WSG gallery just opened its 16 + 16 show this week.  It’s a great follow-up to our Holiday Show, where we usually represent nearly 40 Midwest artists and tend to show a lot of smaller pieces.  The 16 + 16 show is sort of like the new year diet in reverse for us.  Instead of going smaller, we go bigger with our servings of art!  Take, for instance, the guest artist Keith Downie, from Muskegon:

Keith Downie, New Construction Descending the Housing Market :
acrylic on canvas :
48″h x 64″w :
by Keith Downie

At 64 ” wide, this stunning painting is technically delicious!  The foreground is painterly, with wide swaths of layered colors and little brush strokes dancing across the surface, describing the scrubby grasses.  The house, perfectly illustrated, the atmospheric treatment of the leafless trees in the background invite the viewer into the depth of the piece, the blurry, speeding car wonderfully described.  Then there’s the monumental size of the very ordinary, midwest ranch home.  Now, we’re used to seeing more elaborate homes painted on an enormous scale, but….Keith’s careful treatment of subject matter and exquisite painting skills certainly elevate what might otherwise be a drive-by scene from our daily lives.  The size of the piece, alone, demands respect.  http://www.keithdowniepaintings.com/cv.html

Odalisque :
oil on linen :
34″h x 48″w :
by Mary Hatch

At 4 feet wide, Mary Hatch’s Odalisque falls into the upsized category, as well.  Her muted tones, along with attention to gestural and perspective details allow viewers to survey the scene and lock eyes with the main character.  The redhead in the foreground reminds one of an Alphonse Mucha woman, with the subtle changes in skin tone and the self-composure.                          http://www.maryhatch.com/

Pivot :
charcoal and pastel on paper :
40″h x 30″w :
by Nora Venturell

While we’re on the figure, we can’t leave out this stunning charcoal drawing by Nora Venturelli.  At 40 inches tall, this piece with its energetic lines and eraser marks pulls the us into the gesture, at left and releases the viewer out the top right corner of the piece, with the contour of the model’s neck turned away from us.     http://venturellistudio.net/

Sketchbook: Riverside :
mixed media drawing and fabric collage :
62″h x 42″w :
by Susan Moran

Venturelli’s line work is a perfect segue into Susan Moran’s use of line.  Inspired by all things nature, Moran paints, draws, dyes and sews her large-scale pieces.  In this detail some of those gestural lines describing leaves and tendrils are evident, along with the bolder, deep brown line drawings of thistle and Queen Anne’s lace. Notice, also, the sewn and layered vintage linens building up the surface of the piece.          https://www.surfacedesign.org/users/susan-moran

Landscaped Waters :
quilt :
46″h x 42″w :
by Marilyn Prucka

And Moran’s fiber work leads to Marilyn Prucka’s fiber pieces.  Prucka’s dyeing and over-dyeing of her fabrics build up a rich surface on her pieces, again, inspired by the outdoors and nature, colors, reflections, leaf build-up, decay.  She works her pieces like paintings, using fabric swatches like broad brush strokes.  Her abstract work allows the viewer to notice different details with every observation.    http://marilynprucka.sharepoint.com/Pages/default.aspx

Braddock, No.2 :
photograph, pigment ink on rag paper :
16″h x 20″w :
by John Lilley

Prucka’s abstract work is the perfect lead-in to John Lilley’s photographs in the show.  Lilley has a keen eye for little details and subtleties in surfaces that, enlarged, become moody, yet soothing compositions.  He has several of these pieces in the show.     http://johnlilleyphotography.com/page/gallery

Sweet Gulf :
oil on canvas :
48″h x 36″w :
by Kristin Hermanson

Kristin Hermanson continues with the moody, dramatic approach to her canvases.  Her rich canvases pair the perfect amount of abstract in her paint strokes with just enough information so that, as the viewer, you can say, ‘Oh, yes, I’ve seen the light (or water) like that before!’    http://www.kristinhermanson.com/

We’ll end this post with another of our guests for the 16 + 16 show and a very large fly.  Carissa Kaplan, from California, brings us a mixed media piece that she’s digitally printed, sewn, painted and rug-hooked.

Come in to see all the wonderful work in the 16 + 16 show!  There’s so much more!

Fly Resting :
quilted photo on canvas, yarn woven into an onion bag, metallic threads, monofilliment :
5″h x 16″l x 12″w :
by Carisa Kaplan