Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum
Wausau, WI
715-845-7010
http://www.lywam.com
Water: A Contemporary American
View
The Leigh Yawkey
Woodson Art Museum invites guests to come in because the water is fine -
"Water: A Contemporary American View" that is. This new exhibition,
opening on Saturday, April 22, 2000 features 65 oil, acrylic, and watercolor
paintings; etchings; and bronze, glass, and wood sculptures. All work is
based on the broad concept of water as interpreted by 22 American artists.
The
artists in "Water" see more than a basic element of nature when
they look at a raindrop or an ocean. For them, this protean, ever-changing
substance is a vehicle to interpret and express a depth of physical and
emotional associations. Their views from above the surface bring to mind
the simple pleasures of water such as viewing a pond dappled with water
lilies, while those from the deep may transmit the terror that water can
elicit. (left: Mark Innerst, Water Lily, No.16, 1998, acrylic
on board)
Ships and icebergs, fish and birds, sand pebbles, sailboats,
and cascading waterfalls. These and other elements join with water in vast
landscapes and seascapes - and in tiny drop-like images - that shift between
realism and surrealism to capture the essence of this clear, colorless,
odorless, and tasteless substance.
Whether represented as a solid as in Dale Chihuly's shimmering
glass seaforms and Jack Zajac's bronze waterfalls, or a liquid as in Joseph
Raffael's "Water Reflections" or Deborah Brown's "Aquarium,"
water in the hands of contemporary artists is absorbing.
Andre von Morisse, who is represented by three works in
"Water," will present "Patterns in Nature" on Wednesday,
May 10, from 7-8 p.m. This Norwegian-born painter is enamored with the natural
world and its mysteries, and often paints from a below-the-surface perspective
of a fish while also depicting the calm surface where water meets earth
or sky. During his free public talk, von Morisse will use slides to explore
his images of nature and tell the stories he sees in them. His talk and
a one-week artist residency in local schools are supported by the Community
Arts Program of the Wausau Area Community Foundation, with funds provided
by the Wisconsin Arts Board and the Foundation.
"Water" was organized by the Gibbes Museum of
Art, Charleston, South Carolina and is presented locally through the generous
support of USFilter and its Zimpro Products and Enviroscan Services divisions.
See our earlier articles: Water: A Contemporary
American View (10/11/99) at the Gibbes Museum of Art and Water:
A Contemporary American View (1/14/00) at the Mobile Museum of Art.
Read more on the Leigh Yawkey
Woodson Art Museum.in Resource Library
Magazine
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The
artists in "Water" see more than a basic element of nature when
they look at a raindrop or an ocean. For them, this protean, ever-changing
substance is a vehicle to interpret and express a depth of physical and
emotional associations. Their views from above the surface bring to mind
the simple pleasures of water such as viewing a pond dappled with water
lilies, while those from the deep may transmit the terror that water can
elicit. (left: Mark Innerst, Water Lily, No.16, 1998, acrylic
on board)