(STOCKBRIDGE, Mass.) – Master portrait artist Everett Raymond Kinstler will share his experiences and techniques learned as a painter of some of the most notable figures from the last six decades in a lecture/demonstration at Norman Rockwell Museum on Saturday, April 14, 2012, from 1 to 4 p.m. Kinstler, whose work is currently on view in the museum exhibition Everett Raymond Kinstler: Pulps to Portraits, will discuss the joys and challenges of working from life, the skills required to capture a likeness, and the importance of understanding the sitter’s expectations and hopes for their artistic representation.

Admission to the event costs $25, $20 for Museum members, with refreshments served. To pre-register, contact the Museum at 413.298.4100.

Highly-regarded as a prominent American portraitist, Everett Raymond Kinstler began his career as a comic book artist and illustrator working for the popular publications of his day. The artist’s original illustrations and portraits of noted celebrities – from John Wayne, Katharine Hepburn, Tony Bennett, and Tom Wolfe to artists James Montgomery Flagg, Alexander Calder, and Will Barnett – will be on view in a lively installation that explores the process of capturing likenesses of his subjects for posterity. The Norman Rockwell Museum Distinguished Illustrator Series honors the unique contributions of outstanding visual communicators.

Norman Rockwell Museum is the preeminent museum of American illustration art. Dedicated to art education and art appreciation inspired by the enduring legacy of Norman Rockwell, the Museum stewards the world’s largest and most significant collection of Rockwell art, and presents the works of contemporary and past masters of illustration. The Museum’s holdings include Rockwell’s last studio, moved from its original location to the Museum grounds, and the Norman Rockwell Archives, a 200,000-object collection undergoing digital preservation through ProjectNORMAN, “A Save America’s Treasures Project.” The Museum is also home to the Rockwell Center for American Visual Studies, the nation’s first research institute devoted to the art of illustration. In 2008, Norman Rockwell Museum became the first-ever museum recipient of the National Humanities Medal, America’s highest honor in the field.

Norman Rockwell Museum is located on 36 park-like acres in Stockbridge,  Massachusetts, Rockwell’s hometown for the last 25 years of his life. The Museum is open year-round; closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. From May through October, hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily; from November through April, hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends and holidays. Rockwell’s studio is open May through October, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Museum admission is $16, $14.50 for seniors, $10 for students, $5 for kids and teens 6 to 18, and free for Museum members and children 5 and under.