December 15, 2005 Issue                                                              

©2005 The Chestnut Hill Local

Wyndmoor artist, 13, already selling his work
by SUSAN CRANE

Kevin Wiesner, 13, a student at GFS, is proud that he sold his painting, “Fish,” for $200. (The painting seen here in not “Fish.”)

When The Morris Arboretum in Chestnut Hill had the official opening for its fall art exhibit, Plants for all Seasons, one piece had already been sold. The sale represented a first on two counts; it was the first painting in the exhibit to be sold, and it was the artist’s first sale of his art. The artist is 13-year-old, Kevin Wiesner, a student at Germantown Friends School and a resident of Wyndmoor.

Plants for all Seasons exhibits the work of Phoebe Shih, artist and teacher, and the work of her recent students. Phoebe Shih emigrated from China in the early ‘50s to fulfill her desire to blend Chinese and Western art. Her vibrant watercolors capture the essence of nature with delicate brushwork. Shih taught at the Philadelphia Museum of Art for over 25 years, and now teaches private classes at her home, Studio of Oriental Art in Flourtown.

Kevin Wiesner, Shih’s youngest student by many years, most recently spent his second summer working in Shih’s studio learning the art of traditional Chinese painting. It is a painstaking process of learning a defined set of brush strokes to construct an image. Kevin was the only one in the class focusing on traditional Chinese painting; the rest of the class did mostly Western watercolor; observing and painting landscapes. The technique of creating traditional Chinese art requires tremendous patience. The artist must learn a very specific set of strokes and practice them over and over, ultimately putting them together to create the image.

It requires a ‘Zen-like’ focus that is unusual for a 13-year-old boy. The ultimate effect of Chinese painting is very stylized. Kevin’s painting exhibits the finesse of this approach and is named, Fish and sold for $200. When asked if he was excited that his painting had sold, or if he minded parting with it, Kevin replied like an artist with his whole career ahead of him, “I was excited, and surprised that it sold. But I can always paint more. That painting was fun to paint, especially the seaweed, so I’ll do others.”

Kevin comes from a creative family. His father, David Wiesner, writes and illustrates children’s books that that have twice earned him The Caldecott Medal and numerous positive reviews in the New York Times Book Review. Father and son have yet to collaborate on anything, but when Kevin studied perspective in art class at GFS, his interest was strong enough to go beyond the on-point perspective the class was learning, and tackle three-point perspective by examining the theory of the vanishing point with his father. “He’s always been a curious and creative kid,” says David Wiesner of his son, “and he has the drive to master new techniques.” Clearly this is exhibited in Kevin’s painting, Fish, a talented representation of traditional Chinese painting.

Plants for all Seasons is on exhibit at the Widener Center at The Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania, through February 19, 2006. The Morris Arboretum is located at 100 Northwestern Ave. The 92-acre horticulture display garden features a spectacular collection of mature trees in a Victorian landscape. The Arboretum features numerous picturesque spots such as the formal rose garden, Japanese gardens, swan pond, meadows, and the elegant Fernery. The Morris Arboretum is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is the official arboretum of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

For more information, call 215-247-5777 x121.