On Sunday, August 4, from 1 to 3 p.m., the Gays Mills Arts Collective Gallery will host an informal discussion with three of the artists featured during the Summer Time exhibition.
Artists Marlene Meyer, Jeff Adams, and Rick Kriebel will answer questions about their work, how and why they do what they do, what it means to be an artist, and whatever else you may want to know about their work.
Meyer was an owner and an integral part of running Kickapoo Orchard with her husband Bill, over the past 40 or more years, which kept her busy and used most of her time while also raising a family. For the past 12 years, she has been able to devote much more time and energy to what she has yearned for over her lifetime, time to paint, both indoors and out.
Adams comes from a farm background, growing up on a dairy farm near Barnum. He has always had an interest in drawing, taking art classes in high school and later enrolling in evening classes through the county extension program and Southwest Technical College, where he learned to use oil paint. You can see his close understanding and observation of the ways of rural life in his work. Adams’ subjects are simple and straightforward, but with a little twist; not the perspective of someone standing outside the world he is observing, but an insider’s view – something a little different such as a rooster with his head turned away or a tractor from the extreme perspective of the driver. Other subjects that Adams has explored are the recreational activities available in this rural paradise, canoeing on the lower Wisconsin River, playing golf, and even snowmobiling. These are the subjects and interests of one who is engaged in the life around him, and of one who observes some of the more subtle aspects of nature. Adams calls our attention to the lovely ‘Female Cardinal,’ not the showy male, and in ‘Old Friends,’ a forlorn old tree and a bird perched high, perhaps a sentinel.
Kriebel likes to make things and finds a unique way to mix the things he gathers on his travels that are human-made, with things he finds in the natural world. Sometimes, it’s a combination of an object that is hard with something pliable, but always with great attention to detail and solid craftsmanship. Metal and wood figure prominently in his unique creations.
The gallery is open from noon to 6 p.m. Thursday through Sunday, and by appointment, through August 18.
The Gays Mills Arts Collective Gallery is located in the Gays Mills Mercantile Center, across from the new Community Center and Library on State Highway 131 and Sunset Ridge Avenue.
For more information, please call the Gallery 608-735-4321, or Lila Marmel 608-624-5264. The Arts Collective Gallery is easily accessible and parking is plentiful.
