. I earned college credits that summer at Rutgers University and the Philadelphia School of Art.<\/p>\n

When I returned home at the end of the program, I registered at Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania as a BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) major. I was forty-two years old when I entered the fine arts program. My life had just taken an enormous step forward.<\/p>\n

Over the next decade, I earned a BFA and an MFA\u00a0 (Master of Fine Arts) in Painting.<\/p>\n

I also earned a MA in English because I had a passion for poetry and I loved to do research and write papers on Fine Art and English Literature.<\/p>\n

Eventually, my years of higher education were completed.<\/p>\n

I had seventeen years of studies behind me and I was ready for the next phase of my art life.<\/p>\n

I became a fine arts and humanities professor at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. I entered my first teaching duties as a new professor.<\/p>\n

I set a goal and put in the years <\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

of work required <\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

to reach that milestone.<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today, I can see that\u00a0 from the beginning, Plan A was God’s\u00a0 plan for me. I’ve been living out His calling for my life for nearly five decades. I’m still making new discoveries every day.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n