Whispers Beneath the Wash Revealing Hidden Imagery in Watercolor

Sunday, October 4 + 18 | 1:30 pm - 4:00 pm

Artist/Instructor: Jennifer Koury

Participants bring their own watercolor supplies

Inspired by the exhibition Something Sinister: The Strange and Haunted Visions of Charles E. Burchfield, participants will draw inspiration from their imagination; creative imagery from landscape and plant forms, clouds, and shapes within them; and the symbolic visual language of watercolorist Charles Burchfield. In this workshop, participants will explore how imagery, symbols, and atmosphere can convey meaning and emotion within a painting, with particular attention to Burchfield’s Conventions for Abstract Thought. Jennifer will guide participants in creating an expressive, atmospheric landscape that subtly incorporates hidden imagery. Consider how personal symbols, metaphors, and mysterious forms can emerge through value, color, and composition. Personify an event or emotion using layered visual elements to suggest mood and narrative, inviting both the artist and the viewer to discover deeper meaning within the work.

Jennifer Koury
Jennifer Koury is a Buffalo-based artist, freelance illustrator, and arts educator. She is an instructor at the Roycroft Campus, Springville Center for the Arts, and the Burchfield Penney Art Center. Jennifer has taught a weekly series of watercolor workshops inspired by Suddenly I Awoke: The Dream Journals of Charles E. Burchfield. She is represented by Meibohm Fine Arts, East Aurora, NY. In 2022, her works were featured in Luminance, a four-person watercolor exhibit at Meibohm Fine Arts. In 2023, Koury’s plein air paintings inspired by Emery Park’s old growth forest were highlighted in a two-person exhibition Whose Woods These Are at Springville Center for the Arts. She has exhibited her paintings in both solo and group shows, and won awards, including being finalist in the Chautauqua Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Art. Her art is featured in the NFWS Mary Whyte Gallery Walk video, George Washington's Mount Vernon Visitor Center, and Yuma Regional Medical Center in Arizona. Her illustrations appear in many children's books as well as volumes for adults. She is a member of the Buffalo Society of Artists, and a signature member of the Niagara Frontier Watercolor Society and a signature member of the Baltimore Watercolor Society. She holds degrees in painting and printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia and Art Center College of Design, California. 

For further information, please contact Kathy Shiroki: shirokkg@buffalostate.edu