Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-02-21
By Harriet French


"When I was i've years old. !
told my family I was going to be
an artist" said Katharine Safer.
with q sparkle in her big brown
eyes. She is the kind of person
who knows what she wants to
do and does it. Mine has been
a case of drawing and drawing
with no end to it. My teachers
didn't like to have faces drawn
in all my notebooks, neverthe-
less, I filled them with as many
faces. of all kinds. as ! could do
surreptitiously. The teachers
were interested in the fact that
I wanted to draw, but they
thought there was a time for 1t. :"
She laughed at the recollection.
After graduation from Welles-
ley College, Miss Safer spent one
year at the Art Students League
in New York, studying painting.
Then she returned to her home
in Columbus, Ohio. where she
gave many hours to the Junior
Leagues Children's Theater prof.
ect. simultaneously. she did
volunteer work with public
school children: She took sixth
graders regularly to the Column
bus Gallery of Fine Arts and
tried to explain the aims and OBJ
jectives of the artists as we'll as
acquaint the children with the
works in the gallery.
At the same time, Miss Safer
wrote a Sunday page for the
Columbus Citizen. among
other things" she said, 81 in
terviewed many artists, and now
1t seems strange for me to be in
terviewed."
Storted Sculpture
While in Columbus, Miss
Safer started working with Ches-
ter Nicodemus, who gave her
thorough training in sculptur-
ing; next. she spent two sessions
with Boardman Robinson at the
Colorado Springs Fine Art Gen.
ter, studying both painting and
sculpture: then she came to
Washington and studied Sculp-
ture with Heinz Warnecke at
the Corcoran Art Gallery. She
has been head Of the Washing
ton SculptorS' Group.
Now, she is working by her
self and has a studio in Hillyer
Court for her larger figures. She
has just finished Using a half
ton of Etowah pink Georgian
marble for a Ife-size nude fig
ure.
Miss Safer lived at the West
chester for several years, but
when the management wanted
the tenants to buy their apart
ments. she and her sister Martha
decided to move into a house in
Georgetown. Now, Katharine
has a studio in her home on p
street. 1t is there that she keeps
her inspired paintings and small
figures. All are examples of
mastered techniques.
I'm glad I had a rigorous
academic training" said Miss
Safer, but I believe after one
has acquired a certain prof.
cheney. then one can go ahead
and do what is given him to do,
freely and without restraint. 1t
seems to me that maturity is a
case Of keeping concepts open to
inspirations that come; not to
question the source Of inspira-
ton. or how the inspiration
seems to demand expression. But
IN any case one must have the
tools-academic training.
"The philosophy one arrives
at is important to my mind.
Painting and sculpture seem to
be the media through which I
can express certain ideas and
beliefs. The mere semblances
of things do not satisfy"
Miss Safer quoted a little poem
by the Chinese philosopher, Ii Pc,
that expresses what she means:
81 would not paint face. nor brooks.
nor trees,
Mere semblanees Of things but something
more than these
:. That is best which to the souls
range gives no bound,
Something besides the form, something
beyond the sound
Aspires to Insight
There are times. when it is
necessary to delineate features
to the kings taste. but that in
itself is no longer satisfying.
Certainly not to me-" explained
Miss Safer. II want to know,
and am always aspiring to in
sight. How can I bring more
into a world of color or form.
the inner life Of the subject.
whether it is a person athe ocean,
or an island in the Virgin Isles?