A Museum Baby Grows in Wausau

Last week Monday, I peered into my office: the lights were out, a stack of mail was on my desk, the office chair was missing (not to worry, Eric Conklin used it during his residency at the Museum the week prior). Otherwise, my office looked the same.

Why would I find interest in these observations? You see, I haven’t sat at my desk for a while and the last time I did I was really uncomfortable. I’ve just returned to work after maternity leave.

Yep, there’s a new Museum baby. There have been a number of Woodson Art Museum “children” over the last 33 years, most of them human, others of the canine variety.

Even in my relatively short three + years at the Museum, I’ve seen these children accomplish a great deal – graduate from college and law school, get accepted into college, star in theater productions, enter the workforce, change jobs, learn to sit and fetch, and fill our lives with joy. No surprise, I’m happy my little one gets to join the ranks of this stellar group.

I think museum children are lucky. They benefit from the exhibitions on view, the artists that visit, and the many education programs (oh, and hello, can anyone say Art Park?). The great thing about being a museum kid in Wausau is your parents don’t even need to work at the Woodson Art Museum to benefit from such great opportunities, because they’re all available to the public and they’re mostly all free. Thinking of it that way, the Woodson Art Museum has a ton of kids! I’m excited for Blake to experience it all – from his first Toddler Tuesday to an Art Explorers program. Until then, he’ll just have to take it all in from Mom’s and Dad’s arms.

On the Mend

Most mornings at the Museum, conversations with colleagues include sharing our latest aches and pains. We’re approximately the same age so maladies are among the things we have in common in addition to work.

These daily airings helped me cope – perhaps also ignore! – the deterioration in my hip and the increasing pain. Pleas from family, friends, and colleagues finally made me face the reality that it was time to do something.

Reluctantly I returned to Dr. Mark Earll, whom I first visited in February 2008. He suggested at that meeting that I keep a diary of pain levels, movement issues, etc., ultimately to determine when I was having more bad days than good. I was there.

At 5:30 a.m. on Monday, January 5, a frigid cold morning, my husband and I trudged to the surgical center. Five hours later I awoke briefly, new hip in place. I remember nothing of that day. My sister and husband are still laughing about how I can talk with my eyes closed and make sense – who knew?

As for Dr. Earll and his staff, they are so talented, attentive to detail, and caring . . . an awesome team!

It’s now two-and-a-half weeks since the surgery. There is little-to-no pain in my hip. I walk and do physical therapy daily. Am I ready to climb a mountain or run a race? No! But I’m focused on returning to the Museum in about three weeks or so and before long getting back to aspects of my job that I have loved for years but recently had to depend on others for help.

I’m definitely on the mend. And that’s a good thing!

Artist in Residence . . . or Not?

Trompe-l’oeil painter Eric Conklin is such a master illusionist that cynics among us might question whether his presence in the Woodson Art Museum’s galleries this week is real.

Put skepticism aside. He’s here. For real. And there’s a lot going on.

To get the ball rolling, exhibitions curator Andy McGivern and facilities manager Joe Ruelle along with Eric created a temporary studio in the gallery. In addition to providing all the essentials – easel, palette, paints, etc. – that Eric requires, works-in-progress complete the space.

Students from Wausau’s Riverview Elementary and Thomas Jefferson Elementary Schools were the first to watch Eric at work. “How does he do it?,” they wondered to themselves and aloud. On an old-fashioned chalkboard – what those of us of a certain age grew up with, long before “smart” boards – students wrote their names. Eric then painted their names using his signature trompe-l’oeil or fool-the-eye technique.

While the surface Eric is working on looks like a chalkboard . . . it isn’t; it’s a specially prepared oak board that requires a series of coatings of various materials, including rabbit-skin glue and whiting chalk, to ready it for painting. And even though the names look as though they are written with chalk . . . they aren’t. Eric uses oil-based pigments that he grinds and mixes from scratch the old-fashioned way.

This residency provides a terrific, firsthand learning experience and it’s made possible by a Community Arts Grant from the Community Foundation of North Central Wisconsin with funds from the Wisconsin Arts Board and the B.A. & Esther Greenheck Foundation.

Eric’s visit is just beginning. He’s in residence at the Woodson Art Museum through Saturday, January 17. He’ll work with school groups during the day on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday; offer a family hands-on program Thursday evening, 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. (no sign-ups required . . . just come and try your hand at painting a trompe-l’oeil coin); talk with the community and demonstrate his work at a Friday evening reception, January 16, 5:30 – 7:00 p.m.; and demonstrate Saturday, January 17, 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.

The forecast is for arctic-cold temperatures this week, but it’s warm in the Woodson Art Museum’s galleries. If only the cold weather was an illusion. Since it, too, is real, immerse yourself in art illusions to help beat the winter blues.

Meet Me in Art Park

If I asked you to meet me on Friday in Art Park, would you know where to find me? If you have visited the Woodson Art Museum in the last seven years, you would know exactly where.

Art Park is an indoor family interactive area located in the lower level of the Museum. If you’ve been to Art Park, a whimsical place may come to mind filled with the reading hills, indoor trees, unfinished puzzles, bird costumes, puppets, felt fun, and many other things to discover.

I walk through Art Park on a daily basis to see who is exploring and what areas are used the most and I’ve discovered that play has no age limit. Observing families working together on a large magnetic puzzle or putting on a puppet play is great fun to see. The laughter and giggles erupting from Art Park tell me we’re doing something right. Children and adults are playing and exploring together.

What other places in our area or even statewide offer this type of experience at no cost. Yes, that’s right – free! There is no fee collected at the door of the Woodson Art Museum.

How truly lucky we are to have the Woodson Art Museum in our community. More often and in most other areas, especially larger communities, families would have to pay or be members to even visit a museum. At the Woodson Art Museum, admission for all is always free.

I’ve heard people refer to the Woodson Art Museum as the jewel of north central Wisconsin. I think of the Museum as a whole treasure chest waiting to be discovered; and for those who have found the Woodson already, their lives have been enriched.

Make plans to visit Art Park in 2009 and see for yourself how the visual arts can enrich your life and the lives of those you bring with you to the Woodson Art Museum.

Art Review at the Woodson

January 20 marks the ninth anniversary of the Woodson Art Museum’s monthly Curators’ Art Review. On each third Tuesday, curator Jane Weinke and I meet with people to discuss artworks they own and want to learn more about. The public is asked to call the Museum at 715-845-7010 to sign up for one of eight half-hour appointments beginning at 4:00 pm.

Over the years we have examined a wide variety of artwork including American and European paintings, a Japanese silkscreen, glass, pottery, embroidery, historic maps, bronze sculpture, photography, and works on paper. We aren’t always able to deliver the words that a collector wants to hear. . . that they own an important artwork.

On numerous occasions, framed works are brought in and believed to be paintings and we have to inform the owners that what they have are printed reproductions of paintings. Photo reproductions are easily identified using a 10X magnifying loop. Often these works are reproductions of important paintings by artists such as Picasso, Miro, Renoir, Pissarro, Whistler, and Maxfield Parrish.

Some of the original artwork making its way to the Museum has been quite interesting. In 2003 a woman brought in a painting by Frank Cyrsky, depicting a lake and shoreline in a pointillist style. Our research revealed that Cyrsky’s paintings could be found in the collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Miami University Art Museum, Miami, Ohio.

Another interesting painting was a Greco-Roman genre scene of a woman near a woods, a Roman column, and a cherub lying on a lion. It was the work of a Belgian artist, Joseph P. Coomans (1816-1889), who is known for intricately painted fictitious Greco-Roman scenes. I recently spoke to the owner of the painting and learned that it is still in her family.

Over the years Jane and I have met with and reviewed artwork for more than 235 people, many of whom are from the Wausau area. However, it’s interesting to note that almost half of the folks we’ve helped came from the 35 small and large communities that comprise north-central Wisconsin; one person even drove down from Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

If you’re curious about the artwork that you own, you can start by looking for the artist’s name and piecing together the history or provenance of the work. With the information you gather, search the internet using Google or try your local library for other references. Also check the websites listed below. These sites offer helpful information about artists and artworks; note that there is often a fee for searching on sites such as these.

Ask Art - Offers information on over 50,000 American artists including biographies, bodies of work, valuation and appraisal techniques, auction records, and publications.

Art Cyclopedia - A good site for biographies.

Art Fact - Includes over 500,000 international artists and more than 30 million auction price results.

Art Net - A source for researching photography, prints, works on paper, sculpture, and paintings.

Art Signatures - An innovative web-based art research and signature verification service.

Find Art Info - Includes information on over 250,000 artists, nearly 100,000 artist signatures, and has over 750,000 photos of artworks.