rie
muñoz
Career
Artist
In
one of her earliest memories, Rie kneels on the floor of her parents'
bedroom in Holland, with her paper and crayons spread out on the bed.
At that time in her life, she liked drawing horses, beautiful princesses
with long eyelashes and small gold crowns, and birds (the latter remains
a favorite subject). Her parents encouraged her insofar as they kept her
in drawing paper. Her father, while never pursuing his own talent, drew
"very nicely, very well"; as a very young child, Rie realized
that she, also, possessed this ability. And so, when she wasn't playing
with dogs, or bicycling, or doing sports, she "fooled around with
drawing." Art came as naturally to her as walking, or drinking water.
Her brother Piet remembers going with Rie to visit their father at his
office. Finding him out, they composed a note for him and Rie quickly
sketched a little figure to go with it (she still signs notes to friends
with a small, smiling figure of a woman with one hand waving wildly in
the air). But he never imagined she would grow up to be an artist. Neither
did Rie. Although she signed up for every available art course in the
various schools she attended in Holland and the United States, she did
not envision herself as a budding artist or seriously contemplate a career
in art.
Rie took her first advanced art courses in 1944 when the Women's Army Corps sent her to Washington and Lee University to study set and costume design. In 1957, she decided to pursue her art studies on her own through a correspondence course. The Westport, Connecticut, Famous Artists Painting Course covered the basics: painting in oils and watercolors, basic figure drawing, composition, perspective, landscapes, and art history. Rie faithfully completed all the assignments except the tenth, anatomy. Although she took several classes and workshops in later years (silk-screen printing, life drawing, wood by engraving, metal engraving), she credits the Famous Artists course—taught a faculty of practicing artists, including Norman Rockwell and Ben Shahn—for teaching her the fundamentals of her craft. She keeps the three cloth-covered portfolio-texts in her upstairs studio and even now digs one out occasionally for reference.
Rie's first paintings were small vignettes of life in Alaska, which she sold, framed, for $15 apiece at the Alaska Arts and Crafts show. She painted primarily in oils (also poster paints) in a traditional, realistic style. Although her paintings found a ready market, Rie felt somewhat dissatisfied with her efforts, regarding them as "stiff, stilted, and somewhat boring." Around 1953, another Juneau artist, Jenny Werner, introduced her to casein, a highly versatile and quick-drying water-soluble paint made with a milk-base binder. Werner did not use casein in the style of transparent watercolors but in a much bolder manner, with bright, pure colors. Casein changed Rie's painting radically:
"I was working in oils and doing very painstaking work ... I tried to do everything as accurately as I could down to the last hair. Then, when Jenny Werner introduced me to casein I thought, 'This is more like play! This paper is cheaper than canvas, these paints are cheaper than oils ... I can just have fun with this."'
Freed from the burden of oils and canvas, Rie found a whole new style emerging. Her paintings became more colorful and carefree, reflecting feelings rather than fact. With the quick-drying casein, she could try something new and immediately see the results—and if she didn't like them, turn the paper over or throw it away. "Instead of trying real hard, I just started doing things in a fun sort of way ... If I sketched a person, it didn't have to look like the person." Captivated by the immediacy and expressiveness of this new medium, she abandoned oil painting altogether. (She now uses casein, watercolor, and acrylic paints interchangeably.)
| rie
munoz gallery 2101 N. Jordan Ave. Juneau, Ak 99801 800-247-3151 
907-789-7449 907-790-2157 FAX |