Oh the Places I’ve Been, the newest exhibit at Prairie Art Alliance, features paintings
by Springfield artists Tiffany Beane, Shirley Caldwell Smith, and Leonard
Gaither. I visited with portraitist Beane recently as she moved one of her
latest creations from its new home at Prairie Heart Institute to the PAA
Gallery.
Her portrait of cardiologist James Dove, M.D.,
president and founding partner of Prairie Cardiovascular Consultants and a
major force in putting the Prairie Heart Institute on the map, marks a high
point of Beane’s relatively short time in Springfield. Born and
raised in Taylorville, she graduated with a degree in fine art and minor in
graphic design from Western Illinois University. She later studied art
education at Illinois State University. Beane set up shop in Springfield in
1995. Today she teaches art to individuals and groups in her studio and
through Prairie Art Alliance.
Portraiture was not Beane’s first focus.
“I started painting a lot of murals, working with interior
designers,” she says. “Springfield was not a market where
people easily commit to mural projects. It’s a lot of heavy labor,
moving up and down ladders. I began doing portraits, which are less
demanding physically, and when that part of my art began to take off on its
own, it was easy to back off the murals. Besides, portraits allow me to
develop the natural ability I have with realism. As a child, I was
naturally drawn to faces and eyes. I’m a huge animal lover, and I get
lots of business from all over the country, thanks in part to advertising
in Bark magazine.”
All of her paintings today are from photographs she
takes with a digital SLR. “I try to photograph my subjects and spend
several hours with them as I do that. Sometimes I call a person back for a
second shoot to better capture details, such as the color of an iris in the
eye,” she says.
Paintings take at least three weeks but may take as
long as six months.
Beane says she is not losing business to new
higher-definition photography. “Most of my clients are committed to
paintings,” she says. “Sometimes they will buy pictures I take
as part of my preparation for the formal portrait. Some will ask for
photographs so that a painting can be produced later when the person is
better situated to afford a painting.”
The only slow time Beane has experienced is January
through March. Unlike traditional seasonal gifts, portraits are often given
for birthdays and even corporate occasions. Her portrait of Dove is a good
example.
A free public reception for the exhibit Oh The Places I’ve Been,
which runs through July 2, takes place 5:30-7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 7. May
6-8, the alliance also will feature a bonsai display,
courtesy of the Springfield Bonsai Society.
This article appears in May 5-11, 2005.
