You’ll have to stop and stare – and you’ll likely find yourself doing so – to realise that the portrait in front of you is not a photograph, but a meticulously crafted pastel piece by young St. Maarten artist Anderson Flanders.
The Weekender sat down with Flanders to learn more about his experiences in the art world. He has loved drawing since he was seven, and throughout his teenage years, he taught himself – through online resources – to make portraits as realistic as possible, with proper shading and proportions.
At about age 17, Flanders started to share his drawings on social media, where he gained the attention of professional artist and master pastellist Claudia Post.
Fast-forward to 2019, and the now 24-year-old is in full swing, building his skill and career as an artist under the guidance of Post, his mentor.
Flanders travels from St. Maarten to Chester, Connecticut, to undergo training in three-month stints to study in atelier/mentoring classes in classical fine art, and will likely continue this training for another year or so.
He specialises in portraits of people and pets, capturing their likeness from either models or pictures. Each portrait can take up to three weeks to complete.
While he began his journey using charcoal and graphite, which he still uses, he has been training mainly with pastels, the medium of choice of his mentor.
The young artist has some 500 pastel colours at his disposal and plans to add over 500 more to his collection in the near future.
Learning composition and how to apply colour in pastel have been some of the major components of the training, he says. For one interesting example, using black is avoided. Instead, various colours are mixed and blended on the canvas to create a rich, dark colour, which can appear black. Take a good look at “Sonny” (the Boston terrier) and you may find that hard to believe.
Portraits of “Sonny” and “Twinky” (the cat) were both featured in the Richeson75 International Animals, Birds, and Wildlife exhibit book, released December 2018.
In his upcoming training stint, the young artist will work on mastering a new skill-set: oil painting.
His studies over the next year will be one third learning the skill of classical portraiture in oil painting and the study of oil plein air painting; one third professional pastel and oil commission work and the art business; and one third creating original easel and exhibition paintings for regional and national shows in the United States.
He will also be trained to be a teacher of his own Atelier in the future. He is now officially a Monitor, and will earn the title of Studio Assistant by end of the year.
Honing his skills and participating in exhibitions are his main focuses for now, and he is also available for commissioned work. Up next, Flanders is planning to compete in the Art Renewal Center’s 14th international Salon competition, which is accepting applications until March.
In the future, Flanders would like to practice his craft both in the U.S. and at home in St. Maarten. He plans to teach art, in addition to making portraits, as his profession.
He would love to promote classical and fine art in St. Maarten. In the U.S., he would like to share St. Maarten culture through his art, and let other artists know about the island and that people here are also interested in fine art.
That might result in artists coming to the island for workshops, and create opportunities for other local artists to gain more exposure to the art world.
Flanders has been taking part in various exhibitions since early 2018, starting with the Lyme Art Association Four Acts Exhibition, where two of his pieces were juried into the show. He was invited to display one of his portraits at Lyme Art Association shortly afterwards.
In November, he won the Art Spirit Foundation Gold Medal Award for Excellence in Pastel for “Attitude”, a portrait depicting his young nephew Mason.
He attended the awards ceremony and reception with his mentor, who took part in the same exhibition, at Salmagundi Club in New York City – one of the oldest art organisations in the United States.
The portrait was displayed November 11 through 19 at Salmagundi Club as part of the American Artists Professional League’s ninetieth Grand National Juried Exhibition, and he has received a junior scholarship at the club.
His acceptance into Salmagundi Club is an amazing opportunity to exhibit and paint for Juried Exhibitions, and to participate in any of the art events and activities there for the next several years. He and his work will be noted and observed by art critics, galleries, museums, art magazines and fine artists who are members of the club, as well as art collectors. Three of his works are being shown at the Annual Jr. Scholarship Exhibition through January 2019.
Flanders also became a member of Pastel Society of America. Another one of his works, “Portrait of Linda”, was juried into the Pastel Society of America’s 46th annual exhibition, “Enduring Brilliance” in September.
“Portrait of Linda” is now on exhibit in Youngstown, Ohio, at The Butler Institute of American Art – one of 30 pieces selected from around 180 entries.
In September, Flanders had the pleasure of meeting nationally acclaimed artist Daniel Greene for a special retrospective exhibition of Greene’s work. “I was excited to meet this Master Painter, along with his wife, artist Wende Caporale,” Flanders said.
Now in his 80s, Greene has created pastel and oil paintings for decades, and was one of the teachers of Flanders’ mentor, Claudia Post. Greene’s exhibition started at The Butler Institute of American Art, and proceeded to Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, Connecticut, where Flanders attended with three fellow art students and his mentor.
Flanders’ talent and hard work are allowing him to make the most of great opportunities, resulting in a budding career in art. The Weekender looks forward to sharing his future milestones. Follow him on Instagram @andersonflanders_art.
