Patience and talent paid off for Marion resident Sarah Brown-Miquelle on July 8 when the artist took “Best in Show” at the 27th Annual National Juried Exhibition known as “For Pastels Only” held on Cape Cod.
The singular judge, Chris Ivers, stated, “This was one of the toughest shows I have ever had to judge.” Brown-Miquelle told us the competition was stiff. “I’m still floating on a cloud!” she said in reaction to the award.
Of the 85 paintings Ivers studied before making her final decision recognizing Brown-Miquelle’s submission, she said, “When I walked into the room and actually was able to experience the incredible energy in this uplifting work, I immediately knew it was going to be a top award winner. … The vertical strokes … forced me to move up through the painting only to stop dead in my visual tracks … by the bright turquoise marks…”
Ivers called Brown-Miquelle’s choice of selectively placing that color akin to “a rebel with a cause” and commented that the artist pushed the envelope with the surprising use of color and steep, directional strokes, making it the judge’s final choice.
“I thought maybe they overlooked me,” Brown-Miquelle said with a tiny chuckle. “I almost dropped when I won.” She was indeed gob smacked when her name was spoken, the very last award given at the event.
Brown-Miquelle explained her journey to the winner’s circle. First came a picture of the grasses, phragmites to be exact, at Allen’s Pond in Westport approximately four years ago. It was a scene that spoke to her artistically and one that she kept returning to without acting upon its siren’s call. Finally, she did a small study again, leaving that finished work as the sole foray into this theme.
But the pull was too great. She gave in and took on the demands of working in pastels and this theme of straight lines in a natural setting. What we see are not simply vertical lines advancing from a marsh-like mattress, but the push and pull of vegetative swords reaching into a pale, blue sky while surrounded by water.
It is at once realistic and impressionistic. It is perfection of the medium and expert expression of the image she waited so patiently to formulate in her mind.
Brown-Miquelle has been working exclusively in pastels for more than a decade. Her works have graced numerous gallery walls, and she is a member of the Marion Art Center and the Pastel Painters Society of Cape Cod to name a few associations.
Area artists will know Brown-Miquelle as one of the many students she has worked with over the years at local venues and at her studio on Cove Street in Marion. “I’m still teaching every Monday,” she said.
Her inexhaustible delight of sharing her visions and aiding others in the use of pastels included this bit of technical details to this artistically challenged exhibit goer. “First I use a hard crayon (often using a photograph), then I did a small one and used that sort of a map for the larger work.” She explained that after applying a layer of softer pastels, she applies a layer of alcohol and finally sprays the finished work with a fixative that she called pastel spray. Brown-Miquelle said that not all artists working in pastels apply the final spray, but she does to avoid ruining all that hard work with an inadvertent smudge.
To see more of Brown-Miquelle’s works, visit covestreetstudio.com.
By Marilou Newell