Pine Center For the Arts’ May gallery will feature “A Walk in The Woods”, a collaborative effort of four local artists. An opening reception will be held on May 5 from 4-7 p.m. Come and enjoy a walk in the woods through this unique collection of paintings, jewelry, baskets, macrame, and floral arrangements.
Nan Grubbs of Elizabeth x2 finds that a walk in the woods brings to mind one word: refresh. “Taking the time to experience nature makes me feel better, see clearer, breathe more slowly and deeply.” She finds herself relaxed, awakened and inspired. Her art is a smorgasbord of ideas infused with a variety of materials, most of which are directly or indirectly inspired by and produced with nature’s bountiful resources. She truly loves to design and create! She is so very grateful for her creative mind, industrious hands and for the magical creation all around us.
For Rosalie Spahr, a walk in the woods brings quiet to her soul. A walk provides a chance to get away and immerse herself in God’s glorious creation. She enjoys searching the forest floor for wood, acorns, seed pods and other leavings that nature gives to include in her basket making. Allowing these natural items to influence the shape and size of the basket is an important part of her creative process.
Kari Johnson, owner of The Pink Peony, brings her floral artistry to this collaboration. She finds that there is nothing more refreshing or invigorating than a walk in the woods. It refreshes the soul and revitalizes creativity and possibility. Being in the woods illuminates all five senses. Texture, color, and natural elements such as wood, foliage, flower, stone and earth are all silently waiting in harmony to be observed and appreciated. This continuity and contrast begs to be interpreted, remembered and replicated in a small way through design. Not only can you observe a bit of the unexpected in the woods you can see a change in the elements from season to season. Designs cannot only preserve a moment in a season, they can illuminate a feeling or experience in the woods. “It leads me to see the evidence of the Creator. After considering all these elements my design reflects the inspiration discovered while on a walk in the woods.”
Artist Kristin Webster of Kristin Webster Art Studio finds the woods to be a sanctuary – a place to go where she always feels at home and in touch with herself and God. It is a place of renewal, meditation, and freshness. She is inspired by a walnut, a leaf, a branch, colors in the water, woods opening into meadows, moss, bird songs, crunchy leaves beneath her feet, the stillness and hush of the evening, the colors in a sunset over the water, the sounds of loons calling across a lake, the buzzing bees; all of these and countless more find their way into her paintings. In the words of C.S. Lewis, “We do not want merely to see beauty, though God knows even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words – to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become a part of it.” Kristin says, “This is one of the reasons I paint – to immerse myself more deeply in the beauty of nature.”
“A Walk in the Woods” continues throughout the month of May.
This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through an operating grant from the East Central Regional Arts Council, thanks to legislative appropriations from the Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.
