Rebecca Velde - Painting
Artist Statement
At a young age, my dad showed me how to draw a box in 2 point perspective. This was MAGIC to me. He also showed me how to catch and filet a Walleye. I grew up in a small town in northern Minnesota. From my mother, I learned to love the North Woods. I remember fondly being 9 years old; catching crappies off the dock, playing with frogs and turtles, picking wild strawberries, walking down the gravel roads barefoot with my 2 brothers, swatting at horseflies with ferns.
After HS, I began studying art and art history at Hamline University in St Paul, Mn. Then I went to Alice Lloyd College in Pippa Passes, Kentucky where we studied the people and struggles of the coal industry. One summer I spent backpacking around Europe, seeing in person, some of the Great Master’s work. It’s nothing like pictures in a book. Now I try to draw that well and get those amazing colors. Later I studied ancient Chinese Painting and learned about the desert and the Hopi in AZ. At the University of Iowa, I studied at Mauricio Lasansky’s great printmaking shop and graduated from there with a BFA in painting.
I have been in Montana for most of my life. I love Charlie Russell, I love the history, the flora and the fauna, the beauty. I love the hard working, self sufficient people here. People are my favorite subject. I paint with oils on canvas, with brushes, rags, my fingers and sometimes the wrong end of the brush. I use cotton swabs to erase or blend. I paint to learn and get better, and because it’s magic.
Contact Information
Rebecca Velde
406-396-2168
