“A picture is worth a thousand words.”
My paintings are my art education, and a better indication of my ability as an artist than a resumé.
Artist Statement
| Once upon a time, a bedtime story about an Ugly Duckling touched the empathetic heart of a child and she drew a realistic duck from the image in her mind. A mother was amazed and a passion for art was born in a three-year-old child…That was the beginning of my love of art, the common thread woven thru the canvas of my life.
My name is Yvonne Herd Arrowood and I am an artist, constantly striving to be a better one. Many years have passed since my first pre-school drawings. Nevertheless, I am as excited to begin a new painting now as when it was my turn to use the easel, and the six big jars of paint in Mrs. Copeland’s second grade class at Overbrook Elementary… I love color and shapes, shadow and light, human faces and paintings that create an emotion or tell a story. I am primarily an oil painter, specializing in portraits and Old Master reproductions. My own personal renaissance began when I made a conscious decision to be taught rather than intimidated by the Masters. It continued as I began to copy old Masters to improve my craftsmanship…I did not realize that it would inspire creativity and originality as well. ___________________________________________________________________ Yvonne Herd Arrowood: Art in Architecture Resumé (updated November 2018) South Carolina Artist Specializing in Portraits and Old Master Reproductions yha@ charter.net or 864 616 6996 Portfolio: ArrowoodPortfolio Movie Revised AUGUST 2011 on YouTube Education: My formal art education began as a twelve year old with Robert L Bruns, and continued for almost five years. It was later supplemented by a series of week-long Covino Old Master Workshops from 1996 to 2005. Upon leaving Wade Hampton High School before my senior year, I began a major in Biology and Chemistry at what is now Southern Wesleyan University. In 1968, I transferred to the University of South Carolina, College of Pharmacy, graduating with honors in 1971. Work: Pharmacy: Anderson Memorial Hospital 1971-1973: Eckerd Drugs 1973-1986: Walmart Pharmacy: 1986-2012 Awards: 2001 Outstanding Walmart Pharmacist of the Year Award in the USA presented to Yvonne Herd Arrowood at the Kansas City Walmart Annual Corporate Meeting. 2018 Professional Excellence Award, College of Arts and Sciences, presented, to Yvonne Herd Arrowood by The Southern Wesleyan University National Alumni Association Work: Art As a teenager, I painted portraits in pastels and oils for relatives and friends. Many were painted in art class with Mr. Bruns, my teacher, close by. My first commissioned pastel portrait was created in class from a lovely 5” x 7” antique photograph of Mr. Claude Brookshire’s late mother. Mr. Brookshire paid me twenty-five dollars for the portrait, and allowed me to display it years later in a group show at Central Wesleyan College. Another memorable portrait for me was my first commission in oils, a portrait of Janie Smith Dillard, in 1963. Janie is a friend from my wonder years and for a set of oils, she commissioned the portrait for her Dad. She told me today that I could borrow the portrait anytime for a show, but that she wouldn’t take a million dollars for it – that’s strong appreciation for a fifty-three year old portrait, commissioned for a set of oils. As a Bruns art student, I occasionally entered art contests at his urging, and won 5 or 6 ribbons. I still have the faded ribbons and re-acquired two of the paintings. One is a pastel portrait from my mother of Pilate’s Wife, and the other, an oil painting of The Paris Mountain Dam, from a classmate’s family. Pilate’s Wife, painted when I was thirteen, was my first solo pastel outside of art class, and it won a blue ribbon at the Greenville County Fair. It was inspired by the novel, She Stands Alone, by Mark Ashton. Boston: L. C. Page & Company (1901). My only other surviving contest entry, the painting of the The Paris Mountain Dam, received a red ribbon in 1963 at the Peoples National Bank’s 2nd Annual Art Exhibit. After graduation, a pharmacy career, and rearing three sons with my husband and best friend, left little time for any art, other than that which was conceived and executed in the mind. When the *time came that I could return to ‘artistic pursuits’, my own ‘personal renaissance’ began as I directed my study toward the concept of being taught, rather than intimidated, by the ‘Old Masters’. That *time would be when I decided to follow the advice given to me by Dr. B in my senior year at pharmacy school. “There will come a time,” Dr. B said, “when you have to choose between money and what makes you happiest.” Many years later, I acted on that thought, resigned from management and decreased my hours (and my salary), to have more time for my family and art. Commissions have never recouped my forfeited pharmacy wages, but I continue to find ‘happy compensation’ in the appreciation shown for my art. For the last twenty years now, I have painted diligently, attempting to create museum quality reproductions and original works that will stand the test of time. I have been honored by a commission to paint for a world class museum and one of my reproductions was displayed with Ribera and other Masters for a year and a half at the Museum and Gallery at Bob Jones University (M & G at BJU). The same reproduction after Raphael was displayed at the Museum and Gallery at Heritage Green, October 2015 through February, 2017. Four of my original portraits are at the University of South Carolina, and include Professor Joseph Le Conte, Dr. Robert Beamer, Dean Julian Fincher, and Dean Farid Sadik. My reproduction of Guido Reni’s Hercules Vanquishing the Hydra is in the Decorative and Fine Arts Collection of Furman University. Also included in my portfolio are over twenty-five reproductions from Botticelli to Bouguereau. Teaching: 1987 (?): Southside Christian School, K4 – 12, once weekly for half-year, Greenville, SC 2004-2007: Annual Five Day Art Workshops , Raleigh, NC Summer 2008: Four Day Reunion Workshop, Greenville, SC Summer 2009: Four Day Reunion Workshop, Greenville, SC January 2010: Guest Artist – Greenville Charter High School Art Break (GCHS), Greenville, SC January 2011: Guest Artist – GCHS High School Art Break, Greenville, SC August 2010-May 2011: Mentor/Instructor, A Student’s GCHS Senior Project, Greenville, SC 2010 -2011: A Three Day Workshop each year, Wilmington , NC Group Shows: 1965 or 66 (?): Art Show at CWC (Now Southern Wesleyan University) , Central, SC October 2005 (3 weeks+): 2nd Salon of the Copistes du Louvre, Paris, France March 2007-July 2008: Artspeak Demystified Exhibition, M & G at BJU,Greenville, SC October 2007: Catherine Hayes’ Keowee Reserve Show, Oconee/Pickens, SC March 12-28, 2008: 3rd Salon of the Copistes du Louvre, Paris, France April 2008-July 2009:Grand Opening thru July 2009, M & G at Heritage Green, Greenville, SC Fall 2009-2017: Metropolitan Arts Council (MAC) Annual Open Studios 12 x 12 Exhibits, Greenville, SC Summer 2010-2017: MAC Annual One-Stop Open Studios Retro Exhibits, Greenville, SC October 2015- February 2017: The Art of Sleuthing, M & G at Heritage Green, Greenville, SC March 11-April 16, 2016: Carl Blair Tribute Show, Metropolitan Arts Council,Greenville, SC Solo Shows: July 2001: Wrightsville Baptist, Grand Reopening, Wrightsville Beach, NC July 2001: Encore Show, Wrightsville Beach, NC September 20, 2003: St Mary’s Catholic Church Benefit, Greenville, SC April 24, 2004: St Mary’s Catholic Church Benefit, Greenville, SC January 23, 2005: St Mary Magdalene Catholic Church Benefit, Simpsonville, SC 2005 December 3, 2005: Linton Post-Louvre Reception, Spalding Farms, Greenville, SC December 11, 2005: Trinity United Methodist Church, Shepherd’s Gate Benefit, Greenville, SC October 29, 2006: Greenville 1st Wesleyan Methodist Church, Homecoming, Greenville, SC April 29-May 28, 2016: She Stands Alone, Centre Stage/MAC/South State Bank, Greenville, SC Museum Experiences: October 11-29, 2004: Painting at the Louvre, Allegory of Wealth, after Vouet, Paris, France September 27(?)-October 8, 2005: Painting at the Accademia Carrara, Morte di Atala after Giovanni Battista Rivai, Bergamo, Italy October10-30, 2005: Painting at the Louvre, The Sleeping Hermit, after Vien, Paris, France Winter 2007: Commissioned by M & G at BJU to reproduce portions of Boeckhorst’s Adoration of the Magi at the BJU site for an exhibition beginning in April, 2008 at the M & G at Heritage Green (I worked on the project at the BJU museum site January through March 2008.) Greenville, SC Spring 2008: Painting at the M & G at BJU, Ecce Homo after Ribera, Greenville, SC 2008/2009 (dates?): Painting at the Museum and Gallery at BJU to color-match my St Michael the Archangel after Guido Reni to the museum’s Sirani Archangel after Guido Reni (If matching your palette to the original is not possible, your best color reference may be the work of a student or apprentice from that Master’s workshop.), Greenville, SC Memberships (Current and Past): Phi Beta Kappa, Kappa Epsilon, Rho Chi, APhA, AAHP, South Carolina Pharmaceutical Association, Board of Visitors-Southern Wesleyan University, American Society of Portrait Artists, Greenville Artist Guild, Metropolitan Arts Council Miscellaneous: In 2003, we held our first Open House, which we continued annually, until I became an ‘Open Studio’ participant in 2009. Each year, in the first weekend in November, local visual artists open their studios to the public. Greenville Open Studios, promoted and supported by the Metropolitan Arts Council (MAC), under the direction of Alan Etheridge, has made it possible for thousands of art lovers to view local artists at work in their studios. In 2018 we substituted a Pre-Fall September Open House in lieu of participating in Greenville Open Studios 2018. The Arrowood Home/Gallery and Studio has hosted many tours (by appointment) for individuals, senior citizen groups, schools, churches, benefits, sports clubs, art groups, Universities, etc. In this past year (2015?) , my gallery tour, which includes stories, anecdotes, and the occasional art lesson, was a class requirement for an art history course at Southern Wesleyan University. Most recently we hosted a local Greenville SC book club meeting for their monthly book discussion, which for October 2018, featured the Last Painting of Sara Da Voss. My artwork work has been featured by Cape Fear Arts Alive, The Greenville Journal, the Catholic Miscellany, the Palmetto Pharmacist, Southern Wesleyan University’s Focus Magazine, The Spalding Farm News Letter, Greenville News’ City People, WYFF TV, Becoming More like the Master , a 2018 Southern Wesleyan University e-article, and a host of unsanctioned internet sites – including an embroidery factory in a foreign country!
My name is Yvonne Herd Arrowood and I am an artist, constantly striving to be a better one. Many years have passed since my first pre-school drawings. Nevertheless, I am as excited on beginning a new painting now, as when it was my turn to use the easel, and the six big jars of paint in Mrs. Copeland’s second grade class at Overbrook Elementary. I love color and shapes, shadow and light, human faces and paintings that create an emotion or tell a story. I am primarily an oil painter, specializing in portraits and Old Master reproductions. My own personal renaissance began when I made a conscious decision to be taught, rather than intimidated by the Masters. It continued as I began to copy old Masters to improve my craftsmanship…I did not realize that it would inspire creativity and originality as well. My primary formal art education began as a twelve year old with weekly lessons from Robert L. Bruns, a portrait painter and dedicated teacher. In my forth year as his student, Mr. Bruns gave me two weekly classes with the adults in exchange for cleaning his studio. As his ‘shop-girl/apprentice’, I learned much from Mr. Bruns as he patiently answered my many questions. I remember one question in particular that inspired a lengthy discussion. I asked him why an 18th century portrait in his studio looked different from his own realistic portraits. Patiently, he explained to me in detail about painting in layers with under paintings and glazes, and how a Master’s apprentice might prepare his Master’s palette with rows of different values of the colors on the palette or paint table. It was many years before I fully appreciated and understood the depth of Mr. Bruns’ teaching and generosity. Several years ago, in belated appreciation, I self-published a book, entitled Robert L. Bruns – Art Teacher Remembered. Between 1996 and 2005, I also attended 14 or more week-long Covino Old Master Workshops. The discipline and structure of the classical academic method presented at the workshops, as well as the interaction with other artists, complemented the excellent foundation that I had received as a young teenager from Robert Bruns. If you paid attention when Mr. Bruns taught you how to paint red lips, you learned to create volume with values and to control intensity to create depth. The principles of that lesson were applicable to all the hues and what is more, your reds didn’t turn pink. Bruns taught me more about painting in my teenage years than some art majors learned in college; however, I still regret not taking art history in an academic setting. I always thought it was something I could do on my own. Every painting that I do now is a continuation of my art education, whether it is in researching an Old Master for a reproduction or the creation of an original image. There is so much left to learn and more paintings in the gallery of my imagination than I will ever paint…but not for lack of trying. Yvonne Herd Arrowood 11/2018 Click here or on Dedication to read more about Robert L. Bruns |