Catching up with Kathy Ostman-Magnusen

Last week, I said I’d like to catch up with some of the artists we’ve featured here at Texty Ladies.   Kathy Ostman-Magnusen was featured here on May 26, 2008.  Kathy paints and sculpts primarily women:  in their daily lives, in lives they might be afraid of, and in lives they wish they had. Her goal has always remained the same; to hear them breathing and to know the passion she feels in her soul is met by theirs.  Since our last post about Kathy in May: 

 SCHAEFER PORTRAIT CHALLENGE

Kathy’s work, “Mr. Magnusen”, a 36×48x2 oil on canvas, was accepted in the prestigous Shaefer Portrait Challenge.

 Mr. Magnusen

Artist’s Statement:

Mr. Magnusen, the subject of my painting, shares many of my same memories. We grew up not far from one another In S. California and later attended the same high school. It was in high school that I fell in love with Dennis G Magnusen. That love story was put on hold for some 30 years.

In 1967 Dennis was drafted by the US Army, and subsequently went to Vietnam in 1968. Circumstances and follies of youth would cause us to follow separate paths.

While in Vietnam Dennis was strongly affected by the children he saw there. “Children were never meant to experience war”, he told me years later. He decided that he wanted to do his part to change the world. “Real change in any society begins with the children,” was Dennis’ mantra, so he became a teacher. He worked with gang zone high school kids in the evenings and intermediate students in the afternoon. Grades of F’s and D’s were bought up to A’s and B’s. Mr. Magnusen reached beyond his own expectations, leading kids to an understanding of their own worth, thus opening doors to their potential futures. He created a surf club and got the community to help. He was often featured on local TV and newspapers as someone who was making a difference in children’s lives. Dennis also became a Mentor teacher, lending help to other educators. Being somewhat of a rebel he advised fellow teaches of ideas that reached beyond standard textbook techniques.

Sadly the ghost of Vietnam took away Mr. Magnusen’s strength in the form of Peripheral Neuropathy, caused by Agent Orange. By 1990 he was too ill to continue his beloved teaching career. It broke his heart. Seeking rest, relief from stress, needing a special place to deal with the physical pain that comes with Small Nerve Fiber Neuropathy, he relocated to Hawaii. Hawaii has been his solace and a cool breeze when memories of who he once was for kids becomes faint.

About three months ago “Mr. Magnusen” was contacted by a former student. Amy had been looking for him for eighteen years. She had heard he had died from Agent Orange complications, but still hoped that she would find him. You see, Amy became a teacher and she wanted to find Mr. Magnusen to tell him how much he had affected her life. While working on her Masters in Literature, Amy wrote a paper describing the most influential person in her life. That person was Mr. Magnusen. Amy called to tell Mr. Magnusen that she wanted to make a difference in this world too. For a teacher there can be no greater reward.

As for me? I found Dennis once again after 30 years, through a miracle of circumstance, but that I guess is another story.

~ Kathy Ostman-Magnusen
copyright 2008

This is what Kathy has to say about her experience with the Shaefer Portrait Challenge:

“The first time it took place I volunteered as a liaison for the island of Kauai and did not feel ‘right’ about entering my work.  The following opportunity (it takes place every four years)  I entered a painting but was not accepted.  It was relayed to me that the judges struggled with the painting and at the last minute decided to reject it.  It was rejected because I had not defined the neck and clavicle well and the jurors felt it was distracting.  I then repainted that area, entered it into the East Hawaii Cultural Center, All Juried Show 2005, Juror: Carol Yotsuda, and won Juror’s Choice Award. 

 After that painting was refused I had to come to terms with the fact that YES indeed, I do get ‘lazy’ sometimes on the bottom half of some of my paintings.  I just get tired of them and want to move on. That rejection was a great lesson for me! I no longer let paintings or sculptures leave my studio unless I am sure they are the ‘best’ I can do and are finished to that standard.  I went through my huge stack of paintings and pulled the ones that need work.  Those paintings are next on my agenda since my move to CA.”

I think we can all learn from Kathy’s experience and apply the lesson to our own work no matter  what we do for our hobby or vocation.

Thank you, Kathy, for sharing this experience with us and for blessing us with your beautiful art!

~*~*~*~

Keep up on Kathy’s activities by visiting her at her Twitwall or blog, Kathy’s Art.  Her website is at www.kathysart.com.

Kathy is represented by Monkdogz Urban Art, New York, NY.

    

 ~ Pamela

Tags: Art, Kathy Ostman-Magnusen, painting, women