About WWG
History
Organized in 1977, we have grown from a small group of 15 charter members to a large number of enthusiastic water media artists with a purpose of promoting all water media art as a significant and creative permanent medium.
Through a newsletter each month, the Waterloo artists learn of workshops, information about exhibit space, and Paint Outs. Austin and the surrounding area provide many interesting locations in which to paint. Overnight paint-outs at more distant locations are planned once or twice a year. Each Fall in 1999 through 2005 the group traveled to Ghost Ranch, New Mexico. In 2007, we spent a week in Mexico painting and exploring. Galveston, TX and the mountains of Colorado were visited in 2008. An important part of any paint-out is the group critique at the end of the painting day.
Founding
Over coffee at the old Nighthawk Restaurant in Austin in August, 1977, Harold Eichenbaum, Gordon Fowler, Bill Rider and Windy Winn developed the idea of a watercolor artists' group with no officers, no bylaws, no rules, inexpensive dues, and which would meet for paint outs. They decided to call the group "Waterloo Watercolor Group," and drafted Murray Joyce to be the first newsletter editor, treasurer and only officer. Among the interested artists who organized and began meeting at Gordon Fowler's Chili Factory on August 30, 1977 were: Dorothy Billman, Alayne Carter, Harold Eichenbaum, Gordon Fowler, Murray Joyce, Maude Folmar Ramsey, Avis Rider, Bill Rider, Charlie Shaw, and Windy Winn.
Membership
Membership is open to all water media artists in the Central Texas area. The primary prerequisite is a dedication to art in general and the watercolor medium in particular. Education is an important objective of the group. Several times a year workshops are offered by nationally known instructors for the benefit of members. Our outreach to the community is ongoing through scholarships for young people and art lessons for children in a local shelter.
Many of the Waterloo artists have studied in Europe and the Orient as well as at workshops in the United States. Some of the artists teach professionally. Members exhibit their paintings not only in the state of Texas, but in galleries and exhibitions throughout the United States.
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