An Artist is Born
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Asher Wineman is in the “zone” as she completes her most-recent work in Ms. Barrett’s Advanced Art course.
On a warm fall afternoon, Asher Wineman sits on the edge of her stool in the art studio. Sunlight pours in through the studio’s twenty two windows lining the west and east side of the room. With the Blue Ridge Mountains glowing through the windows in front of her and MSA’s upper meadow looming behind her, Asher is in a world of her own, shading the fire-colored hair of her most recent portrait. Her signature oversized headphones blast the tunes of an unknown beat that sets the rhythm for her work.
For the past three years, Asher has been fine tuning her artistic skills under the tutelage of long-time MSA studio art teacher, Sharon Barrett. As an 8th grader, Asher’s imagination delivered one remarkable idea after another, but her technical skills were not quite up to speed with her creative mind. However, after three years working with Ms. Barrett, she is closing the gap in her skills.
Ms. Barrett commented: “It is always exciting when a student's art and technical abilities begin to catch up with their creativity, and Asher is rapidly approaching this point of synergistic fusion.”
The portrait that Asher is finishing is the result of an exercise art students complete each year.
Ms. Barrett explained: “Her most recent work, a portrait of a woman in pastels and colored pencil, was her artistic response to an assignment in which Advanced Art students were to research famous women artists, and then work in the style or subject matter of their chosen artist. Asher chose to work with the subject matter of American Impressionist Mary Cassatt (who mainly painted women and children), and she used a reference photo that had colors that she'd seen in some of Cassatt's work.”
Using colored pencils, Asher brought the portrait to life with strikingly realistic green eyes and tightly bound red hair. The subject seems to be either looking back as she steps forward or looking away from her current setting. Either way, the portrait suggests confidence and growth—two characteristics that Asher possesses as an artist herself.
“Asher is growing exponentially as an artist, and she's eager to expand her repertoire of skills in various media,” remarked Ms. Barrett.
Over the past two decades, Ms. Barrett has sent her students to some of the finest art schools in the country—including Ringling College of Art & Design, Virginia Commonwealth University, Rhode Island School of Design, and Pratt Institute.
Many of these students are now professional artists in a wide range of industries, from film animation and graphic design to costume design and painting.
Based on the success of many of Ms. Barrett’s former students, Asher knows her path to a career in the arts is full of possibility.
Like the window-lined art studio where MSA art students learn and create, Asher’s artistic future is bright.
