Behind the Art: 12 area painters reinterpret Vincent van Gogh’s ‘Irises’

A painting in a student art show at Greater Latrobe Senior High School gave artist Doreen Currie an idea for an oil- painting class she was teaching at Greensburg Art Center.

A group of students had worked together on a piece that reinterpreted Henri Matisse’s 1912 work “The Goldfish.”

“I thought, boy, I have 12 or 15 people in my class — I’ll see if they’re interested in doing something like that,” said Currie, a Unity resident.

Class members decided they would like to tackle a work by Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh, and one found a poster from van Gogh’s “Irises of Saint-Remy” series, painted in 1899 while the artist was a patient in the psychiatric hospital in Saint-Rémy, France.

Twelve students wanted to participate, so Currie divided a poster of the painting into 12 sections. Each chose a section, first-come, first-served, and got a 12-by-12-inch canvas-wrapped board on which to paint.

The toughest part of the task was matching colors from section to section.

“We worked on it in class once a week, trying to get everyone’s colors to match,” Currie said. “We learned a lot, because we mixed a lot of greens and a lot of purple-y colors.”

The finished 36-by-48-inch piece was entered into the center’s 2020 “Collaborations” exhibition, featuring works created by two or more artists.

Afterward, Currie — who specializes in rural Western Pennsylvania landscapes — had a show of her work at the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art at Ligonier Valley.

“I believe in painting what you know, which is Western Pennsylvania for me,” she said. “I have a passion for all the farms, because if you drive around the countryside, after every winter, there are more barns just falling in, and it breaks my heart. My own barn is gone.”

During the SAMA show, Currie told site coordinator Kristin Miller about the iris project, noting that it’s mounted on Masonite and is very heavy.

“I could barely carry it around, let alone hang it,” Currie said. “Kristin said, ‘Are you saying you’re looking to give it away?’ And I said, ‘Heck yes.’

“Kristin said, ‘I know where I want to put it, and I have someone to hang it.’ So I said I’d have it there tomorrow.”

Currie’s students agreed with giving the painting a place where it could be seen, rather than breaking it up to get their own sections back.

At SAMA, the painting hangs in the stairwell between the first and second floors, along with other pieces from the permanent collection.

“I’m thrilled with it,” said Miller, who is the education coordinator for the five SAMA museum locations.

Miller said her goal is to develop the Ligonier site into an art education facility, and a collaborative student work such as “Irises” illustrates that mission.

Editor’s note: Behind the Art is a recurring series highlighting artistic works throughout the county.