Arlington artist, teacher, and art historian Dr. Russell Housman will host a hands-on, creative workshop for adults titled “Charles Burchfield, A Sense-sational Artist” at the Bennington Museum on Saturday, Feb 16, starting at 2:00 p.m. The entrance fee is $15, which covers the cost of all workshop materials, and also includes general admission to the museum.

Dr. Housman will focus on the unique drawing and watercolor techniques of early 20th century American master Charles Burchfield (1893-1967). Burchfield is most famous for developing a highly personal visual language used to represent sound, especially the sounds of nature, and also weather effects, such as wind and temperature.

One writer describes Burchfield as “an American original, a maverick wallpaper designer who stood apart from the artistic currents of his time, and through perseverance and integrity of vision became one of the most remarkable painters of the 20th century.”

Dr. Housman was born in 1928 in Buffalo, NY. After undergraduate study at Buffalo State College and a stint in the U.S. Army, he went on to obtain master's and doctorate degrees from New York University. He has been a member of the Chautauqua Art Institute and the Silvermine Guild of Art and has taught at Adelphi and Hofstra Universities, Millikin University in Decatur, IL, and Nassau Community College.

The tumultuous influence of the New York art scene in the 1960s and 1970s led Russ Housman to his own version of abstract expressionism. He has shown his work in several hundred group and solo shows in New York City, Connecticut, Long Island, and Vermont.

Since moving to Vermont in the early 1990s, painting and teaching have become his creative passions. An active member of the Chaffee Art Center, Rutland, and the Southern Vermont Art Center, Manchester, Russ continues to paint and to teach at Long Trail School in Dorset.