David Randall first took pottery lessons at VAC as a little kid in the ’70s. His mother signed him up for two weekend watercolor workshops in 1980, first with Clarence Perkins, and then with Fred Leach, both renowned painters. David reminisces, “I remember it being really different and fun at fourteen! I was in a room full of adults. I recall a sense of pride being the only teenager there. My father picked me up after my first lesson. He couldn’t believe the painting I did, my first watercolor. He thought it was the instructor’s! The painting still hangs in my old bedroom at my parents’ house.”

David continued to take lessons from local favorite Mary Ann Boysen. After college he moved on to a career in advertising and graphic design. In 2017 his connection with VAC came full circle when Vicki Welling (a friend and board member at VAC who sadly died in 2017) urged him to enter the Annual Juried Art Exhibit. “I promised her I would before her untimely passing. I missed the entry deadline that fall but held on to the painting I named in her memory, Welling Up. In 2018 I entered it and was accepted into the exhibit and found myself back at VAC on opening night after 38 years!” David’s piece was awarded the Russell Hardy Watercolor Award as well as the People’s Choice Award.

One of the adults in class with David in 1982 was Jan Mettee. Jan relocated to Chagrin Falls in 1979 and began taking classes at VAC because it was two blocks from the family’s new home. Through VAC programs she studied under Mary Ann Boysen, Bob Takatch, and others. She began teaching classes and was one of the accepted artists in our inaugural Art by the Falls held in 1983. Now she is one of VAC’s master watercolor instructors, continuing the example of high-level instruction that was given to her over thirty years ago.

 

EARLY BIRD ART & CRAFT SHOW | 10AM–5PM SATURDAY, MARCH 3

OBSERVATION/CONSERVATION | MARCH 29–MAY 8
RECEPTION 6–8PM FRIDAY, MARCH 29

SPRING CLASSES | APRIL 15–MAY 25

ART BY THE FALLS | JUNE 8 & 9 | RIVERSIDE PARK

Valley Art Center
155 Bell Street
Chagrin Falls, Ohio 44022
Valleyartcenter.org
440.247.7507