INTERVIEW WITH LIVING MASTER
ALBERT HANDELL
Master Signature Artist of the Plein Air Painters of NM
Pastel World 5th-ALBERT HANDELL.pdf (with images)
(TEXT copied below)
Albert Handell
C ould you kindly provide us with a concise overview of your background as a pastel artist and mentor?
I studied drawing at the Art Students League of New York on Saturdays when I was 16 and when I was 20 (1957) I started working there daily with Oils.
In 1966, out of curiosity, I decided to experiment with pastels
and found them wonderful. I was like a fish going into water. My exhibition at the ACA gallery in New York City that September (1966) had a large room for my oils and a smaller room for my pastels. Pastel at that time was considered a secondary medium and yet I preferred the pastel.
The editor of Watson Guptill Art Book Publications came to the show and was very impressed and asked me to be part of the re-
2024 Pastel World 5
Pastel Art Forum
editing of their book (Pastel Painting Step by Step by Elinore Lathrop Sears). The book came out in 1968 and I became very well known for my pastels and was asked to judge the first
Title: Portrait of Jerry Schiffer Size: 24"×18"
exhibition of the Pastel Society of America in 1972.
I continued working with pastel in the studio with portraits and nudes.
Title: Budda Size: 24"×18"
Title: Turquoise Size: 18"×28" 6 Pastel World 2024
Pastel Art Forum
When I moved to Woodstock, New York (1970 through 1983) I started working with pastels on location and promoted this activity through my nationwide workshops (Pastel in general is not a portable medium and lots of consideration and experimentation had to be made in order to go outdoors and paint with pastels.)
In 2007 the Butler Institute of America Art in Youngstown, Ohio offered me a retrospective of my pastels.
Since 1980 I have given five to eight pastel workshops annually. I started giving these pastel workshops in Woodstock, New York. Since 1983 I have been living in Santa Fe, New Mexico giving pastel workshops in my studio and nationwide.
I find that pastel is the best medium for painting and drawing simultaneously.
A Lesson:
I have found that by varying the pressure of the pastel each stick has more than one color.
For example, light colors get darker when applied lightly and dark colors become lighter when applied with a gentler application. With this in mind a pastelist realizes they have twice the amount of colors.
You have dedicated nearly six decades to working with pastel medium. What led you to choose pastel as your preferred medium? Additionally, could you share what you find to be
the most fulfilling aspect of working with pastel?
Pastel is a dry medium. It is conducive to drawing and painting simultaneously. When working with oils, if the color you mixed is to light, add some black. If it's too dark, add some white. With pastel you can't do that. But by varying the pressure of a pastel, examples included, you will see that each pastel color has more than one color to it. And mixing a new color is not necessary. When I demonstrate this to my students, they are surprised. I can't believe it is not common knowledge.
Because pastel is a dry medium you do not have to wait for it to dry. It is dry and you can work on top of it immediately.
When I was younger, I organized my pastels by value. Now I have them random.
If I have them too organized my eye goes to sleep. When I have them random it works better for me. I equate it to speaking English. When I talk, I'm not worried if I use a noun, verb, pronoun, additive or anything like that, I just talk. And that's the way I paint with my pastels.
I find pastel very fulfilling due to the fact that it is drawing and painting simultaneously.
Pressure lesson
2024 Pastel World 7
Pastel Art Forum
How would you describe your painting style? What are the key attributes that hold significance to you in your artwork?
I started studying painting with oils at the Art Student's League in 1957 when I was 20 years old. At that time the subject matter was mostly portraiture and nudes which called for careful measuring. And my color theory was "if it's the right value, it was the right color".
Oils is a glossy medium and rich darks are easy to obtain but be careful not to add too much white to your color mixtures because your color mixture will start looking weak and chalky. In 1965 I started working with pastels. I was tired of working only with oils. I needed something to freshen me up. Pastel is a "matte medium" which means that you can't get those juicy darks so easily like you can with the oils.
The pastel darks are lighter in key therefore I had to raise the value of all. But lighter pastel colors are endless and rich in color. My idea is to start with the right value, therefor I have the right color. This took some doing. I would never have gotten as colorful as I have without switching to pastel for a lot of my works.
With that, I always had a tendency for strong composition and strong design. And that moved on to being a bit abstract. I didn't mean to be abstract but by focusing on my subject, wanting to get as much beautiful pastel color as I could, I found the outcome to be more about patterns and higher in color values than anything else.
So since my patterns of different colors of the same value are carefully measured I consider myself a color realist with a strong abstract bend.
Title: Adobe and Sky Size: 16"×17"
Title: Mirage
Size: 12"×18"
Title: Coastal Fog Size: 18"×12.2" 8 Pastel World 2024
Title: Morning Marsh Size: 17"×18"
Title: Morning Light Size: 18"×12" Title: Smith Rock Size: 24"×18"
For numerous years, you have actively engaged in instructing pastel workshops both within your studio and across the nation. What approaches do you employ to foster a dynamic learning environment in your classroom or workshop? When I was a student at the Art Students League the thing I wanted to see the most was how my teacher painted. Seeing a demonstration and how that teacher handled his painting would have been a wonderful help and very informative. He was timid and I never got to see him demonstrate and I remember how frustrated and disappointed I was. I promised myself I would never frustrate my students like I felt frustrated. I went there to learn and see how to paint and I wanted my teacher to show me what it was like...
After a quick hello I go right into the demo. When I'm painting in the studio, I silently ask myself questions. When I demonstrate I ask myself questions but out loud and the students can all hear my questions and see my solution. And I want to show that it takes concentration.
It is like a magic show for my students. Most have never experienced this and it is an eyeopener.
I do not take any questions during the demo. I tell them, "I know you want the answer to your question and if by the end of the demo I have not answered your question, ask it then". I keep the painting of the demo uninterrupted and as thrilling as I can.
My demonstrations take an hour to an hour and a half. So, they get to see and hear the real thing.
In the afternoons I give individual help at their easel, which is specifically for them to improve what they are trying to paint.
I also answer all questions about career building. Like what makes up a good Co-op gallery.
And the different shows they could participate in online avoiding all the expenses of a live gallery competition. Because the expenses of framing the work and shipping the work backwards and forwards is eliminated.
I also allow my students to contact me with their images after the workshop which is very helpful to them.
Pastel Art Forum
Albert doing a demo
2024 Pastel World 9
Pastel Art Forum
Throughout your experience in pastel art education in the US, have you observed significant changes, growth and advancements? Do you believe that the potential of pastel art knows no bounds? Do you have any personal advice that you like to share with our readers? When I first started painting with pastel in 1966, pastel was considered a secondary medium. In 1970 to 1983, when I was living in Woodstock, New York, I had a very large studio. 40 feet by 24.
I decided to give pastel workshops at that time. It was hard to buy pastel materials. lf a student asked me what should I buy, I would say "nothing" just bring what you have and I have everything else. If I had told them to buy something it would've been so difficult for them that they would not have come to the workshop.
So, I had to have a pastel store in my studio.
I painted on sanded pastel papers from the 3M Company and I had them for
my students. The Morilla company in Hollyhock, Massachusetts at that time had a choice of only two brands, Rembrandt or Grumbacker.
I personally chose the Rembrandt.
Now, if you go to a pastel convention the supplies available are truly extensive and merchants come from France, Australia, worldwide for a very wide selection of pastels and pastel materials. Very different from the 1970s.
There are many galleries now who will accept pastels. And there are many pastel societies and many, many more exhibitions.
The only bounds to pastels are the ones you put on yourself.
Try not to judge your pastel painting severely while painting on it. That would be like editing your article while you are working on the article. Edit the article after it has been written. Do the same with your painting. Don't edit them as you are creating them. Give them a chance to breathe and develop. Afterwards, with a fresh eye, judge and evaluate what you
have done. Then turn the pastel to the wall. Look at it in the next day or two and you'll see it fresh. Immediately respond to what you see, i.e., something is too big, make it smaller. Something is too light, make it darker. Respond immediately to your fresh reaction.
Remember you can't get everything into one painting! Many time you get part of what you wanted and missed out on other parts. And that part may have initiated the desire to paint the subject in the first place. Accept what you have painted. Don't try to mutilate what you have in order to get something you didn't get, drop the brush. Start another painting with different proportions and go after the one thing that you didn't get in your previous attempt. I refer to this as variations of a theme.
In the game of chess, when in doubt of what to move (you have to make a move so make a minimal move), move a pawn. When painting and are confused where to go next, drop the brush.
