Vicki Carol

The Discovery Center is thrilled to have Ocala resident artist Vicki Carol join the instructor team!  We are very excited to have her leading our art themed camps starting in Summer 2011.

Teaching Statement:

Over the years, I have been asked many times to teach children art.  My first objective is to always teach them that art is self expression.  It doesn’t require a degree and it isn’t open to only a few people.  It is open to every person who sees and feels and wants to tell a story.

Yes, there are techniques and methods to learn, but the creative process is inherent to every living being.  One only needs to drop the fear and open their creative channels letting the ideas flow.

My joy of teaching comes from seeing students open up to new and creative ideas through a hands on approach to learning.  I believe that taking away the fear of failure and teaching them to see with their heart, interpret with their minds, and express with their hands, will provide an outlet for expressionism for the rest of their lives.

I hope that my teaching of the Summer Art Camps will stimulate and activate the artistic juices of the students, and lead them to new horizons of thinking about art, artists, and themselves.    

Vicki and her granddaughter, Miranda, who is one of four grandchildren.

 Artist Statement: 

  The decision to make art my foremost profession came as a result of an unplanned early retirement.  The move to Ocala, FL in 2004 allowed me to intentionally push life’s demands back and permit my true inner desire as an artist to step bravely forward.  I say bravely because, prior to the last four years my art has been sporadic at best.  My very first attempt at producing art with no training at all was on a whim during a boring vacation as a young married mother of twenty.  My Mother’s reproduction of Raphael’s “Madonna Delia Seggiola”, became my inspiration into art.  With typewriter paper and school pencil in hand I completed the Madonna without child.

Although, I lvoe to paint still life’s and the Florida landscape, capturing the mood of an individual in their daily life with the curves and twist of the human figure still intrgue me the most as a subject.  Oils, pastels, and acrylics are my current medium of choice.

The human personality inspries me more than any other subject.   It is only in the last five years that I have pursued the art of the portraiture.  Capturing the true image, character, and emotion of the individual at that moment in time is my true love.

Most of my portrait work is done in oils, but the spontaneiy of pastel’s colour choices and the energy of it’s line have been drawing me more to experiment with this medium.  Like Mary Cassatt, I sometimes manipulate space and proprotions to make my figures appear larger.  My colors are strong and I like using line to define shapes.  When it comes to the face, I want a true rendering of the individual and put my emphasis on capturing their mood.  I am a traditionalist with realistic tenancies.

My landscapes are influenced by the impressionists energetic loose brush strokes and quick layering of harmonious colours next to each other.  I paint fast and most often apply my paint directly to the canvas.  Because of their quick drying time, I frequently use acrylics for my landscapes.  I find that the new acrylics properly used can give almost the same richness as oils.  not being primarily concerned with details in my landscapes, I like to paint how the Florida tropical light plays with the colours and moves through the space setting the mood.

Watercolorist and my mentor, Elizabeth Sharpless, encourages me to find my own direction as an artist and to always encourage other women to be strong and bold in pursing their artistic desires.  It is never too late to pick up a brush and being: or to begin again.

Note:  The sketch of the “Madoona” that I did forty two years ago is framed and proudly displayed as my favorite work.  I did it when I didn’t know I could.