BRYAN SORENSEN SEEKS IMPRESSIONS OF HIS IMPRESSIONISTIC PAINTING, for he feels (I to r) his son Mike, his wife
Juanita, and Mark are good judges of whether this formal scene depicting a swamp overhung with Spanish moss is creating
the right feeling.
Bryan Sorensen Captures Moods Of Sea
In Studio Rebuilt From 1821 Log Cabin
Some months ago, Bryan Sorensen
successfully captured a raging sea on
canvas, discovered he needed peace
and quiet for his work,
cast aside his palette knife and brush,
and took up an axe. After dismantling
a rustic log cabin built in 1821 and
moving the pieces to his backyard, he
began to create what may well be his
most unusual work of art--a studio and
den built with the cabin's antique
materials and fittings--which rivals
even his prize-winning paintings for
craftsmanship and authenticity.
"Other than some new logs, which I
used for paneling the interior of my
studio, the old frame house is intact
as an addition to my home," Sorensen
commented. "It was formerly owned by
a Quaker preacher named Perkins, who
had used pine planks for flooring,
hand-hewn exposed beams to support the
roof, and a hand-made brick fireplace
for heating. My son Mike and I then
spent practically a year and a half
tearing down the cabin and rebuilding
it, including mixing and applying
mortar between the logs and
reconstructing the brick fireplace.
After that, it was pure pleasure to
install an 1850 fireplace crane, put
some 1790 brass hinges on the old
wooden door, and place a newly-cut key
in the wooden lock."
Once the cabin-studio was completed,
the Sorensen's antique collection was
moved into familiar surroundings. Along
with their 1850 schoolmaster's desk,
solid walnut chest of drawers, Louis XV
couch, several iron pots, and brass and
pewter pieces came the piece-de-
resistance--a solid walnut hutch called
a Welch dresser, which was built by the
Moravians in Salem, North Carolina
around 1770. Made from walnut boards,
some as wide as twenty-two inches, and
held together by wooden pegs, the hutch
is one of few in existence.
"We felt it was of museum quality,"
Sorensen added, "and our suspicions weie
confirmed by the curator of the Old Salem
Museum. As much as my wife Juanita
and I appreciate and enjoy owning
antiques, we donated the Welch dresser
to the Museum in October, for we believe
that the true primitive and early- ~
A.merican pieces belong in museums where
everyone can see them."
It was not until last spring when
Sorensen was able to take off his
artisan's cap for the first time in a
year and a half, pick up his palette
knife and paints, and begin to devote
his weekends once again to achieving
authenticity in art. "You have to be
able to feel the sea breeze fanning
your face, taste the salt on your tongue
and experience the mood of the sea if
your painting is to become a reality,"
he commented. "I grew up in Beaufort,
South Carolina, and I feel the coast
is part of me. If something isn't
quite right you simply don't get the
feeling of the sea."
"Generally, I thinx about a scene
or study photographs for a long while
so that when I approach a blank canvas
I already have an idea what I want
to do," Sorensen said. "Once I've
flowed on color to get a watercolor
effect for the background, I put the
canvas on an easel and plunge in
with my oils, palette knife, and
brush."
Over a hundred impressionistic
seascapes and landscapes, as well as
six portraits, have flowed into being
since Sorensen first started painting
in 1958. "My wife gave me a set of
oils for Christmas," he said, "and
I've been enthralled with them ever
since. At first, I copied magazine
photos and famous artists, but after
about five paintings I began to develop
my own style. I attempt to convey a
strong feeling of design with color
and lines, as well as by the handling
of light, for I believe craftsmanship
gives authority to art, as well as to
antiques."
A member of the Greensboro Artists
League, Sorensen exhibits in the group's
annual sidewalk show and has also
shown his work in Virginia. One of
his paintings, "Wild Flowers," won a
blue ribbon in the Sears Traveling
Art Show and now hangs in the home of
an admirer. Other art collectors from
New York to Miami also are enjoying
Sorensen's work, for he has sold well
over half of his paintings, as well
as presented a number of them to friends
for gifts.
"I paint to unwind," Sorensen
commented, "and it's purely a hobby
with me, for I've never had any formal
instruction. I do enjoy painting and
partly because X've been able to
encourage others to try it, as well as
known the pleasure it brings people to
own an original. Guess that's why
I'll keep on trying to capture the
sea, for I don't believe I'll ever be
able to keep enough paintings to fill
the walls of my new studio."
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endure a living death under a regime
without freedom or rights or even
food. Communism is a materialist
doctrine which teaches you to live by
immaterial things. People have to
learn not to eat. But of most
importance is that Communism is a
subtle spiritual doctrine, a doctrine
of evil, of hate and of destruction.
To adapt oneself means to be obedient
to Communism, and to deny oneself the
right to think, or to feel, or to
love. Could a doctrine be good which
works in this fashion at the same time
that it proclaims justice and the right
of the oppressed?
To hang oneself, the third part of
the slogan, requires no commentary,
other than this illustration.
A simple man, the father of one
of the secretaries who worked in our
school, had managed to organize a
small business. He was a just man,
honorable and good. The day the
Communists intered in his business,
he lost everything. From that moment
on, he suffered so many vexations that
in desperation, he hanged himself.
Perhaps you will conclude that this
man did not have the spiritual resources
with which to confront such a problem.
That could be true. But what right
does a government have to deprive a
citizen of what he had legitimately
gained as a consequence of his own
honorable and just efforts.
That is how Communism is. That is
what Communism wants: that people
become like cogs in the great machine
of the state, that they cease to
think, to feel, and to love. Is it
worthwhile to live in this manner?
Dr. Jose Reyes
The following students are on the
Dean's List for the fall semester of
the 1968-69 academic year.
LAURA BLALOCK
STEVE CARLSON
DIXON COOK
CECIL DORN
DARRELL DURHAM
NANCY FINLEY
VICTORIA FLYNT
CAROLYN HERMAN
BEVERLY ANN HILL
LORETTA KAY LILLY
FRANK PARRISH
CHARLES PINKERTON
PHILLIP RAMSEY
CARRIE MAE RECTOR
CARLEEN RIEK
NANCY SCOTT
DONNA SENFT
HENRY SHOLAR
CRAIG SPECKMAN
MOLLY TERRY
RITA WATSON
VIRGINIA WHITE
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