Photo via Fred Bell
Shepherd
Fred Bell is probably best known as a portraitist but has recently adopted abstraction. Off the Cuff caught up with the painter and art teacher to chat about his history and present-day work. “Thanks so much for this opportunity to be interviewed by the Shepherd Express,” he said. “It’s a great honor that I appreciate.”
You recently began abstract painting. How is that working for you? Which styles do you prefer?
Yes, I did and I’m very excited about my show appearing at The Art Bar in Riverwest. It’s called “Shapes” and is all new abstract work. I started working on it in the beginning of the pandemic. It is the result of an online class I took with Nicholas Wilton at Art2Life. I had always wanted to venture into abstraction but couldn’t see my path. So the class opened up a whole new world for me.
The show is up from January 8 - Feb. 17, 2021. Stop in during bar hours.
You paint commissioned portraits of both people and their pets. How long have you been doing this?
I try to avoid portraits of people. People are seldom objective about how they look. Now, when I look in a mirror, I wonder who that is. So I can’t blame them.
Dogs are different. I’ve never had one not like they way they look. When I paint a dog, at a certain point, I feel like the brush is petting their face. They are full of fun. I try to channel the dog, and relate to it just like it was with me in the room. I pet their faces with my brush.
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Most of my pet portraits are small and intimate like the relationship we have with them. The viewer has to go right up to the painting and the experience is just like the relationships we have with our animals, close and emotional.
You also teach art classes in your home studio. When did you start that and how has that been going?
Since COVID I don’t have in person classes at my studio. That’s OK because I’ve been saved by Zoom! All of my private classes are via Zoom. It has worked out well and in some ways it is better than in person. The students like it a lot and so do I. It’s more intimate and the students are getting more out of the experience. Right now, I am offering just one Zoom class in Landscape Painting on Tuesday mornings from 10am-noon. There are more in the works.
I still teach for the Milwaukee Recreation Department too. In person classes of skill. That’s the reward in being a teacher, when the students do well.
I think that learning something new is easier when you know that there is help available to you. It makes it easier to be motivated if you know that when you get stuck, you’ll be able to get beyond it.
