13th Annual Juried Show Part 2

It’s time for round 2 of these amazing artist in this years Juried Show! We hope you enjoyed the last post!

Patricia Hollins – 1st place

I paint because it gives me pleasure and satisfies my urge to create. I am not an “a to b” type of person, and I’ve discovered that the work that delights me has a life and a timetable of its own. I rarely start one piece and finish it before beginning the next and, like a juggler, I could have five or more works “up in the air” at one time. Because of my fulltime teaching job at Metropolitan Community College, in Omaha, the “up in the air” time may last a year or more, and summers are “prime time” for painting. Something that I begin in June one year may not be finished till mid or late August one or two years later. This cyclical approach to image development is
interesting because it challenges me to see my work through the lens of time and to take surprising turns along the way.

Anthony Thompson

 I think I was born holding a pencil. As long as I can remember I’ve had a compulsion to pick up every random writing tool I see. Be it crayon or pencil I’d pick it up and doodle on the closest thing available. I still do to this day. 
It didn’t occur to me until I was in elementary school that people appreciated the drawing skills I developed. My oldest sister had created a graphite drawing of a figure that received an award in a High School art exhibit. I liked the piece so I gathered a pencil and paper to draw my own version. I did a very close copy of the original and that experience began my desire to draw everything that was in front of me accurately. As a pre-teen, I feel in love with comic book art and began to draw the images I was looking at. This grew into a love for illustration and figure drawing.
That expanded into understanding perspective and composition developing strong fundamental drawing skills. I developed a love for airbrushing as a teenager. I watched as an airbrush artist painted a mural around an entire charter bus. His skills and use of air to apply paint fascinated me and was the drive for studying the art form. This also helped me accumulate experience using water-based acrylic and urethane solvent-based paints on several different substrates. 
In college, I focused my first degree on fine arts with a strong focus on photography, drawing, and oil painting. While working on my Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design I continued to study watercolor painting, printmaking and learning various design software for digital art applications.
My latest experimental creations are all driven by that desire to create something new. I now use advanced materials like holographic polyvinyl chloride, epichlorohydrin with bisphenol-A polymers containing different interference pigments, and methyl methacrylate that has been custom painted with aniline dye and vaporized by a laser.  On any given day I still work with these advanced materials, oil paints, watercolor paints, airbrushing, photography or digital painting on my Wacom. Many days I work in multiple mediums in several different disciplines. Just don’t leave a pencil and paper lying around me because it will get doodled on.

I’ve spent my entire life around Nebraska rivers and waterways. I love to explore and hike these ancient lands. Every time I visit these wide open spaces I see something magnificent. With a camera always with me I capture as much of the natural beauty I see in front of me. I use these photos as reference for water color paintings, oil paintings, mixed media/graphic design works and I create fine photo prints on metal or acrylic. If it’s 13 degrees below in February or 110 degrees in August you’ll find me wandering the backwoods of Nebraska shooting pictures. Immersion in that natural splendor and the joy it brings me is a driving inspiration in my work

Art is all about critical thinking, planning, design and execution. It makes you reach outside your comfort zone and process what you think you know differently. A real life lesson derived from art is perseverance. Your first creation might not hit the mark. So you go back to the drawing board again and start fresh. Eventually you will reach the point when you succeed while learning from the process. Multiply that by years of failures and successes so one becomes a more well rounded knowledgeable artist, critical thinker and individual that can solve problems.

Bobbie McWilliams

My daughter Mary Nichols inspired me to be an artist.
She was always so creative and I admire her work. She went to the Kansas City Art Institute In Kansas City, Mo.and later graduated from U.M.K.C. My daughter Julia also inspired me, by leading me to the decision of “going back to school.”

Ziggy was chosen for a tribute to our favorite childhood zoo animal. Ziggy the elephant, was the main attraction at the Brookfield Zoo, in Brookfield, Illinois. My little brothers, Mike & Tom couldn’t wait to go to the zoo, to see Ziggy!

 I believe that the arts are important because we can take with us ancient teachings, and what we have learned from the past, and make it meaningful to all of us today. Artists are the people, who are continuing the culture.

Donna Dubsky

Fine Arts adds cultural enrichment – without it, life would be boring and mundane. I can’t imagine a world without beautiful music, visual arts, or theatrics. Fine Arts feeds the soul & opens up the mind to creative inspiration & learning – they should always be encouraged!!!

Every year I admire the wild sunflowers which grow across the road. I picked some for my private art student to draw & as they sat throughout the week they started changing. When wilted they became even more interesting, so, I decided to draw them myself – enlarging the drawing to make a bigger statement. When I was asked to give a watercolor batik demo for a Columbus Art Gallery fund raiser, I thought these sunflowers would be a good identifiable subject for them to watch me paint, yet they would hold my creative interest. I barely got a start at the demo because of the involved batiking process. I worked on it a long time in my studio – deciding to do something unique in the background by breaking up the shapes

Art was my favorite subject in grade school, but we only had it on Fridays – I couldn’t wait! I took an art class from a private teacher in her home when I was about twelve, but didn’t take art in high school because of Band. Then after the birth of my third child my sister asked me to join the Columbus Area Artists, which was just getting organized. Being connected with the CAA, Association of Nebraska Art Clubs (ANAC), along with Halsey Autumn Art Workshop groups offered me an invaluable opportunity to study under numerous regional & nationally recognized artists.

Being an artist has taught me how to “see” the world through “artists eyes”! Seeing is one of the programming processes of the artistic computer. What you look at & what you see, starts your artists’ mind working. The way the mind works, in response to what the eye sees, conditions what goes onto whatever is the medium of expression. An artist is always changing with every piece he creates. Each piece is a learning experience – making it very challenging!

I’ve always truly loved to create—there isn’t a favorite art medium. I appreciate all mediums or their particular capabilities and continually take workshops to experiment & learn new mediums & concepts. I create in watercolor, watercolor batik, pencil, ink, alcohol ink, pastel (pencil & stick), acrylic, plasma cut, collage, bronze sculptures & even photography. My subject matter is also widely varied from abstract to realistic with “live models & still life” being my favorite subjects. Recently I’ve gravitated toward watercolor batik on rice paper, which I love because of its ‘surprising’ results after ironing out the wax!

It has been a long wonderful rewarding career, which continues to make my life an amazing journey! I thank God for my creative ability & giving me a world full of such beauty. And I thank my husband, children & grandchildren, for always supporting & encouraging me to be the professional artist I always wanted to be!

Jerene Kruse

The arts are an important part of our lives. We need a place to express ourselves and enjoy the benefit of creating. The arts encourage self-discipline, organization, problem solving, self-expression, and hard work. The quality of a civilization can be measured through its art. There are many ways to see and interpret the world. The arts celebrate multiple perspectives. Our future depends on those with creative skills.

I wanted to create a slab constructed pot using collage methods. I decided on a nature theme, using pressed leaves, stamps, and a mold of a branch with leaves and berries. I had not created this shape before so I also challenged myself. I knew it needed a lid so my construction was not the usual way I create my pottery. It was fun to combine shape and collage.

I knew after 6th grade I wanted to be an Art Teacher. I had a country school teacher, Mrs. Irma Fodge, who inspired me to draw and create with new ideas. We also got to have Art on various days of the week, not just Friday afternoon. I thoroughly enjoyed my High School Art classes and was happy with my choice of an Art Education major in college. I enjoy painting and printmaking but my true love is clay. Since retiring from teaching Art for 28 years I now have time to try new ideas and methods with my hand built pottery.

Sally Jurgensmeier

Raised on the family farm in Central Nebraska, my roots have never strayed very far. With close family
and community ties, I have remained firmly planted in thoughts of creating art from elements which surround me. Returning to the family farm. I am now committed to sculpting and creating on a full-time
basis.
My sculptures are intended to bring a smile to your face. I take metal, which is thought to be cold, hard,
and unattractive, and give it life, expression, and personality. Each piece is unique and never mass produced. Each piece can be displayed indoors or out.
“Fancy Hoot” is an interpretation of an owl using found objects and raw material. It has a “fancy” look to
it, and might appear to be ready for a party or Mardi Gras!

Steve Elliott

The role of geometry in this recent body of sculpture represents an abstraction of nature, inspired by patterns that are infinite and never changing. I am interested in the relationship between nature and structural complexity, particularly relating to ‘free form’ architecture, where lines and shapes are approximated in order to create intricate geometric structures. The skeletal construction method gradually brings the visual elements together while drawing with the material, inciting the viewer into a potential state of meaning.

Thank you to all of our amazing artists for an incredible show!!