APPLETON, WIS. — Prints, paintings, and patch boxes will be exhibited November 10 through December 17 in the Wriston Art Center galleries on the Lawrence University campus. An opening lecture by sculptor and printmaker Mark Iwinski will be held at 6:00 p.m. November 10 at the Wriston Art Center. A reception will follow. Both the lecture and reception are free and open to the public.
Iwinski, from Ithaca, N.Y., will exhibit Ghost Trees and Crosscuts: Interactions Between Forest and History in the Kohler Gallery. Using nature as both his inspiration and his source material Iwinski creates prints and sculptures intimately connected to his locale. Employing relief-printing techniques, he carves into the flat surface of stumps from cleared timber. Inking the surface, he creates relief prints that reflect both the natural growth rings of the trees and often star charts from the night skies above. Additionally, he often makes casts of the stumps and installs these ghostly shells in the gallery. The process is solitary and contemplative and the resulting pieces encourage viewers to find connections to both time and their impact on the earth.
Painter Gina Litherland of Cedarburg will exhibit Gina Litherland: Paintings in the Hoffmaster Gallery during the show. The precise and magical realism of Litherland’s works results in paintings that reflect dreams, the unconscious, and the implausible and haunting reveries of an imagination unfettered by logic. In an almost obsessive style reminiscent of early renaissance Netherlandish paintings, Litherland suggests poetic metaphors for the pleasures and perils of modern life. The painting techniques that Litherland employs in her work are traditional indirect oil painting techniques similar to those used by 15th century Sienese painters, combined with textural effects created by using various tools other than the paintbrush. These techniques allow Litherland to create a detailed, layered, and complex surface of images.
In the Leech Gallery will be Trifles from England, 18th Century Patch Boxes in the Permanent Collection. Often sold as souvenirs of famous places these small ceramic and metal containers originally held artificial “beauty spots” that middle and upper class women applied to cover small pox scars. The covers are decorated with delicate glaze drawings and paintings of familiar sights and buildings. These recently acquired 18th and 19th century patch boxes were donated by Mrs. Barbara Wriston.
The Wriston Art Center galleries are open Tuesday-Friday, 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m., Saturday-Sunday, noon-4:00 p.m. The galleries are closed on Mondays. For more information on this exhibition and other upcoming exhibitions at the Wriston Art Center, visit www.lawrence.edu/news/wriston or call 920-832-6621.
