A Sense of Place at Wisconsin Lutheran College

Eddee Daniel

I am honored to be included in an exhibit at Wisconsin Lutheran College entitled "A Sense of Place." The other artists in the show are Leon Travanti, James Smessaert and Elizabeth Carr Whitmore.

The opening reception is Friday, Feb 27 from 6 - 8 pm.

Kristin Gjerdset, who heads the college's Art Department, was the curator. Here is her statement describing the show:

Wisconsin artists present their perspective on place, whether a geographical location or in the mind. Travanti’s paintings reflect his travels to Asia, inspired by “the rhythms, patterns and colors of exotically decorated people, animals and architecture.” Smessaert’s wood constructions connect with early recollections of tree and forest and “the free play of childhood that still lives within him.” Whitmore’s series of “felted wool landscapes detail her exploration through unfamiliar landscapes of Eastern Europe and South America.” Daniel’s photographs “explore the intersection of nature and humanity.”  Together the artists are represented in various art collections locally, nationally and internationally, and have years of experience in exhibitions and artist residencies.

Wisconsin Lutheran College's Schlueter Art Gallery is located at 8815 W. Wisconsin Avenue in Wauwatosa. The gallery is free and open to the public. Hours: Mon-Sat 9-9, Sun 1-9.

If you've never been to this gallery, it is beautiful and is inside the dramatic Center for Arts & Performance. I hope you'll join me for the opening.

Here are samples of each of the artists' work. Except for my own, these are details of larger works and, in my opinion, don't do them justice. When I delivered my work today I saw the others' pieces for the first time. It's a great show! I'm glad to be part of it.

Leon Travanti

James Smessaert

Elizabeth Carr Whitmore

Eddee Daniel

Paige Rice at Gallery 2622

It was damn cold last night! My wife and I were going to check out a few gallery openings but we didn't get past our first one. Fortunately, it was a welcome discovery.

Gallery 2622 in Wauwatosa is showing the work of Paige Rice, who is a MIAD student working on a double major in Photography and Communication Design.

The primary exhibit is spare and evocative. The images are mostly of blurred trees. The prints are black & white and large in scale. They float, appropriately, I thought, unmatted and unframed against the while gallery walls. 

This lovely installation is supplemented with a shelf full of beautifully crafted hand-made books. Don't be put off by the request to use the white cotton gloves provided. They are well worth the effort to page through them.

Many of the images in the books, like this one titled "Reflective Perceptive 1," are delicate meditations on intimate details of nature and water.

The exhibit, which is called simply, "In My Life," runs through the end of February. Gallery 2622 is open by appointment.

Photographs courtesy paigerice.com.

Gallery 2622 opening August 5

Blooms, from the Icon Series

I will be showing selections of my work from two projects, the Icon Series of triptychs and the Reverie Series of photomontages.

The exhibit will be held at Gallery 2622, which, not coincidentally, is located at 2622 North 76th Street in Wauwatosa. The exhibit runs August 5 - 28, 2011.

The opening reception is August 5, 5 - 9 pm.

Artist Statement 

I believe that we live in a world that is fundamentally different than that of previous generations. The land is stressed, the natural processes that sustain life are stressed, and as a result the human species is stressed. Our unavoidable and often unconscious task is to adapt to these unresolved circumstances. My work tries to make sense of the paradoxes inherent in this human condition.

The pieces in this exhibit are drawn from two series.  Each series deals with particular formal considerations as well as subject and meaningful content.  While my work often involves very specific formal structures, form is driven by content, expression and an overall conceptual framework.   

Tower, from the Icon Series

The Icon Series uses the triptych, a recognizable formal structure with historical/cultural resonance, to emphasize iconic themes. The form places a central figure within a context that either magnifies its iconic stature and symbolic meaning or creates an unexpected juxtaposition. The central figure in these constructions is often elevated to iconic status despite its being an otherwise ordinary subject. It is rarely a subject that would be perceived as iconic and therefore it subverts or inverts the accepted definition of an icon. My intention is to invite the viewer to think about the subject and its relationship to its context in a newly symbolic way. Using multiple images emphasizes that our experience of the world is relational and conditional rather than singular and fixed. 

Burn

The images in the Reverie Series are subjective landscapes. They are less about a particular place and more of a meditation or emotional experience. Each is a montage created from multiple photographs. Like the realities I perceive, the facts are blurred: the image is removed from actuality to some dimly seen place between memory and desire, where the landscape is subjective and the intersecting spirits of nature and humanity are suggested.

The meanings are often ambiguous, but they refer to the tensions and narratives of living in an environment that is increasingly compromised or redeemed by our own actions. I am not a dispassionate observer and although the landscape I experience may be beautiful, it is never pristine. This work has been informed by author Bill McKibben’s “The End of Nature,” in which he asserts that nothing on earth is left untouched by human influences, and other ideas of contemporary environmentalists.

But, while they may relate to urgent topical issues, the images are not didactic; they are experiential, symbolic and emotional. My central intent in this work is to express feelings I experience when confronting a particular landscape at a certain time and—paradoxically—to find the universal in the specific place and the eternal in the moment.  

This is work that has not been shown in one place before. Examples from both series can be viewed on my website.

Glass Facade, the Reverie Series

Toy Story 3 - it just keeps getting better!

As of last night three of my top ten favorite movies are all named Toy Story. Seriously. Or, to be more accurate, humorously. Very humorous. While most movie sequels quickly peter out, the writers and producers of the Toy Story series have the creativity to make it fresh and funny each time. And while there were plenty of children in the audience, Lynn and I were hardly the only empty nesters enjoying the show.

I recommend it not simply as good, fun entertainment, but as great art. I also recommend patronizing the Times Cinema in Wauwatosa, where you can see it for $5.

Addendum 6/29/10

I just read a column about the movie in the 6/20/10 issue of the NY Times by David Hajdu. It's great and you can read it by clicking here. I do have one bone of contention, however: he makes the statement that "In Andy's presence, the toys are inanimate...impassive objects." He also says "Only when he leaves...do they come alive." Not true! The entire, remarkable, opening sequence shows in graphic splendor how alive the toys are in Andy's imagination. The same device was used in Toy Story 2.