The abstract art movement is perhaps best symbolized today by abstract impressionism, the art of using small and intense brushstrokes to culminate in a larger painting. Laurie Goddard's work exemplified this art form Monday evening at the Serafi Mall in Jeddah, when she held a workshop for art enthusiasts and displayed examples of her work as well. On invitation by the US Consulate for the “Art in Embassies” program that seeks to showcase the artwork of American artists in diplomatic missions around the world, Goddard was in Jeddah as part of a visit to the Kingdom and Bahrain. The visit comes at an interesting time, when Saudi art is being displayed at a Christie's auction in Dubai this month, and an ever-more diverse range of art forms are attracting the attention of established artists and enthusiasts alike. Having conducted workshops in Bahrain and Dhahran before her arrival in Jeddah, Goddard was pleased about the reception she and her artistic approach had already received. “I've had people with lots of training and those with no training at all,” she remarked in an interview with Saudi Gazette. “In Riyadh, I plan to work with graduate students, which I'm very excited about.” Her workshop Monday drew a relatively more diverse crowd with a large number of teenagers turning up, but a number of older enthusiasts also enjoying her artwork. “The quality of work here was the best; I was very surprised because they were very reluctant in the beginning,” she said. Goddard is an established artist whose work has been exhibited throughout the United States as well as in other countries, and she claims to derive much of her inspiration from the time she spent in Italy, Japan and her base of Western Massachusetts. “My start as an artist came when I went to Japan for a very quick trip. I went to this museum and there was a huge scroll with Japanese calligraphy, and I had no idea what it said but I thought it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I thought, I have to make things this beautiful so that they can affect the people who walk in, the same way I was affected,” she reminisced. Goddard's work, by the very nature of the art form she teaches, evokes feelings of serenity and contentment, with emphasis on water-based paintings and the use of unorthodox tools to enhance the work. The use of gilding, semi-precious metal leaf and charcoal mixed with water, for instance, are relatively novel concepts in the Kingdom so Monday's workshop participants were in for a treat. “I taught them (students) how to break a few rules like using charcoal with water and acrylics,” she said. Her main goal is to combat some of the inhibition that students feel while painting and “ease some of the restriction in traditional training that keeps so many paintings looking the same.” She added that most of the students she has encountered on this visit have loved this liberal, free-minded approach. Used to traditionally teaching classes as small as two, she was introduced to a much higher number of students both in Bahrain and the Kingdom, working with up to 40 enthusiasts Monday alone. “It was very interesting but I got only one day for each class so I had to teach simpler techniques,” she explained. “A lot of what I taught them is how to make (the experience) fun, and not to be stiff.” Due largely to the frenetic nature of her schedule, she confessed to being unable to indulge in much of the Saudi art scene, although the Consulate had organized a visit Monday to the Safia Binzagr Museum that she confessed to enjoying a great deal. “She's an amazing painter; it was really a treat to see this woman's perspective, her entire body of work,” she remarked. She added that art seemed to be flourishing in the kingdom, but stressed that “it needed to have more attention drawn to it.”
