ARTWISE OPENS A NEW GALLERY EXHIBIT “Close to Home”
ArtWise is pleased to announce that its gallery exhibition, “Close to Home” will be October 27-November 19, 2022. The exhibition will begin on October 27th with an artist reception from 5:00-7:00 at the ArtWise Gallery and Creative Space in the Columbia Mall. “Close to Home” will include a printmaker, a painter, and a soft sculpture artist.
Jeanne O’Neil’s newest prints in this show are etchings which come from a series of sketches made over the past summers on her land. Walking the fields and pathways every day, year after year, the colors, contrasts, textures and lines of trees, grasses, sky, river are impressed on her mind, creating an accumulated knowledge of these places. The making of each print creates a deeper knowing and a stronger connection to that knowing.
O’Neil’s prints inspired by nearby farms arise from drawings made along the rural roads of Huntsville Township. “I know these farms only from a distance. They stand on the flat horizon like words on a page, sharing a common language. In some of the prints, as with the linocuts, the buildings and trees become runes or characters. In others, they take on an almost storybook quality, telling their
familiar stories using the same words in different order; windrow, woodlot, Quonset, barn, grain bins, house, home.” Jeanne O’Neil
Artist Erin O’Neil’s soft sculptures started with a love of socks, a passion for recycling and reducing waste, and a desire to connect with others. The first of the Rag Folk was made of recycled socks and an old winter glove. The Rag Folk are now made of a variety of materials, not restricted to old socks.
“The Rag Folk represent:
Preservation of what has been used in everyday life
Creating new lives out of old scraps and rags
The Rag Folk contain:
Memories and essences of what has past
The joy of childhood carried forward and honored in adulthood
On the Rag Folk process:
Each creation ends up in its own way as the process progresses.
The making is a comfort, the product is a comfort-the manual process is a part of the whole.” Erin O’Neil
Martha Keifenheim studied art at UND, and U of M Minneapolis and at San Jose State in California. She received a BFA degree in Printmaking from UND.
“The scenes in these paintings are local to Grand Forks and Polk counties- my family farmhouse, the ND Mill and Elevator, the Red River of the North, views from across the streets and parking lots of town.” Martha Keifenheim.
She continues to explore both medium and imagery in her paintings, beginning painting in oils, switched to acrylic and now have watercolor supplies. Landscapes and still lifes are a favorite image though figurative work (paintings of people) are a challenge she likes.
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The ArtWise mission is to enhance the Greater Grand Forks community through educational visual arts programs and exhibition space for youth, families, and artists.