Now through September 5, 2020
Artists’ Favorites showcases work by our talented gallery artists that they’ve selected specifically for this exhibition. Each artist chose two of her/his favorite artworks for the show to share with you.
In addition, we’re thrilled to introduce you to guest artist, Dietlind Vander Schaaf, an internationally known encaustic artist, based in Portland, Maine. Dietlind also chose her favorite paintings from her new series of works that represent the breadth and depth of her singular aesthetic.
We invite you to join us in the gallery and online to view Artists’ Favorites. Please note that Dietlind’s work is only viewable online. We will be exhibiting more of Dietlind’s encaustic paintings in 2021 as we continue our exploration of encaustic as an exciting and intriguing medium.
“Patrick and I know that certain works by our artists really resonate with you,” says Anita Sue Kolman, co-owner of Kolman & Pryor Gallery. “This exhibition gives you an opportunity to learn more about the work our artists love most and why. It also gives you a chance to know our artists, the artists you admire and collect, on a deeper level. We think you’ll love their insights into their work.”
Insights from Our Artists
Betsy Ruth Byers, for instance, describes her oil abstraction Wolverine “as about light, movement, and the malleable edges between land and water. I am enraptured by both its softness and its contrasting moments of concreteness. It beckons me to break through its edge and walk within, in a moment of becoming.” In contrast, she chose Point of No Return “because it was memorable to make. My body intuitively understood what moves to make next in order to translate the falling of water. I felt near feverish moving the oil with brushes, sponges, rags, and trowels. I can still hear the rushing sound of water as it drops into the canyon when I look at this work. Can you?”
Of her work, Jil Evans, another artist working in oil, says her selections “correspond to the two poles of feeling I have right now, of intimacy and of vast space, which fits the tension I feel inside: the pull to venture inward toward quiet, and the pull to be in the world as an agent of change.”
Ceramicist Kelly Jean Ohl says, of her hand-carved disc installation, “Round shapes bring me such joy. They’re compositionally looser and more playful than some of my other installation work.” Conversely, her collection of heavily carved, hand-held rattles,” she adds, “are personal sensory experiences. You can look at, pick up, and shake each piece, enjoying their pattern, texture, and sound. I like having the rattles alongside an installation piece.”
Cameron Zebrun’s large-scale sculptures evoke “the rivers and watercourses along the North Shore of Lake Superior, and their accompanying geological features, waterfalls, and cauldrons,” he says. They also “represent my interest in creating objects of fine craftsmanship and illustrate my preoccupation with presenting landscape subject matter in surprising and non-traditional ways.”
Of her small, biomorphic sculptures, Kate Casanova says she chose Untitled 23 for its “grotesque and comical composition. I find inhabiting a body to be an absurd experience and this piece speaks to me about the unruliness of bodies.” In Untitled 24, she adds, “the relationship between the two objects is quite visceral. This piece mimics how bodies form and are formed by their physical surroundings.”
Our Expanding Encaustic Program
Our ongoing efforts to expand and deepen our encaustic program brought Julie Snidle into our roster of gallery artists. She selected Hope, she says, “because the quiet conversation between text, line, shape, and the soft palette of this often-overlooked painting is a calm and reassuring message.” Conversely, The Race is On, she adds, speaks not to the political moment, but was chosen “for its nostalgic expression, within its spaciousness, of the freedom we long for.”
Long-time gallery artist Jodi Reeb selected two new sculptures of encaustic paint on primed aluminum sheeting, in bright colors, that “speak to summer’s sunshine and blue skies in Minnesota.” Through Jodi, we met Dietlind, whose five encaustic, oil, and gold-leaf pieces represent “just enough color, just enough emptiness and space, and just enough marks to allow for movement in the work. I’m always striving for a sense of calm centeredness in my work; the feeling you might get from a great yoga class or a walk in the woods.”
Your Invitation
“We’re excited to welcome you back into the gallery and online to discover these works by our artists, selected by our artists,” says gallery co-owner, Patrick Pryor. “We’d love to hear your thoughts on the work, including on our expanding encaustic program, and how the exhibition is inspiring your art viewing and collecting.”
Camille LeFevre