Jacob Edwards Library Events

Pastel Paint The Miracle Flowers with Greg Maichack

Monday, Sep. 20, 2 pm - 4 pm

The Jacob Edwards Library on 236 Main Street, in Southbridge, MA will host award-winning pastel artist Gregory John Maichack to present an adult hands-on workshop, “Pastel Paint the Miracle Flowers,” on Monday, September 20, from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm. This pastel painting workshop is designed for sheer beginners to experienced artists. Seats may fill quickly so please
call (508) 764-5426 to register. Participants will freely experiment with hundreds of the artist’s professional grade pastels, pastel pencils, and pastel paper, in this fun pastel painting workshop.

In this new, highly researched two-hour workshop, participants have fun producing their own pastel painting inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe’s enormous mural, The Miracle Flowers, which Elizabeth Arden, the cosmetics mogul, commissioned her to paint in 1936. Gregory Maichack is a seasoned pro at teaching pastel techniques, as recognized by the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) Boston; Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC), and hundreds of libraries and local cultural councils.

We will extract from The Miracle Flower two flowers from the original 6 X 7 foot flower painting, and pastel paint our own wonderful creation on paper in yellows and purple, with greens and blues for background. Maichack will demonstrate again how beginners to accomplished artists can pastel paint easily using techniques of masters such as O’Keeffe. As always, all will keep their 12 X 18 pastel paintings.

Mr. Maichack’s workshops have been so well-liked, many libraries and senior centers have booked and rebooked him, often twice a year. “What I heard through students’ comments reflects a teaching style that is rare: encouraging, positive and constructive, with information given in a style that students find approachable, accessible, and clear,” wrote Melinda Georgeson, Director of Education, Norman Rockwell Museum .

Artist Gregory John Maichack lives in western Holyoke . He is a portraitist and painter working primarily in pastels. Winner of the Award of Merit from the Bennington Center for the Arts: Impressions of New England Show 2003, he also was awarded the Savoir-faire Pastel Award from the Great Lakes Pastel Society. Maichack was commissioned by Westfield State College to paint the pastel portrait of the past president of Westfield State College, Doctor Frederick Woodward, which was unveiled at the dedication of the Woodward Center . He has been in many national juried shows and was awarded numerous Massachusetts Cultural Council grants. In addition to portraiture, his still lifes and landscapes are represented by galleries from Kennebunkport, Maine to San Francisco, California. Visit his new web site at www.GregoryMaichack.com.

Maichack has been a faculty member of the Museum Studio School in the Fine Arts Museum Quadrangle in Springfield, MA; and taught at Holyoke and Greenfield Community Colleges, Westfield State University, East Works, and The Guild, Northampton. Maichack’s pastel paintings have been selected twice for the Annual National Exhibition of the Academic Artists Association and as a result Maichack was invited to be a member of this prestigious organization.

“This project is supported in part from a grant from the Southbridge Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.
Sponsored by Southbridge Cultural Council and Mass Cultural Council.