Lehi resident provides color to students' lives

On the main floor of the Historic American Fork City Hall, Betty Lou Olson is completing her second session on watercolor painting with instructor Angie Player of Lehi.

"Just say wonderful, wonderful, wonderful," Olson said of Player. "Because she's just loving and kind. Most of the time it's 'You're getting it.'"

Light on criticism and big on passion and the work process, the quiet-spoken artist instills a love for creating and appreciating pieces of art.

"She doesn't try to get us to do it her way but to find our way," student Bethany Tucker said.

Player has taught for three years through the American Fork Arts Council program.

"Angie is involved in the art community and interested in the development of the arts," said Wendy Parker, American Fork Art Council visual art board director. "She is always been involved in the Steel Days Art Show. She's been very supportive."

Both the love of watercolor painting and teaching was taught to Player as a child.

Player is modest about her accomplishments and said she always would follow her mother around from school to school as she completed her art studies with a master's degree from BYU.

Her mother, Mary Ann Judd-Johnson, whose watercolors have captured north Utah County landscapes and architecture through generations and are treasured works of art, began teaching for the American Fork Arts Council 12 years ago.

A retired Lehi High School art teacher, Johnson teaches the advanced students more intricate technique and helps them hone their skills. Player joined her mother nine years later taking the beginners through the basic steps of working with watercolor media.

"We're delighted to have them," said Sydney Thomas, American Fork Art Council member. "We enjoy having them teach here."

But Player wasn't always a watercolorist.

Recovering from Grave's disease, Player picked up the artist bug using color pencils. She gained confidence and entered the American Fork Steel Days art show taking first place in color pencil category.

She said her mother cried when Player gave her the drawing depicting Johnson and her granddaughter Andrea Grace, as a gift.

Apprenticing under John McNaughton, Player has sold several of her works and specializes in temples, landscapes and portraits.

"It's really fun, you can get lost in it and forget all your troubles and then people love it and I'm just shocked," she said.

Player said she sees teaching as an extension of her art giving her an opportunity to provide an appreciation for the arts to others.

The mother-daughter team teach one to two times a week and take students ages 14 and older with a maximum class size of 20. Cost is approximately $25.

Information on the next session is available through the American Fork Arts Council by calling 765-3081.

Three generations of Joyce Brereton's family, Brereton, her daughter Kelly Tucker and granddaughter Bethany Tucker, have taken classes from Player.

"She's very well organized and she's interested in teaching you how and a lot of artists aren't interested in teaching you how but she does," Brereton said.

Additionally, Player is president of the Provo Women's Council artists section and is also responsible for a guest artist lecture every first Thursday of the month for its members and a work meeting every third Thursday of the month.

Her group additionally sponsors a guest artist for an exhibit each year. This year's Provo Women's Council guest artist is Diana Pitcher.

"It's been really fun," Player said. "A lot of the ladies have been professional artists so I was nervous, but they are a lot of fun and are so kind."