Art – Frederic Magazine

Artist William Rushton’s Portraits Have an Old-World Luminosity

Penelope Riley — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 23:52:23 +0000

When I was first introduced to William Rushton’s work, I was struck by how his pieces felt both old-world and contemporary at the same time. With a rigorous education at the Florentine atelier Charles H. Cecil Studios, loads of personality, and incredible talent, Rushton skillfully distills and translates his subjects into classic masterpieces. Here, the New York–based artist shares his background and creative process, his sources of inspiration, and the story behind his beautiful paintings and sculptures.

After studying and painting in Florence, Italy, for five years, Rushton began painting in a studio in Birmingham, Alabama.

BRIE WILLIAMS

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your background.

I’m from Birmingham, Alabama. I loved art growing up, but at Colorado College, I majored in psychology because I didn’t see how art could lead to a job. During my junior year, I studied abroad in Florence, Italy, and took a short course at Charles Cecil Studios, where we did cast drawing and figure drawing, and I loved it. One of my instructors suggested that I come back and do the full-time program. It seemed kind of crazy to me to move to Italy and ditch my psychology career. But I thought about it more and more, and talked to my parents, who said, if you really want to do it, now’s the time.

After I graduated college in 2015, I moved to Florence to do the full-time, three-year program. It’s sort of like an apprenticeship, and that’s how ateliers work in general. Spending five years there as a student and then as an instructor, I was able to do more than just painting and drawing; I also started doing sculpture on the side. I learned pretty much everything I know about painting in Florence. The studio’s founder, Charles Cecil, teaches the “sight-size” method of painting and beyond that, he creates a canon of painters to look at, learn from, and see the connection from one to another.

Loredana I, oil on canvas, 2023

courtesy of william rushton

Piero, oil on canvas

courtesy of william rushton

How would you describe your creative approach to portraiture?

When I think about creative process, it has a lot to do with what John Singer Sargent, Gainsborough, Velasquez, or Titian were all doing, which is finding natural beauty with just light and form, and through interaction with people—not just copying what was in front of them, but using it to create something that was oftentimes even more beautiful than nature or reality. The work is created from life because it’s so observational, but it’s also filled with lots of their own character and imagination. My creative process is still at the point where I just want to master and become really confident with the basics, and then also discover my own natural way of doing things—my own kind of signature.

Yasmina, terracotta, 2024

courtesy of william rushton

Joshua, terracotta, 2024

courtesy of william rushton

Where do you look for inspiration?

In Florence, got so much inspiration from the weekly lectures that Charles would give, so since I moved to New York, I’ve been trying to collect images and create sort of an image bank of photos and prints of old paintings. I have a Velasquez book sitting out on my coffee table all the time, and I even ordered another one so I can cut out and frame pages so I can see them in my studio. I’m also not too far from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, so I go there often. I’m trying to start sketching there once a week and see artworks in person. One of my favorite Velasquez paintings, Juan de Pareja, is there. Being able to see it online is one thing, but being able to see it in person is much more powerful.

Geoff, oil on canvas

courtesy of william rushton

Rominha, oil on canvas

courtesy of william rushton

How do you deal with creative blocks?

Well, I don’t know if I necessarily have them at this point, because there’s the creative side of painting, and there’s the discipline, just the work of it. I do deal with burnout, where I’m pushing myself for weeks and months on end, trying to do as much as possible to improve. I think you need to add variety to your life or find hobbies that you care about or distractions, so that you’re not only thinking about work and your career, otherwise you’ll go crazy.

One thing that’s made a huge difference is that I try to divide my schedule between painting and sculpture. They’re similar, but they’re also completely different: One is dealing with paint, one’s dealing with clay; one’s dealing with color, and one’s not. I can go do this other thing and I’m reinvigorated. It’s a great way to avoid burnout and stay excited.

The post Artist William Rushton’s Portraits Have an Old-World Luminosity appeared first on Frederic Magazine.

Diné Textile Artist DY Begay Weaves Past and Present

Martha Moskowitz — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 17:35:37 +0000

When DY Begay sits at her loom, she doesn’t sit alone. Alongside her are the five generations of women weavers who came before her, the deities of her people, the surrounding landscapes on the Navajo Nation reservation, and the plants, animals, insects, and minerals that supply her work. “It’s my culture, and it interlocks everything I do,” says Begay. And while culture is inextricably woven into the oeuvre of this indigenous Diné artist (the preferred term for Navajo), who has been working in her native lands of Arizona and New Mexico for nearly seven decades, she’s not bound by tradition. “I use the same tools that have been used for as long as the stories have been carried but feel free to express my own creative process,” she says. The result? Stunningly modern creations that reflect centuries of shared heritage.

DY Begay in her Santa Fe studio.

National Museum of the American Indian

A detail of Begay’s dyed yarns.

National Museum of the American Indian

An earth-to-easel artist in the truest sense, Begay dyes her own wool from Churro sheep raised by her sister; walking the land to collect materials is her biggest inspiration. “What I see in the buttes, the canyon walls, the washes on arroyos—those colors are planted in my mind, and the plants can replicate those colors,” she explains.

“Confluence of Lavender” (2016) is the artist’s dialogue with color, which gives energy to both dyed and undyed black and gray wool.

Courtesy of DY Begay

For Sublime Light: Tapestry Art of DY Begay, her upcoming retrospective at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. (on view September 20 through Summer 2025), Begay looked back through her journals, mining what influenced her most, divining that the essence of her legacy is inheritance. “I’m trailing my great-grandmothers, and it’s an honor that they have preserved this tradition,” she says. “Now I’m passing on knowledge.” And ensuring all that beauty reverberates for generations to come.

Inspired by the abundance of vegetation that sprung from the ground after a monsoon, "Blessings of Rain" (2015) is woven from yarn dyed with plants the artist harvested herself. “I am captivated, elated and enticed by the abundance of rich, luscious hues carpeting the dry soil,” she says of the green vistas from which she drew her palette.

Courtesy of DY Begay

Like humans, indigo requires oxygen to thrive. "It's the oxygen that brings out the life of the brilliant colors. The process of extracting the dye from the plant is magical," says Begay, who used the pigment to create "Trails of Indigo" (2018).

Courtesy of DY Begay

THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN VOLUME 14 OF FREDERIC MAGAZINE. CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE!

The post Diné Textile Artist DY Begay Weaves Past and Present appeared first on Frederic Magazine.