The James Watrous Gallery is a place to explore and learn about art from Wisconsin. Our focus is sharing the work of Wisconsin artists past and present and investigating ideas at the intersection of the sciences, arts, and letters. Solo exhibits present a significant body of artwork by a single artist, while our curated shows often draw connections between art and other disciplines. We strive to create a welcoming environment that encourages engagement and inquiry.
Join us for the FREE Artist Reception for Helen Hawley and Gabe Pionkowski FRI, SEP 13 from 6 PM to 8 PM.
Helen Hawley: The Blues of the Rain
FRI, SEP 13 – SUN, NOV 3, 2019
“The books, sculpture, and paintings in my exhibit pose questions that are as poetic as they are ecological. They are about the flow of water, the ground we walk on, and our sense of the fleeting moment. My projects map potential relationships between ourselves and the world at large. I am wondering what it means to have a place in the world, especially relative to our environment. Many of the pieces are process-oriented, emphasize transience, and give special consideration to mark-making. One project, for example, uses participation from the rain to create a kind of meteorological journal.
“I am interested in how rainfall, which makes a global impact, also makes us feel so much. Just as feelings are immeasurable, so is the ebb and flow of water, even as we quantify it and count it among our greatest resources.”
Gabriel Pionkowski: Touching—Self—Touching
FRI, SEP 13 – SUN, NOV 3, 2019
This collection of works directly addresses the subjectile, the idea that a painting’s subject is inextricable from its physical ground or support. Pionkowski constructs his paintings through a laborious process of repetitively deconstructing, hand-painting, and reconstructing canvas using multiple weaving processes. Within the dense, colorful weave, loose brushstrokes delineate flora and languid, desirous, solitary figures. These canvas works can be understood as an erotic dance of warp and weft, alternating exposure and withdrawal. They reflect Pionkowski’s hypothesis that to touch something or someone is always a form of self-touching.
Free and open to the public, the James Watrous Gallery is located on Overture Center’s third floor. Gallery hours are noon-5pm Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday and noon-8pm on Friday and Saturday, or by appointment.
The Watrous Gallery is a program of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters, which improves life in Wisconsin through programs that explore, explain, and sustain Wisconsin thought and culture. For more information on James Watrous Gallery exhibitions and Wisconsin Academy Talks, a regular lecture series in Overture Center for the Arts, click here.
Galleries
Questions?
Contact Exhibitions Coordinator Bethany Jurewicz
bjurewicz@wisconsinacademy.org
608.265.2500
