Inside Northside's June/July 2005 issue

As He Sees It

by: Jamey Landry

His story gave me chills. I’ll tell you why later.

For now, I’ll tell you that our cover artist, Michael Beveridge, is a native of Florida and has been a St. Tammany resident since 1975. He and his wife, Vickie, owned a flower shop in Florida before moving to the Abita Springs area in the early 1980s to be closer to her parents. They have since relocated to Covington, where Michael has been painting professionally since 1988.

Michael held what is probably one of the most unusual jobs to have in Louisiana: He was a chimney sweep for ten years. “Nobody was doing it and it’s a job that needs to be done, for safety reasons,” Michael recalls. So, after instructions from August West Systems, he tooled up with the necessary brushes and equipment and got to work. With thoughts of the dancing chimney sweeps from “Mary Poppins” in my head, I jokingly said that he must have had to learn to sing “Chim Chim Cher-ee.” Michael laughed and said, “No, but the most important tool was the top hat. No one would take you seriously as a sweep without the top hat. It was a door opener!”

As an artist, Michael has painted for over forty years. His daughter, Victoria, now represents his work to the public through Amireart.com. Michael recently signed a contract with Lux Art, a Los Angeles art dealer for the hospitality industry. “My family’s involvement in my artwork helps open doors for me to express myself,” Michael boasts. When I asked what his major influences were, he mentioned impressionists such as Van Gogh, Matisse, other 19th century masters, and numerous artist friends.

Michael’s grade school art teacher had a big impact on his painting style. “She had two grades: ‘A’ or ‘F’, no in-between!” Michael chuckles as he explains that this teacher didn’t accept things painted from pictures in magazines. “She was very good. She didn’t believe in ‘painting between the lines.’ She wanted original work and would literally take your stuff and throw it in the trash if she thought it wasn’t as good as it could be.” Michael says he found her critiques very helpful. Because of her frank, but sincere, nature, he was able to understand how to improve his work to his own satisfaction, as well as the teacher’s.

As we spoke, Michael mentioned his recent forays into realism, which he says have given him mixed results. The examples he showed me were impressive. He says, however, with a hint of frustration, “It’s too much like painting in the lines. I find it’s better when the brush just wants to flow where it wants to go.”

Emphasizing that impressionism is clearly his calling, Michael showed me his early painting of Salzburg, Austria, perhaps the prime example of his style and creative process. He explained that he had never been to Salzburg—or outside the United States, for that matter—before painting his rendition of the Austrian town. He had never even seen a photo of his subject, or the movie, “The Sound of Music,” which was filmed there. Yet, he created this painting that gives his impression of Salzburg.

Through his description of the Salzburg painting, Michael revealed more about his own creative style, which he calls “expressionistic impressionism.” He acknowledges that those who want to can see Van Gogh- and Matisse-like qualities in his work. Cautiously, Michael described how he gets an idea in his head and then either jots it down in a quick doodle or works it directly onto canvas. Once on the canvas, the art directs itself as he works to get a painting to its finished state.

Typically, Michael paints impressions of places and things he has never seen. Half jokingly, I asked if he “channeled” the subject matter onto the canvas, but he emphatically denied that. From his careful description and explanation, I gathered that his method is more ethereal than the stigma of “channeling” would permit. He says, “Everything I do … it becomes a force.” Just as I was beginning to think he was pulling my leg, Vickie clarified what he meant.

Vickie, a direct descendant of Austrian royalty—castles and all—was once a resident of Salzburg. Her parents moved to the United States when she was a child, first to Florida, then later to New Orleans, and finally to the northshore. (Editor’s note: “Noble Legacy,” the story of Vickie’s mother, appeared in Inside Northside’s October-November 2004 issue.

The Salzburg painting, Vickie explains, was done in the 1970s in Florida, soon after she and Michael were married. Reiterating that Michael had never been to Salzburg, Vickie says that she instantly recognized a view of Salzburg from Michael’s impression, which was painted solely from the imagery he had formed in his head. She pointed out a narrow bridge crossing a river, spires and shops and hilltops, and other landmarks in the expressive, impressionist painting that evoked her memories of the city.

As they alternated talking about the painting, it all clicked for me, and sent shivers down my back. I realized Vickie’s take on the painting was precisely how impressionist paintings are supposed to work. The impressionist artist is not trying to embrace a photo-realistic interpretation of a scene. Instead, the impressionist’s painting strives to evoke the emotion of the scene through the artist’s impression of it.

I offered up this interpretation of Michael’s work—and all impressionism, for that matter—for his consideration. He looked at me, beamed a bright smile, and simply said “Exactly.”

Michael’s art can be viewed and purchased through Amireart.com. Contact Victoria Beveridge at Victoria@amireart.com. His work is also on display at Aucoin Gallery in Mandeville and P.J.’s Coffee House on Hwy. 22 in Mandeville.