SECTIONS:


MY MASTERPIECE  

                                FINE ART & FRAMES

"From Bottichelli to Bouguereau and beyond, I am endebted to all those who have tought me and teach me yet."
______________________________________________________________________
Yvonne Arrowood


YVONNE HERD ARROWOOD

Yvonne Herd Arrowood, Self-portrait 2002


Many of the paintings on this website are available for purchase.  The artist also accepts portrait commissions.  For further information, please contact Elisabeth Linton at the email address or phone number below.


Biography

Once upon a time...a bedtime story about an Ugly Duckling touched the empathetic heart of a child and she drew a realistic duck from the image in her mind. A mother was amazed and a passion for art was born in a three year old child...

At twelve, Yvonne began studying with Robert L. Bruns, a classical artist and dedicated teacher, who received his training at the Art Student's Leagueof New York and the Academie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris.

After a few weeks in Mr. Bruns' beginner class, Yvonne moved on to his live portrait classes for young people. Several years later, Mr. Bruns offered Yvonne the opportunity to attend two additional weekly adult classes in exchange for cleaning his studio. As a "shop girl/apprentice," Yvonne learned much from her kind mentor. Many years passed before she fully appreciated and understood her teacher's great generosity.

Growing up in Greenville, South Carolina, Yvonne attended Wade Hampton High School. She entered Central Wesleyan College (now Southern Wesleyan University) in 1965 and began a major in Biology and Chemistry. In 1968, she transferred to USC, graduating with honors from the College of Pharmacy in 1971.

After graduation, a pharmacy career and rearing three sons left little time for any art other than that which was conceived and executed in the mind. When the time came that she could return to "artistic pursuits," her own personal "renaissance" began as she directed her study toward the concept of being taught, rather than intimidated, by the "Old Masters".

This self-study of the "masters" produced improvement; however, a major turning point was the result of a gift in 1996 from her husband - a week at a Covino Workshop. The discipline and structure of the classical academic method presented by Frank Covino complemented the excellent foundation that she had received as a young teenager from Robert Bruns.

Included in Yvonne's portfolio are original portraits and reproductions of works from Botticelli to Bouguereau. Portraits include those of University of South Carolina professors Joseph LeConte,
Dr. Robert Beamer, Dean Julian Fincher, and Dean Farid Sadik.

Yvonne has been the solo artist in seven Carolina shows and her work has been featured in Cape Fear Arts Alive, The Greenville Journal, the Catholic Miscellany, the Palmetto Pharmacist, Southern Wesleyan University's Focus Magazine, The Spaulding Farm Newsletter and the Greenville News City People.

For the past four years, Yvonne has taught a workshop in Raleigh, North Carolina. In October 2004, Yvonne expanded her horizons by becoming a Louvre copyist. Continuing to study the masters, she painted on site in September 2005 at the Accademia Carrara in a Sister Cities International exchange between Greenville and Bergamo, Italy. In October 2005, Yvonne again had the opportunity to paint at the Louvre, while her copy of Vouet's Allegory of Wealth was on exhibit at the 2nd Salon des Copistes du Louvre.

Rev 1/2006


Yvonne working on Bottichelli's "Birth Of Venus"


Yvonne working on Mignard's "Virgin Of The Grapes"

______________________________________________________________________________
Biography of Robert L. Bruns  (1913 - ?)
(Written by Yvonne Herd Arrowood as a student at Greenville Jr. High School in April, 1962
Robert L. Bruns, portrait painter and instructor, was born in Greenville, South Carolina on December 29, 1913. His father, John Fredric Bruns, was a watchmaker and jeweler as was his grandfather, George Bruns, who came to America from Hanover, Germany. His mother, Emma Agnes Eubanks, was a descendent of Lucas, court painter to the French Court during the 1500's. Another ancestor, Whitenback on his father's side was private physician to a blind German countess. Whitenback also built the first apartment house in Berne, Switzerland...It is still standing today.
 
In 1931, Bruns graduated from Greenville Sr. High School. He served in the army during World War II, where he ranked as a First Lieutenant. Two years after the war, he went to New York where he studied for three years at The Art Students League of New York. He studied under a number of well-known artist and sculptors. His instructors included John Carroll, who placed Mr. Bruns in charge of his studio for two years; Other Instructors included Frank V. Drummond, sculptor John Hovanos, water colorist John Mcpheerson, drawing anatomist Robert Johnson and illustrator Frank Riley.    

In 1949, Robert Bruns left for France and enrolled at the Academie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris. Following his return to the United States, he set up a Studio in Greenville, South Carolina where he married Peggy Bailey in 1958. He continued to live and work in Greenville, South Carolina.

His best-known canvases are: The Vanderbilt Grandchildren (portraits, Ashville, North Carolina); General Wallace (Wallace House); Old Greenville (C & S Bank); and Rev Newman Faulconer (the first Presbyterian Church, Greenville, South Carolina).

Note: I would like to finish Mr. Bruns' Bio up to the present.  A man of his talent should not be forgotten.  I am interested in quotes and tributes from former students, locations of his paintings, as well as facts to complete his Biography up to his death, which occurred sometime in the late 70's.



______________________________________________________________________________