mentoring program
The National Oil & Acrylic Painters’ Society is committed to helping member artists advance their artistic skills as part of our mission. The mentoring program is designed to help member artists by pairing artists and mentors for critique and education sessions.
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The mentoring service is available to all current NOAPS member artists at no charge.
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Artists who are interested may apply with the application form below, and send to Cheng Lian at chenglian@gmail.com
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Artists are paired with a mentor based on their genre and style. The artist will be given 2-3 mentors from which to choose. The artist and the mentor will then communicate to set up their session.
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Artists may be paired with a maximum of two different mentors per year.
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The mentoring experience with each mentor is limited to two mentoring sessions, a maximum of 30 minutes each time.
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The mentoring session may be held via a conference network such as Zoom, or via email if no conference network is available.
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Mentors are available on a first come, first serve basis, so artists are encouraged to apply early.
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Artists are encouraged to provide feedback on their mentoring experience.
Help NOAPS promote its mentoring program, share your mentoring experience on your Facebook / Instagram page and tag your Mentor and NOAPS.
Current List of Mentors
NOAPS Mentoring Program Testimonials
I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation to NOAPS for granting me a $500 scholarship to attend the workshop by the master artist Jove Wang in January 2023. This is the workshop I've always wanted to attend, and I thank you for your generous support so I can finally take this workshop. I would like to especially thank Karolyn for her support during the entire scholarship application process, Kudo to Karolyn. Also I want to thank Hebe for sending the scholarship to my instructor, and to Patricia and the entire board for reviewing and approving my scholarship application. I am forever grateful for the support of you all. I look forward to a great year of 2023 with NOAPS.
Ran Wu
My two, 30-minute Zoom sessions with Lori Putman were very beneficial. She was professional and personable while giving me specific suggestions for improving my work. I appreciate the time she took to review my art and value her technical skills in fully utilizing online instructional capabilities. I am grateful to NOAPS and Lori for the Mentor Program.
I’ll be sharing this weekend on IG and FB page.
June Rollins
Annie Walker asked me to email you this feedback since I was paired with her for the mentor program. We are both new to it, so neither of us knew what to expect. But I personally knew my goals and simply asked her advice on achieving them. They had to do with getting gallery attention, or alternative sales methods, and a little critiquing of current work. She had fantastic suggestions for me, gave me directions to take, and boosted my confidence greatly (always in need of that). And I'm extremely grateful she is one of the nicest people! Very helpful and generous with her support.
So, we will meet again via Zoom in several months after I've followed these directions, she gave me. I think feedback will be more helpful to you after that second or third meeting.
Loretta McNair
I would like to pass along my appreciation to NOAPS for offering such a valuable opportunity to its members, and to members such as Karen Budan who have generously offered their time and expertise.
Karen was friendly, respectful, and made insightful observations. We touched on many subjects, and she was able to provide me with both helpful and valuable direction in addressing my concerns. I thoroughly enjoyed our session.
Nancy Calder
I cannot thank you enough for your critique and thank the National Oil and Acrylic Painters’ Society for the opportunity to be critiqued by
Cheng Lian, a master artist.
I wanted to wait several days to digest the information before writing.
The way you used paintings from my website to point out good things as well as not so good things showed me why I’m not getting into shows. You reminded me of things I learned years ago but had forgotten. I have been studying recent catalogs and sure enough what you said became even more clear.
I am going to work hard on aerial perspective and drawing and I will send you examples of my new work.
Thank you again for freely giving your time. What a great learning experience it was for me!
Caroline Ratliff
I would like to thank you and NOAPS for the mentorship program and I especially want to thank my mentor, Rick Delanty. Throughout our two sessions Rick was very supportive, encouraging, inspiring and yet able to tell me how my paintings and website could be improved. I am excited to move forward with new confidence and with what I garnered from our sessions. Again, thank you so much for the chance to participate in this program.
Laurena Beirnes
Hi Cecilia, (Cecil Turner).
Thank you again for devoting your time and talent to helping other artists to succeed. I really appreciate you and am certain other artists will find your insights helpful. You were great!
I am planning to make your recommended adjustments to the paintings you critiqued. Your review was pleasant, informative, and highly appreciated. I want to offer 5 stars to the NOAPS organization and others in support of your involvement in Mentorship Program!!!!
James Loveless Jr
I wanted to let you know that my mentoring experience with Karen Budan was very informative.
Our first encounter was via zoom. Karen and I discussed her painting process and that was very helpful. She also had a chance to look at my website and she had some critiques that were helpful.
I next sent her a list of business questions by email, and she spent a lot of time giving me inciteful and frank answers. I was very pleased with her encouraging words and helpful interactions.
This was a wonderful experience. I hope you will continue this program in the future.
Karen Merkin
Thank you for providing the mentorship opportunity. I completed two sessions with Rick Delanty and he was great. He was able to point out my weak areas and offer helpful suggestions. I am beginning to apply everything that I learned from Rick and already I can see an improvement in my work.
All the best.
Leah Wiedemer
Thank you very much. I recently completed a mentorship with artist Beth Marchant, whose assistance is highly appreciated and was warmly provided, and I am grateful to NOAPS for starting this beneficial program.
We connected via E-mail and through looking at my website, and asking a series of questions, Beth was able to give me some constructive feedback to make some improvements in my work. Sometimes it takes another artist to point out areas that we do not notice. Beth also gave me tips on some colors to add to my palette and ways to check the values in my paintings.
I would like to thank Beth for all her time and effort on my behalf. I would like to thank NOAPS for their commitment to helping their members, and thanks again to you. I deeply appreciate it.
Lillian Forziat
Thank you so much for your time and evaluation of my work. I knew when I selected you to be my mentor I would benefit.
What I didn't expect was to have such a lovely time too. It's good to laugh and make a new friend. The past two years have minimized that happening.
So, here's my plan - study the difference between Serov and Sargent; look closely again at Kathe Kollwitz and Rembrandt for my monotypes and your work again because it was the inspiration to have you mentor me.
Your students are so very fortunate to have you as an instructor. They will be able to take their work in any direction they choose.
I hope you find my studies lead me in the direction you were anticipating.
Ann Lawtey