For nearly 70 years, a cadre of Reno artists has practiced the ancient art of portraiture, immortalizing their subjects—often friends or neighbors—in oil, acrylics, watercolor, charcoal or pencil.
Each Wednesday, the members of the Portrait Society of Reno spend about two hours in a room at Nevada Fine Arts focusing on a volunteer model. Their goal is not only to create a likeness of their subjects, but to capture some of the models’ personalities, character and emotions. That’s a tall order, artists said; it takes practice and experience.
Patty Biederman, a society member for the past five years, was an art major in college, and previously painted landscapes rather than people. For a portrait artist, she said, the geography of a face tells a story.
“You want to capture their personality; it’s not a photographic treatment,” Biederman said. “Artists see different things. There may be 19 different interpretations of the same model.”
Annie Norris, who spent her career working with costumes for stage productions, including the long-running Hello, Hollywood Hello in Reno, agreed portraits have more in common with stories than snapshots.
“You can see stories in their bodies and their faces,” she said. “You can feel the energy of the subject.”
The society’s new book, A History of the Portrait Society of Reno, features a sampling of the members’ work over the last seven decades, as well as biographies of the artists and a short history of the society. A few of the models are well-known locally, but most of the sitters have never been mentioned in a news article. Their stories are in their faces, eyes and posture.
“Everyone has energy, an essence,” said Kay Genasci, society president. That energy comes through even though the model sits as still as a statue. “Everybody has some aura around them,” she said.
The book is a timeline of the society, beginning in 1957, when artist Marge Means formed the group as a way for local artists to practice and improve the difficult art of portraiture. Gus Bundy was the facilitator at the workshops for decades, starting each session with the booming admonition: “Time to pose, please!”
The book leads off with portraits by Means, who led the society until the late 1990s, and by Bundy, a lifelong artist and nationally known photographer from New York. The portraits progress through the decades, with work by Renate Neumann, Marilyn Melton, Joan Shonnard, Ray Freeman, Roianne Hart and many others.
Artist Norm Lamont spearheaded the project. He edited the biographies of the artists, took photos of the artwork and then adjusted the digital images to get the color reproduction just right.
“Norm spent endless hours on the book and magically got it to the printer on time,” Genasci said. “There would be no book without him.”
And there would be no book if not for the models, most of whom had never before sat for a portrait.
“It’s not easy to sit motionless for two hours, even with a (10-minute) break every 20 minutes,” said Joe Hunt, a Reno teacher, artist and writer who served as a model in May. “You’ve got to have something in your head while you are up there. I write a novel in my brain.”
Models collect a $40 fee, but the reward goes beyond money, he said. “It’s fun to see the portraits and interesting to see what people saw in you,” Hunt said.
Some artists may consider their portraits to be complete at the end of the workshop, but most continue their work at home, giving the finished piece a more detailed treatment.
Artists pay $10 per workshop. The book sells for $25, about $7 more than each cost to produce.
“The society doesn’t make any money,” Genasci explained. “It’s always our goal to break even.”
Because it isn’t easy to escape work for two hours on a weekday, most society members are retired. However, some younger artists work evening shifts or otherwise can manage to set aside time to attend the portrait sessions, Genasci said. Most of the members were art majors in college or have worked as artists or designers, but some are self-taught. The workshops provide a chance to learn and improve their techniques and meditate on a single subject.
“For 2 1/2 hours, they focus on a single human being,” she said. “You concentrate and shut out the rest of the world.”
The launch event for the new book A History of the Portrait Society of Reno is scheduled from 4 to 7 p.m., Thursday, June 5, at Stremmel Gallery, 1400 S. Virginia St., Reno. The public is invited. Books are available for $25, cash or check only. For details, call Kay Genasci at 775-303-6094.