Vicki Guy
1329 Malvern Ave.
Pittsburgh, Pa. 15217
email: whveguy46@gmail.com
phone: 412-687-6722
Art Training:
Art Student’s League, New York, N.Y.
Oil Painting under Isaac Soyer, Avram Soyer and Morton Kaisch
University of New Hampshire 1989-1991
BFA studies (Painting and drawing) with Grant Drumheller, Craig Hood, Carol Aronson; Printmaking with
Scott Schnepf
Related activity:
Extensive travel in Europe, Asia, and central America to study art. Extended stays in Italy to paint.
Shows, Galleries and Exhibits:
1988 Franconia, N.H. One person show at the Robert Frost Place.
1989 Concord, N.H. One person show at the Concord Banking Center
1990 Durham, N.H. Painting selected for permanent display in UNHStudent Center
1997 Pittsburgh, Pa. One person show at the Mendelson Gallery
2001-2 Sewickley, Pa, Bird-inHand Gallery
2003 Cape May, N.J. One person show at the Chalfonte Gallery
2001-2006: Tramonte, Italy: ceiling paintings commissioned for a Palladian style Villa (Villa delle Rose)
2006-8 Millvale, Pa. Panza Gallery
Memberships:
Associated Artists of Pittsburgh
Artist’s Statement
Until recently I have had to combine my art with my “day job” (actually night job) of working as an emergency physician. The two professions have a lot in common, in that the observational power that helps when seeing patients (Is that skin color a little gray?) is not unlike what helps me apply color to canvas. Ditto for the anatomical knowledge that helps when I draw or paint the human figure. Beyond the mechanics of observing details and knowing anatomy, medicine is often as much art as science. If I made correct diagnoses and didn’t understand the real concerns of the patients, I failed to help them. Similarly, if I paint something and don’t make it true to the essence of the subject in a way that opens the eyes of the viewer to what I myself see, I have missed the mark.
I am often struck by a subject in an instant -- there is a sort of click inside me -- and then spend a long time, sometimes months, trying to capture that instantaneous impression on canvas. Sometimes I don’t even know why I have chosen the subject until I am in the process of exploring its significance for me as I paint.
Because I have happily left behind the stressful grind of the emergency room, I find myself chosing new, less peaceful subjects to paint. I am more interested in the human figure, by means of which I can explore my past, and through it the psychological and spiritual mysteries of human life. Perhaps new subjects will arise out of my medical experience, perhaps not. My art is a work in progress at the moment.