Having completed the Watercolor Boot Camp through Terracotta, a Veteran is eligible to join an Art Muster group. The purpose of Art Muster is to energize and reactivate vision and commitment to making art supported by peers, present work, share ideas, and ask for support in service to growth as well as to create a fellowship of encouragement, inspiration, and support for the development of a sustainable art practice.
Art Muster meets weekly for one-hour on Zoom. This is a small group experience, with the usual size of the group being about six to ten participants. The first six meetings are led by an art facilitator. Each group’s facilitator will help participants to prepare to form a peer led group.
The first Art Muster group met in the summer of 2023 and now meets weekly as a self-sustaining group. Their original facilitator checks in with them monthly to celebrate progress and discuss challenges.
All participants in Watercolor Boot Camp are eligible to join an Art Muster group. If you were not able to complete all aspects of the course, you are still eligible to join, and all levels of experience and skill are welcome. The Muster facilitators are Lucinda Draine and Suzanne Accetta
As a WaterColor Boot Camp participant seeking an opportunity to join a small virtual group – please contact PAF: info@patriotartfoundation.org
Lucinda Draine grew up in a home with parents who encouraged painting and all kinds of arts and crafts. Her father served as a Commander in the U.S. Navy and was also a skilled amateur oil painter. In college, Lucinda studied art history and painting but eventually gave up painting for photography. This decision was partially driven by her frustration with not being able to teach herself to draw realistically to create the paintings she imagined.
Soon after earning an MFA in photography, Lucinda stopped practicing her art to pursue a career in teaching special education and became a dyslexia specialist. Exposure to the Wilson Reading System taught her the importance of structure and sequence when teaching complex skills such as reading. This experience would later help her gain a deep appreciation for structured, sequential art instruction.
In 2014, Lucinda resumed drawing and painting and became exposed to the Bargue drawing course, a highly structured and sequential method of instruction. Over several years, she completed the drawing atelier program at the New England School of Fine Arts and began painting again in earnest. Enthusiastic about learning to draw and paint portraits, Lucinda joined the Portrait Society of America, where she met Mary Whyte and learned about “We the People” and the Patriot Art Foundation. After seeing Mary’s keynote presentation at the Art of the Portrait conference, Lucinda was moved to volunteer to work with veteran artists in whatever capacity was needed. In 2023, Lucinda facilitated the first Art Muster, a follow-up program to the Watercolor Boot Camp.
Lucinda lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she enjoys painting the Canada geese that live along the Charles River. She continues to study drawing at the Academy of Realist Art in Boston and teaches drawing from her studio.
Suzanne Accetta has been painting and teaching for over fifty years. Her award-winning paintings are exhibited regionally, nationally and internationally. She was featured in the WOMEN IN WATERCOLOR INAUGURAL NEWSLETTER, AMERICAN ARTIST MAGAZINE, and WATERCOLORPAINTING.COM. Suzanne is a busy lecturer, demonstrator, juror, and teacher.
Suzanne taught her first zoom class for the Patriot Art Foundation spring of 2023. As a facilitator/mentor with the Art Muster, she enjoys meeting the Vets and sharing their interest in watercolor. She is thrilled when they continue painting and interacting with their fellow Vet/Artists. You can see her work and learn more about her at www.suzanneaccetta.com.
In 2019, Mary Whyte’s groundbreaking traveling exhibition of 50 watercolors called We the People: Portraits of Veterans in America opened to the public in Charleston, South Carolina. In the first six weeks alone over 22,000 people viewed the collection. The response, especially from veterans, confirmed Whyte’s belief in art’s extraordinary power to communicate and connect. And so, what began as fifty portraits turned into a national mission giving veterans a means of finding whole health through art and self expression.
If you have a heart for veterans, art and teaching, contact info@patriotartfoundation.org
Founder, Mary Whyte shares the vision of the Patriot Art Foundation and its mission to help Veterans tell their stories through art.
Patriot Art Foundation
P.O. Box 620
Mt Pleasant, SC 29465
For more information about online classes or if your company is interested in becoming a PAF partner, please contact Patriot Art Foundation:
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