“ Pegasus Dreams ”
“ Joanne Cannon was one of the first teachers / mentors I had in Seattle back in the 1970s . She inspired me to paint landscapes of the Pacific Northwest , and I did that for several years until I moved back to the Bay Area to work in my family ’ s business .”
After working there for several years Rod retired in 1995 and moved to Idaho where his wife Connie grew up . Together they opened an art gallery and quickly filled it with 27 of the top local artists at the time . Every year , however , Hallen would go back to San Francisco and visit the galleries along Powell Street where some of the greatest artists in the world displayed their work . He wasn ’ t allowed to photograph them , but he could sketch them .
“ we are all connected , and we work together better than we do alone .”
With magical realism , there ’ s
an element of fantasy or whimsy ”
“ I ’ d spend the whole day , every day for a week there sketching from the paintings done by Italian , Chinese , and Russian artists — studying what they did , their shadowing , etc ., and purchasing books of their work to examine later .”
It was during that time that Hallen met Dale Tucker . An artist and mentor , he gave Rod lessons in drawing .
“ He was a master of abstract art and drawing , and we spent a lot of time working together on both of those things . He was the first person to explain to me that bad abstract art is too busy and lacks a focal point . The viewer is given no emotion beyond confusion . Good abstracts give the viewer space and focus to feel and see things when you look at the painting . I still glean from those times today .”
Hallen has also been the recipient of much wisdom throughout his career .
“ One time we had a famous Japanese artist come to our town , Keiko Hara . She was an art professor at Whitman College in Walla Walla who also taught art to children who had been abused . I went to her show and spoke to her . I offered to make her an omelet the next day if she ’ d drop by my house to critique my art and she agreed . I made her breakfast and showed her all the
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