In this new, highly researched two-hour Zoom workshop, participants have fun producing their own original pastel painting of Millet’s elegant “Dandelions.” We will create our own smaller version choosing parts from Millet’s pastel painting that inspires us. You will see why Vincent van Gogh was enamored with Millet's work and why Vincent did plant studies inspired by Millet. Kits will be available for pick-up the week before for those that register.

About the artist:

Artist Gregory John Maichack lives in western Holyoke. He is a portraitist and painter working primarily in pastels. Winner of the Award of Merit from the Bennington Center for the Arts: Impressions of New England Show 2003, he also was awarded the Savoir-faire Pastel Award from the Great Lakes Pastel Society. Maichack was commissioned by Westfield State College to paint the pastel portrait of the past president of Westfield State University, Doctor Frederick Woodward, which was unveiled at the dedication of the Woodward Center; and pastel painted dictionary great Charles Merriam, unveiled by Merriam-Webster Co. at Merriam-Gilbert Library. He has been in many national juried shows and was awarded numerous Massachusetts Cultural Council grants. In addition to portraiture, his still lifes and landscapes are represented by galleries from Kennebunkport, Maine to San Francisco, California.

Maichack has been a faculty member of the Museum Studio School in the Fine Arts Museum Quadrangle in Springfield, MA; and taught at Holyoke and Greenfield Community Colleges, Westfield State University, East Works, the MFA, Boston, and The Guild, Northampton. Maichack’s pastel paintings have been selected twice for the Annual National Exhibition of the Academic Artists Association and as a result Maichack was invited to be a member of this prestigious organization.

This project is supported in part from a grant from the Chelmsford Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.