The Oil Spiel

Interview appearing in April 2007 The Oil Spiel
Official newsletter of the Oil Pastel Society

Featured Artist of the Month

Stephen Henning

By Carol Zack

I want to introduce you to Stephen Henning. While browsing through our membership section on the OPS site, I read that Stephen is an accomplished acrylic painter who has recently discovered oil pastels. Upon further investigation, I found a talented artist who continues to learn and is extremely interested in understanding all the many facets of becoming a successful artist in today’s very competitive environment. I hope you enjoy reading about Stephen and gain a better appreciation of his oil pastel paintings. Be sure to check out his website to see the full range of Stephen’s work as well as the oil pastel workshop he will be conducting this summer. It appears that he walks the walk and talks the talk, as they say. Congratulations to Stephen for being selected as our “Artist of the Month” for April 2007.

Stephen Henning has been a career artist since the early seventies. An award-winning graphic designer in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul) for almost 20 years, he has been committed to landscape painting since 1990. He has developed a distinctive style of American impressionism primarily with acrylic paint on canvas, and only recently discovered the qualities and salability of oil pastels.

Stephen has also been working hard to develop a loyal following of collectors and patrons who share his love of nature and the outdoors. His work is represented in galleries, corporate and private collections throughout North American. He contributes to several art organizations; manages a website and among his many other activities is also creating Giclee Prints on canvas and paper in very limited quantities designed to bring more visibility to his work.

Based on the questions I asked him, I came to realize just how much he is enjoying his new found admiration for oil pastels. He was so proud to announce that one of his oil pastels just got accepted to The American Impressionist Society’s annual juried show that will be exhibited in the Hilligoss Gallery in Chicago, in May. He mentioned that he had only one entry, but was very honored to be accepted. I asked him for more details so those of us who can, can see the show.

With heightened curiosity, I set out to ask Stephen questions about his work, his approach and his point of view, as well as some of the influences that would give us a deeper understanding of his work.

Known for his large scale canvases of Midwestern landscapes, and nature images including native florals such as the water lilies commonly found on Minnesota lakes, Henning also enjoys creating super scale original still life paintings in an impressionistic style. Often beginning his paintings outdoors, working "en plein aire" as the impressionists were known to do, he will typically finish the large canvases in the studio.

He tells us that his painting style ranges from "tight impressionism" to "loose expressionism."

He has taught plein air workshops for several years, and reproductions of his art - published by Inspiration Peak Publishing and Grand Image, Ltd. - are displayed and sold internationally. He lives near Inspiration Peak, in the rolling hills of Minnesota's Alexandria Moraine, with his wife and family.

Coming up this summer, Stephen Henning will be teaching an oil pastel workshop. Here is some of the information for those interested:

Offered by

Art of the Lakes Association.
http://www.artofthelakes.org
click on "workshops"

If anyone is interested in attending, there are beautiful bed and breakfasts nearby as well as inexpensive motels. The workshop will be taught in Glendalough State Park - a beautiful, pristine setting and a historic location. It is one of Stephen’s favorite locations. He has created and sold almost 100 different paintings inspired by this location.

Among his many accomplishments, Henning serves as artist-in-residence in rural schools up to five weeks each year, and has taught outdoor painting workshops for many arts organizations throughout the Midwest. A strong advocate for the arts, he is a director on the boards for the Evansville Arts Coalition, Banfill-Locke Center for the Arts and COMPAS, a non-profit arts organization serving communities throughout Minnesota.

Henning's honors and recognitions include: 1999 Arts Leadership Award from
the Minnesota State Arts Board, Featured Artist - 1998 Minnesota Porcelain Artists Teacher's Guild Expo, 1997 Minnesota Percent for Art Purchase Award and 1996 People's Choice Award at the New York Mills Regional Cultural Center Invitational Exhibit.

The grandson of South Dakota "sodbusters," Henning was born in Minot, North Dakota, and raised in Anoka, Minnesota. He resides near Inspiration Peak, Minnesota's second highest promontory and shares studio space with fellow artist and wife, Jacqueline, and their children.

Gallery Representation: Henning's originals may be seen at Three Havens Artworks, Alexandria, MN; Hinsdale Gallery, Chicago, IL; Miller Gallery, Cincinnati, OH; The Max Gallery, Tucson, AZ; Vine & Branches Gallery, St. Paul, MN.

"I am essentially an introvert. I enjoy people, but part of me is always hungry for wide, open spaces; painting is my means of escape. I have always considered myself a landscape painter, primarily concerned with interpreting the observable, natural world. Lately, however, I find I am using my "inner vision" more and more in the creative process. My hope is that the viewer can find a state of peacefulness and joy through my paintings."

As a successful acrylic painter, I have to ask how and when did you discover
oil pastels?

I took a one-day workshop in the fall of 2005. During the workshop, I created three small pieces that I thought turned out okay, so I tested them on-line the following week. When all three of them sold within two weeks, I immediately started working in oil pastels, alternating with paintings on canvas. I love working with oil pastels: they are as subtle as I want them to be, quick, relatively mess-free, and offer immediate gratification. Best of all, there is a market for works in oil pastel.

What type of oil pastels do you use, and what specific qualities do you enjoy
or dislike?

I like the wide range of colors available in Sennelier (can one ever have too many color choices?), but find they get a little "gooey" in warm weather - therefore, I also like to use Expressionist Cray-pas because they are a little less likely to get soft so quickly.

Do you work in your studio or take these materials outside or both?

Inside and out! Working in the studio, I can sometimes create three or more pieces in a day. But I value the opportunity to work in natural light on location. Oil pastels are easier to use on location than other types of paint, and because they are so fast to work with, they are well suited for "racing the light" - as I often point out when teaching a plein air workshop.

Are you framing the work under glass or preserving the final paintings in
another way?

I really think they look best under glass, although the vast majority that I have sold have been unframed with recommendations to the client about frames. While unframed, I secure the finished piece with a protective cover sheet of wax paper over the front before shipping or carrying them anywhere.

Tell me more about Mr. Ernest Oberholtzer who was such a strong influence in your artistic development. Have you been painting since you were a child?

"Ober" was one of the five people who founded the Wilderness Society. He wasn't an artist, although he valued creativity, and he was a mentor to me as I was a kid growing up. He encouraged me to develop a deep respect for nature, and a love of wild places. Gene Ritchie Monohan, a prominent portrait artist, was a good friend of Ober and also one of my mentors growing up. I still have the first acrylic painting I made under her tutelage, about 40 years ago. She taught me to truly see colors.

Before you started painting full time in the early 1990s what were you doing before that? I see “award winning graphic designer and creative director” in your website bio. How has schooling, formal visual training, and work experience influenced you today?

I was blessed to have powerful artist-mentors as I was growing up, and throughout school. In addition to Gene Ritchie Monohan, I was also mentored by Bob Blewett, Sr. - an art director for Billy Graham's Decision Magazine - and Bill Stein - a self-employed commercial artist. Trained at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, I became a career artist, working as a graphic designer, illustrator, art director and creative supervisor for about 20 years. That experience refined and kept my artist's eye challenged throughout that period, even though I went through a fifteen year "drought" where I didn't even pick up a paint brush. Then in 1987 I saw a traveling exhibit of original paintings by Monet. That rekindled my desire to paint. Why wait until retirement to paint, and perhaps look back on my life with regret? So here I am, still playing with paint and oil pastels - and not regretting a single moment of it! I also enjoy sharing that love with others, so I occasionally will be art-in-residence at a rural school or teach a workshop for an art club somewhere. My work experience in advertising and marketing also prepared me to make a living as a fine artist - I think one of my strengths is my ability to market my work - that's something they don't often teach in art schools.

Can you tell us how you developed your clientele and started showing in galleries? Are you finding that there is a market for your oil pastel as well?

I could write a whole book on this subject. The best advice I can offer other artists is to start close to home. My first "show" was right in my studio, and the guests were all people who knew me. Better to be a big fish in a small pond, and work your way up from there. I am a big believer in setting goals. When I first started painting full time, I set a goal for myself to be in five galleries at the end of two years. I've been doing this now for about 12 years, and my limited editions are carried in over 300 galleries in 15 states; my originals are in six to ten galleries. The internet and my website have been critical to accomplishing this.

Two of Henning’s favorite themes – water reflections and beautiful floral blooms are explored in several large canvases. Your meditation series seen on your website along with several others of water and lily pads really seem to explore an old Barbizon* ideology (1830-1875) that concentrated on pastoral land and sky, recreating the effects of light and air with small, expressive dabs of paint. I noticed there are never any people in any of your paintings. Can you share your point of view about not having this particular rural imagery in any of your paintings?

I think I can count on one hand the number of times I have included the human figure in a painting. My intention is to present the landscape image in a natural setting, inviting the viewer to step into the image through his/her imagination. Although not all of my images are entirely "wild" - many of the plein air scenes are rural farmsteads, simply because that is where I live. Whether the landscape is a wilderness scene or a country lane, I strive to establish a sense of deep spatial relationships that pull the viewer's eye into the image. The other venue, in which I work, as you mentioned, is a series of images exploring the mesmerizing effects of air and light as reflected in water surfaces of a woodland stream.

*The earthy tones and rural landscapes of Barbizon artists paved the way for the Impressionist movement. The tiny French village of Barbizon played a big role in the history of Western art. Here, in the mid-19^{th century, the modern landscape was
born. Artists were beginning to paint nature.
These atmospheric evocations of forest glades, sunlit ponds,
and toiling peasants were the most sought after works of the
era and their artistic innovations laid the groundwork for
the Impressionists.}

Your website tells us that your painting style ranges from "tight impressionism" to "loose expressionism." But I’m curious. When I look at many of your paintings, the regionalist* American artist Thomas Hart Benton comes to mind. While your work has an impressionist technique, the attitude I pick up in your paintings is a regionalist point of view. With early roots in South Dakota, do you agree that the influence of these artists impacts your point of view?

When I started painting full-time I admit that I was very inspired by the Regionalists (another major exhibit at the Minneapolis Institute of Art that I saw prior to making this big 'leap of faith' into becoming a full-time artist was the Grant Wood exhibit). I haven't consciously tried to replicate their work, but I thank you for the comparison. I understand that Benton was very interested in capturing the folk tales unique to the region where he was from, or where he had traveled. He recognized that within a generation that folk culture would be lost, so he became passionate about preserving it through his art. If there is any intentional similarity with my art, perhaps it is in choice of subject, to a degree. I will occasionally choose to include buildings in my paintings. When I do, I prefer to paint those aspects of a vanishing America that will not be around in a few more decades - timber-frame barns, country churches, old grist mills. Yet my favorite subjects have little - or no - trace of human influence on the landscape. Just a natural, peaceful world that calls out to me - and hopefully, the viewer.

*The American term, “Regionalism” refers to the work of a number of rural artists, mostly from the Midwest, who came to prominence in the 1930s. Not being part of a coordinated movement, Regionalist artists often had an idiosyncratic style or point of view. What they shared, among themselves and among other American Scene painters, was a humble, anti-modernist style and a desire to depict everyday life. However their rural conservatism tended to put them at odds with the urban and leftist Social Realists of the same era. The three best-known regionalists were John Steuart Curry, Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood, the painter of the best-known and one of the greatest works of American art, American Gothic.

I see you are an art advocate and an artist-in-residence in the rural schools near you. Based on your experience teaching children, what do you think the students need to know about the arts or what do they gain from having art in the schools? And what do you gain from this experience?

Yes, I am a passionate advocate for all the arts, and for all ages! Having an opportunity to learn creative problem solving and alternative means of self-expression is an important part of becoming a well-rounded, fulfilled human being. Sadly, the arts are often one of the first areas of school curriculum to be cut when budgets are tight, yet what other areas of learning give students a chance to grow in these ways? My life would have been so much different if I had not been given opportunities to study the arts as I was growing up. I think it is very important for artists to 'give back' by sharing their artistic joy with others, especially the young. I have also seen older folks blossom as they explored new forms of self-expression.

What do I get out of sharing what I know? As much joy as I give away, comes back to me ten-fold! It is energizing, and through teaching I am forced to really think about the creative process that is often just taken for granted; it makes me a better artist.

You also serve as director on the boards for the Evansville Arts Coalition, Banfill-Locke Center for the arts and COMPAS, a non-profit arts organization serving communities throughout Minnesota. Can you briefly provide some highlights about belonging to these arts organizations?

The key to my involvement in these organizations may be summed up in one word: “Community”. I see the arts as an overlooked - but vital - element to the community where I live. The arts touch our lives economically in a very big way. They enable us to appreciate, express and celebrate who we are. They touch us spiritually, making us stop and look up from the drudgeries of life, adding a big plus factor to our quality of life.

They are an important economic development asset. I have enjoyed my involvement in these organizations, helping the arts to flourish and thrive here in Evansville and other communities throughout Minnesota, and thus adding to the quality of life that we enjoy here. I wish you could have seen our Main Street last Friday evening (it is normally deserted, even during daytime hours); it was filled with parked cars from one end of the street to the other and on both sides, for we had a packed house at our local art center.

It appears that you have a wife in the arts as well. Can you tell us a little about your family?

My wife is president of a successful faux finishing business. Jackie has been so busy that she hasn't had any time to do much painting in the studio over the last few years. She's also one of my best (and sometimes most painful) critics. I thank God for Jackie; she has always been an encouragement to me in my artistic career, as well as other areas of my life. We have three daughters: two that are grown and on their own, and the youngest - Leah - (the apple of my eye) is in ninth grade. My mornings are usually spent home schooling with her, and in the afternoons I work in the studio.

I think one last question. Can you explain the difference in your approach to acrylics versus oil pastel?

Actually, my acrylic painting technique has been evolving; I have really loosened up since I started working in oil pastels. In both cases I like to build up my image with many layers of different colors. I strive to break up larger areas that might normally be one smooth, solid color by allowing flecks or strokes of the different colors I'm using to show, rather than blending them totally. This way, the viewer's eye does some of the blending. With acrylics I really build up the texture, using thicker and thicker paint with each new layer that I add.

With oil pastels I allow the interacting, overlapping strokes of color to show, and sometimes even the base color will poke through.

Also do you use any medium such as Liquin or Res-a-gel to build an
under painting?

I don't want anything that requires a lot of fuss. Perhaps I should elaborate on the substrate I am using - because I just love how it works. I really don't care for working on anything too flimsy, like paper (is that a 'guy thing'?) - I prefer something really tough enough to withstand my rough handling, and also something that I don't have to worry about if I'm working in windy conditions. I also do not like hard textured surfaces, where the pattern shows up through the pigment. And I do like to work on a colored surface. I do this with acrylics, and I also like to work with a colored base when using oil pastels. So what I prefer to work on is acid-free suede (or Ultra-Suede?) mat board. It grabs and holds the oil pastel where I put it, it has a textureless surface when finished, it provides a spectrum of colors to work on top of (I usually prefer to work on a mid-tone grey, tan or gold), and I don't have to worry about the wind grabbing it and bending or tearing it. I use 1" tape all the way around the edges to provide a handling area, and also a surface that my framer likes to have tucked behind the final display mat board. I can use a simple clip-board to hold it when driving around and sketching. In the studio, I like to work standing up. So I have a drawing board that clamps onto my painting easel, and then I use heavy-duty clips to hold it to my drawing board. I also like to work quite large. Right now, I have a 40" x 60" piece that has been mounted onto a big piece of foam core for extra stiffness - this is waiting for me to begin working on.

Stephen, I would like to thank you for the time and expertise that you have provided for this month’s article and wish you much continued success.

Your high standards and sincere vitality provide inspiration to many of us. I am looking forward to seeing your work in person here in Chicago at the American Impressionist Society Exhibition in May.

Thanks again

Carol Zack – OPS Editor of Artist of the Month