September 8, 1999
Water, water(colors), everywhere
Traverse Area Arts Council and Gallery exhibit highlights watercolor paintings
Carol South
Herald contributing writer
From Van Gogh and the grim reaper to vineyards with cherry trees and dandelions, the Waterworks show at the Traverse Area Arts Council and Gallery highlighted 35 watercolor paintings by 28 area artists.
One of a monthly series of art shows scheduled between now and the end of the years, Waterworks entries this juried show ranged from whimsy to surreal, abstract to concrete. With more than 90 entries vying for a space on the walls, being accepted in the show is a charge for the artists and a validation by their peers that their work has merit.
"Shows like this give people an opportunity to exhibit their work and get an idea of how they are doing when it is judged by someone out of the area," said Sally Mitchell, a volunteer with the Traverse Area Arts Council and an artist who won third place for her Old Farm in Benzie County painting.
"It is hard to even get a piece in a show like this and I am always surprised to win."
Openings like this one attract members of the close-knit artists as well as the public. The artists come to check out other people's work, examining technique, style and getting ideas for their own studios.
"I love looking at any kind of art," said Richard Asher, a painter who lives in East Bay Township. "I have a tendency to compare how I'm doing to others, but it does give you an idea of where you are."
A native of New York City, Asher has lived, worked and painted around the country. Calling himself a serious artist for the past three years, Asher's entry, Dandelion Wine, featured a vineyard carpeted with dandelions with blooming cherry trees in the background. A studio painter, he worked from a photograph he took at Chateau Chantal in the spring and then captured a classic northwest Michigan scene in 10-20 hours of painting.
"This area is very inspiring artistically," said Asher, who also works as an art teacher in the area. "I have been up here two years and have been done more work than in the last decade. It might have something to do with loving the place, loving the town."
With a painting in her third show, artist Kathy Lienau has lived in the area for 30 years, painting it for half that time. She tries to paint every day and has learned over the years to paint what she knows best.
"For years, I wanted to go to Paris and paint Monet's garden," she recalled. "Then a friend noted that his garden was just a garden until he painted it. He told me to just relax and paint what I see, even if it is just a dandelion in the backyard."
One of the things Lienau knows best are lighthouses and they have turned into one of her favorite subjects. Growing up in Door County, Wis., Lienau's father was a shipbuilder who made, among other things, the Luddington car ferry. Every weekend, he would take his family on a tour of lighthouses lining the Great Lakes and Lienau has now set out to capture these scenes in watercolors. She travels to lighthouses around Lake Michigan and sketches on location and takes photographs, bringing them home to her studio in her city home to paint.
"Watercolors are my favorite," said Lienau, who works in the records department of a local engineering company. "I also do experimental work and they are really wild, but these are gentle watercolors because I'm not out to make a statement with them."