For close to 15 years, Brocha Teichman has been a full-time painter and art teacher. In her studio and gallery space in Lawrence, NY, Brocha divides her time between sharing her expertise with her students and creating her colorful, light-filled canvases.
This coming week, on Monday, May 23, art lovers in the Teaneck area will have the opportunity to see a large body of her works, in many different genres, exhibited together for one evening at the home of Suzanne Lupin Stokar, at 1627 Buckingham Rd.
And many different genres there are indeed: landscapes, urban scenes, street scenes of Israel, portraits and figurative works and occasional still-life paintings. Most artists don’t have a repertoire this vast. This versatility is unusual, but even more unusual is that her work is painted with nothing more than knives. This technique of “palette-knife” painting unifies all her work with a distinctive look, which is important in a competitive art world. A Teichman painting is highly recognizable from the crowd.
What makes her work so memorable? Brocha credits her knowledge of the “language of color.” which follows a school of painting, today referred to as “colorism,” which has its roots in Russian Impressionism. Her knife work enhances her impressionistic paintings by allowing for thick layers of paint to overlay each other. The result is a beautiful abstraction of shapes that comingle with a realistic image. Her capture of lighting gives viewers the sense that they are there within the space.
Brocha explains that this ability is the result of years painting on location, from life. “While painting ‘en plein aire’ (the term for outdoor painting) I came to rely on my knife to deftly and quickly create the right color notes, to beat the moving sun. I came to love the use of the knife, and the way the colors stayed bright and clean. I was hooked.” Understanding the temperature of sunlight is key to creating an image that evokes a moment in time that is believable, a moment that has been encapsulated for posterity.
Amazingly, all this color comes from a limited palette of reds, yellows and blues. This is astounding, since her paintings are so vivid with distinct flecks of every possible hue. Many familiar with Brocha’s style of teaching already know this; Brocha’s students learn how to create all the colors they need with four colors plus white.
What can we expect from future work? She has recently been inspired by photos of Jews in different historical contexts. One such example is the “Yemenite Jeweler.” It’s a powerful, light-infused scene of an old Jewish man practicing his trade. Brocha learned that this man immigrated to Israel later in life, lived to be 105 (111 according to some) and his family still has a jewelry business in Israel. When this painting was completed, the image crossed oceans and, eventually, the family contacted Brocha. They were thrilled to know their great-grandfather would be remembered and appreciated by many through this work of art. Says Teichman, “I hope to create a larger body of work that incorporates Jewish history more.”
The joy and beauty in her work tends to be infectious, and Brocha loves to share it. Every two weeks, Brocha sends out a group email that links to a new blog post containing her latest wet canvases.Some 600 people eagerly look forward to these paintings delivered directly to their inboxes.
“I get a lot of positive feedback. Even those that aren’t collectors tell me how wonderful it is to receive a distilled moment of joy directly to their inbox. I usually tell them that my second favorite form of currency is a compliment, so they have enriched me by just letting me know.”
To see more of her works, please visit www.brochateichman.com or www.brochateichmanfineart.blogspot.com, or email her at [email protected].
