910-323-0046
Kim Cowger
Kim Mitchell Cowger, a North Carolina native began painting in high school. Although she did not pursue a career in Art, she received a degree in Criminal Justice and went on to be a police officer in a small town in Maryland. Kim's love of art returned in the early 1990’s aftering moving back to North Carolina and began taking a Bob Ross Class at Fayetteville Tech. Under the encouragement of Norma Moore, Bob Ross Instructor, Kim went to the Bob Ross training and received her first certification in 1998. Kim also received her Bob Ross Certification in the new Realistic Wildlife Program and Flower. Kim teaches for AC Moore Arts and Crafts in Cary and Fayetteville. She also teaches Fayetteville Technical Community College, Carthage Animal Hospital US 15/501 in Carthage. Kim’s work has hung in galleries and private collections as far away as Germany, Japan and many of the States in America. She has been sought after for animal portraits and murals. She has received awards for her artwork and was a featured artist for the Fayetteville Dogwood Festival in 2005 and 2006. There have been articles in the local newspapers, websites and an International Publication of Kim’s work teaching the blind and visually impaired showing that art has a language of it’s own. Kim has taken lessons with International Artist Gary Jenkins and Dana Jester (personal friend of Bob Ross Kim may be contacted at 910-323-0046 email for quicker inquiries: kim@joy2paint.com DANA JESTER BRING THE JOY OF PAINTING TO FAYETTEVILLE SATURDAY EXTRA FAYETTEVILLE OBSERVER AUGUST 28, 2010 The spirit of Bob Ross, the artist who was famous for painting "happy little trees'' - and for his belief that everyone has the ability to become an artist - was alive in Fayetteville recently. Well-known wildlife artist Dana Jester traveled from Indiana to teach the classes. He is a Bob Ross certified instructor and also was close a friend to Ross, who died in 1995. Jester appeared numerous times on Ross's television show "The Joy of Painting" and in his books. Jester taught several classes in Spring Lake at the Blue Street Senior Center. The workshop was sponsored by local artist Kim Cowger, who teaches painting in the Continuing Education Department at Fayetteville Technical Community College . Most of those in attendance were Cowger's students, some of whom traveled from as far away as New York and Pennsylvania. "She wanted to give her students something different," said Dee Sparrow, who began taking Cowger's classes three years ago. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience," Sparrow said. "It's exciting to know that you are able to come and paint with someone that knew Bob Ross." Cowger became a Bob Ross certified instructor 12 years ago. She found Dana Jester through Facebook and invited him to Fayetteville to teach the classes. " I'm very pleased. I've learned things. It's helped me clean up my technique. When I'm teaching, I don't get to paint everything I want to paint," Cowger said. Jester showed the students photos of him with Bob Ross. The two met in 1982 at a mall in Muncie, Ind., while Ross was giving a painting demonstration, using his wet-on-wet, quick method.. "He was a real good friend of mine," Dana Jester said. Jester said Ross's show became popular so quickly that "it was like throwing a match into a dry forest." While he is known for his friendship with Bob Ross and mastering the his friend's painting method, Jester is well known in his own right as a traditional wildlife painter. He also paints American Indian portraits and has been giving painting seminars since 1986. "It gets me motivated, too," Jester said. "Sometimes, it inspires you even more to continue with your own painting." Jester will return to Fayetteville next August 2011 to teach wildlife painting techniques. Art classes teach visually impaired students By Nomee Landis Staff writer 4 Photos Staff photos by David Smith Winnie Kucas looks closely at a painting by her teacher, Kim Cowger, during class at the Vision Resource Center on Monday morning. A bacterial infection made her completely blind in her left eye, while complications from a cornea transplant left her legally blind in her right eye. Below, Kim Cowger guides Levon Harris, who is blind, during a painting class . Timmy Smith has never seen the ocean. He does not know what water looks like or how drifting clouds brighten a sunset. Smith has been blind since birth. But he painted a picture on Monday with a blue ocean and a colorful sky. Art teacher Kim Cowger helped him. “Timmy, are you ready for this today?” Cowger asked. “We’re going to the beach.” She taped a paintbrush to his canvas, at the horizon line, so Smith could distinguish between his sky and his sea. She dipped his paintbrush in deep blue paint and placed it in his hand. He had already finished the sky. He painted ocean with sweeping strokes, side to side. He kept his left hand on the paintbrush taped to the canvas. Once a week, Cowger works with students at the Vision Resource Center in the Lions Club building off Rowan Street. All of them are blind or nearly blind. Most of them are seniors. Some, like Smith, are younger but disabled. For three years, the Seniors Call to Action Team has offered the classes, said Bob White, president of the nonprofit group. They allow disabled people to get out in the community, to meet other people and to learn something new. Together, they create works of art, respectable paintings that seeing folks would never know were painted by those who cannot see. A grant from the Arts Council of Fayetteville/ Cumberland County, combined with matching funds from the action team, have supported the program for the last three years, White said. Two similar classes are offered for Hispanic people who speak little English and for poor minority seniors, White said. On Monday, John Denver Christmas songs sang out from the boom box as the artists worked on their paintings. A slight smell of oil paint lingered. They sat in folding metal chairs around a long table. They all painted the same scene, but each work was unique. Cowger helped here and there, filling in bare spots in her students’ seas. Frances Cooper dabbed blue paint onto her canvas. She could not see her pink and purple sky or the perfect clouds. She can distinguish light from dark, she said, but she can no longer see colors. Cooper, who worked for years as an accountant, is losing her sight to macular degeneration. “I’m thankful,” Cooper said. “The Lord has left me enough to be able to get around.” Art is new to Cooper. “I don’t know much about art. This is my first experience. We’re at the beach today. Last week we were at the mountains.” Frank Dallas, a retired Army lieutenant colonel stood before his easel, looking intently at his canvas. His hands shook, a symptom of Parkinson’s disease. He gripped the easel with his left hand. With his right, he dabbed yellow paint where his sky was appearing. When his eyes were good and his hands less shaky, he used to be a woodcarver, Dallas said. He whittled all sorts of songbirds and beautiful crosses. He painted in oils, too, and taught Cowger when she was just starting out. Cowger teaches at Fayetteville Technical Community College and at Michael’s Arts & Crafts stores. She teaches an oil painting technique called wet on wet that was popularized by Bob Ross, the artist who is the star of the show the “Joy of Painting” on public television. Before they painted on blue, each student brushed white paint onto the canvas first, part of the technique. Levon Harris is another student in Cowger’s class. “Levon, you know where your paintbrush is,” Cowger asked him. “Take that brush and scrub it in hard. All right, Levon, go down. Let me pick up some more paint for you. Don’t forget the right side of your canvas.” Harris said he remembers what sky and sea look like. He can imagine. But when he could see, he “couldn’t draw a straight line.” Cooper said something about sand. She thought there would be sand. Cowger said no, just pretty water. Still water? Cooper wanted to know. Calm water? “Well, honey, we’re going to put some waves in there.” Cooper called across the table to Smith. “Ok, Timmy, how much are you going to charge for yours?” He just laughed. |