upper left: Pamela Ek, "Winterscape," watercolor crayons on clayboard, 16 x 20 inches, 2019, for sale
lower left: Sandy Hynds, "Prairie," acrylic on paper, 12 x 11 inches, 2020, for sale
right: Annelise Rhoads, "Landscape 2," digital print, 18.3 x 9.6 inches, 2021, NFS
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Around the Block III
Artists from our (Virtual) Neighborhood
Artwork about Place
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Dear friends of the gallery,
Last night was the last of our programming for the Around the Block III exhibition. Camille Wilson White joined us to discuss her experience jurying the work and remarked how difficult it was to make her selections. She also spoke about the programming of the Oak Park Area Arts Council and her advocacy for the arts through the Local Artist Network and Arts Alliance Illinois. She also told of opportunities for artists that might be of interest to those who create work for public spaces. If you couldn't join us, I will provide a link to the interview as soon as possible.
Artists have been inspired by place, real or imagined, throughout history. Artists respond as travelers, explorers, diarists, or rely on memory. Some are interested in capturing various aesthetic elements, such as texture, color, or light, like the Impressionists. In contrast, others seek to tell a story, manifest an idea, or use the landscape as a metaphor. Some examples: the traditional landscape paintings of the Hudson River School artists, who captured the Hudson River Valley; Grant Wood's stylized images of his rural Midwest environment; Wolf Kahn's luminous landscapes inspired by extensive travel; and Monet, who chose subjects closer to home, such as his garden. Others are contemporary painters Shara Hughes and Inka Essenhigh, who subvert traditional representations of landscape and create colorful imaginary places employing a mélange of art historical styles. Another artist, Cynthia Daignault, painted the sky every day for a year and the same view of trees for 40 days and nights.
The artists included in "Around the Block III: Artist from our Neighborhood" are no different. This week's email features artists exploring the idea of "place" in their work, too.
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Sandy Hynds takes inspiration from the prairie and its endless variations of the seasons, time of day, and weather. Her painting, "Prairie," transcends mere documentation of the physical appearance. Instead, it utilizes patches of color and the expressive forces of brushstroke to create a feeling of her emotional reaction to the landscape.
Mary Emmon's "Amsterdam" was inspired through travel. The warm, complementary colors are suggestive of a summer day. She achieves depth through scale, and the directional path of the boat leads us back into the work.
In contrast to Emmon's work is Pamela Ek's "Winterscape," a stable composition created with a row of vertical trees against the horizon line. She found beauty in winter, incorporating the cool blues and icy whites of the season.
Ann Rund recalls her childhood memory of the rural gas station that provided a sense of place with the community. Her watercolor "Ivesdale Standard" evokes works by artists Edward Ruscha and Edward Hopper and their presentations of this symbol of the American landscape from the 20th century.
Parkland student Annelise Rhoads' "Landscape 2" may be a familiar scene to those who have visited Turkey Run State Park. Through digitization, she has eliminated texture in favor of simplified shapes and color. Her strong composition gives the work a dramatic feeling and lends itself to the vertical landscape and elevated terrain found in that region.
Through confident handling of soft pastels, Mandy Roeing's "Bend In The Road" depicts filtered sunlight of a wooded area. The work captures a particular time of day, weather, and season. However, there is a mystery to the subject because what lies beyond the bend is unknown. Roeing's composition is also vertical; however, it imbues a relaxed feeling.
An impending weather system inspired Miriam Tworek-Hofstetter as she took a walk leading her to create this intimate watercolor titled "Suddenly On The Road." One can feel the heaviness of the clouds through the pooled paint and the muted blue of this monochromatic painting.
Fred Delcomyn's "Storm Front" captures the potentially turbulent and contradictory weather in the midwest. The cloud forms a swath through the sky and captures a tranquil sunset.
Phil Strang's "Edge of Time" is an emotional response to the ongoing pandemic and serves as a metaphor. The trees have no life, and the terrain is almost unrecognizable. The rich but volatile sky painted in contrasting colors impart no color on the stark land, and the sun's warmth seems distant and fragmented.
Barbara England's "Imagine" creates another world quite the opposite of Strang's sense of place during the pandemic. England provides an escape through using childlike colors and a delightful doodling illustration style one might find in a children's book. The artist draws gumdrop and lollipop trees, rainbow mountains, imaginary planets in the sky and reveals the earth's layers beneath our feet.
Joyce D. Meyer's "Formation" is a digital photo of a moonlight scene. Using the moon's light, Meyer highlights a fence post and positions the viewer with a perspective from below. The moon, filtered through the clouds, serves as a glowing globe evoking "mysteries of the night."
Larry Kanfer's "celebrates the magnificence of everyday" and creates a fresh take of the midwestern agricultural field, so familiar to us in the midwest. "Corn in the Sky" is a mixed media digital photograph on stretched canvas. Using resin, he embeds a dried corn cob and kernels to the canvas, breaking the picture plane and; by doing this, Kanfer expands on a traditional landscape photo of a cornfield and transforms the story into something magical. It's as if a strong wind came through, blowing the kernels from their cobs, and some hidden force is at work.
As this exhibition wraps up in the next couple of weeks, please spread the word that the gallery will be physically open this fall, beginning with our Art and Design Faculty Exhibition starting Monday, August 23. It will be great to be able to see the actual artwork and see you back on campus!
Sincerely,
Lisa Costello
Director, Giertz Gallery
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Above top: Barbara England, "Imagine," ink, watercolor and gel pen, 14 x 10 inches, 2021, for sale |
above top: Ann Rund, "Ivesdale Standard," watercolor, 8 x 11 inches, 2020, NFS |
above: Mary Emmons, "Amsterdam,"
watercolor, 11 x 8 inches, 2019, for sale
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above: Mandy Roeing, "Bend In The Road," soft pastels on Wallis professional grade sanded pastel paper, 12 x 8 inches, 2020, NFS |
above: Larry Kanfer, "Corn In The Sky,"
digital photography on stretched canvas, resin and organic materials, 32 x 24 x 5 inches, 2020, for sale
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above: Joyce D. Meyer, "Formation,"
digital photograph, 8¾ x 8¾ inches, 2021, for sale
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above left: Miriam Tworek-Hofstetter, "Suddenly On The Road," watercolor and graphite, 6½ x 3¾ inches, 2020, NFS
above top right: Fred Delcomyn, "Storm Front," photograph, 12 x 18 inches, 2021, for sale
above bottom right: Phil Strang, "Edge Of Time," acrylic paint on textured canvas, 16 x 20 inches, 2020, for sale
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Artists participating in the exhibition:
Louise Audrieth • Gary Beaumont • Jess Beyler • Jo Birdwell • Daniel Bornt • Taylor Braasch • Thomas Brewer • Anna Brown • Saxon Burns • Christopher Carlson • Robert Chapman • Yeong Choi • Ann B. Coddington • M. Ben Cohan • Cathrine Cunningham • Keenan Dailey • Beth Darling • Fred Delcomyn • Pamela Ek • Mary Emmons • Barbara England • Jeff Evans • David Favre • Viktoria Ford • Tina Giamberdino • David Gordon • Stacey Gross • Crystal Hartman and Devin Frank • Connie Hosier • Sandy Hynds • Sara Jahn • Larry Kanfer • Eunjoo Kang • Rashmi Kapoor • Hye-Min Kim • Bruce A. Kloth • Deborah Kloth • Carolyn Knox • Philip Knox • Casey Lowry • Sarah Marjanovic • Paula McCarty • Ann McDowell • Joyce D. Meyer • Melissa Mitchell • Amanda Mitsdarfer • Charlie Mitsdarfer • Patricia Monigold • Michael Murray • Christina Nordholm • Shannon Percoco • Marli Pessin • Robert Petersen • Toni Pitts • Claire Pritchard • Fraya Replinger • Annelise Rhoads • Erica Robertson • Mandy Roeing • Gail Rost • Ann Rund • Andrea Shields • Birute Simaitis • Lynn Hawkinson Smith • David Spears • Phil Strang • Bonnie Switzer • Mohan Tracy • Natalie Troyer • Miriam Tworek-Hofstetter • Kuldeepa Vartak-Mehta • David Wantroba • Rosalind Faiman Weinberg • Catherine Wiesener • Melinda Wilcox • Charles Wisseman • Sarah Wisseman
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Did you know that the Staerkel Planetarium is having virtual events?
PRAIRIE SKIES
A live‑narrated tour of the wonders of tonight's sky, accompanied by some of the legendary stories of the ancient sky. Find out what constellations and planets are visible tonight and how to find them. This show is updated seasonally and is intended for all ages.
Every other Friday at 7pm!
Visit their webpage to find out more!
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2400 West Bradley Avenue
Champaign, Illinois 61821-1899
217/351-2485
Giertz Gallery will remain in a digital format through summer; watch for our online exhibitions, resources, and programming.
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Programs at the gallery are partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency. All events in the accessible gallery are free and open to the public. Parkland College is a section 504/ADA-compliant institution. For accommodation, call 217/353-2337 or email accessibilityservices@parkland.edu
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