Collection: Margie Guyot

My degree is in music education. The only art classes I’ve had have been a handful of workshops. My high school art teacher told me I couldn’t be in both band and art. But it isn’t only through training that one becomes and artist. It seems that artists have the ability to see “the extraordinary in the ordinary”: the way the sunlight hits a leaf, the way colors change. I’m always searching for what looks amazing, whether it’s in a landscape or a still life arrangement. If something doesn’t excite me, the painting will never excite either. I enjoy painting both plein air (in the open air) landscapes and still lives. In a class I took, Clyde Aspevig once said, “Always paint from life. The answers are right in front of you”. Bouncing around from still life to landscape keeps me on my toes.

THE STORY BEHIND MY ART, MY INSPIRATION: It seems that artists have the ability to see “the extraordinary in the ordinary”: the way the sunlight hits a leaf, the way colors change, etc. I’m always searching for what looks amazing, whether it’s in a landscape or a still life arrangement. If something doesn’t strike me as exciting, the painting will never turn out exciting, either. I enjoy painting both plein air (in the open air) landscapes and still lifes. Clyde Aspevig told our class, “Always paint from life. The answers are right in front of you”. Bouncing around from still lifes to landscapes keeps me on my toes.

WORK I’M MOST PROUD OF: I’ve always felt that my still lifes were my best work, but this is a very tough area to find buyers – or even a gallery to willing to show them. People prefer local scenes. Good thing I enjoy painting landscapes – even in winter.

YOU WON’T BELIEVE: My degree is in music education. The only art classes I’ve had have been a handful of workshops. I worked 30 years on the line at Ford Wixom Assembly Plant. I’ve been to Peru 3 times, hiking the Inca Trail, sleeping on sandbars, bathing in the Amazon and studying the shamans. These days I play my saxophone with the Charlevoix Sax Quartet, Northern Michigan College concert band and Pine River Jazz Band. Oh, and I’m an avid gardener.

My high school art teacher said I couldn’t be in both band and art. My junior high band director said, “It’s people like you who make this band sound BAD!” I guess they’d both be turning over in their graves if they could see me now.