The Beauty of Pink

The Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure made its Wausau debut on Sunday under the auspices of the Komen Central Wisconsin Affiliate.

I was proud to be among the 2,200+ runners and walkers for the 5K race that began in front of the Grand Theater on Fourth Street and concluded under a picture-perfect arch of pink balloons on Scott Street.

The weather was ideal – not too hot and not at all chilly. It was what we in Central Wisconsin like to call “a recruiting day” – not a cloud in the sky or a whiff of humidity.

The organization of the race was perfect, too. Kudos to the Komen Central Wisconsin Affiliate Board, local organizing team, and the dozens of volunteers who ensured that everything went off as planned. And, that the race raised more than $200,000 for breast cancer research is phenomenal.

As I waited with my walking partners for the race to get underway, I was in awe of the shades of pink everywhere. From the various official Race for the Cure shirts and signage – identifying survivors, participants, and sponsors – to the array of custom team-wear (including once-upon-a-time prom dresses!) and accessories ranging from hats to socks and pins to beads, pink – there were even pink dumpsters – was most certainly the color du jour!

This time of year, it’s no surprise that most of my waking hours are spent focused on one Birds in Art detail or another. And so while walking, talking, and taking in the sea of pink, my thoughts turned to pink birds. Flamingos and roseate spoonbills are favorites of artists and birdwatchers. These lanky birds sport not only delicious pink shades but also curvaceous shapes and contorted poses.

For a brief moment as my walking partners and I made our way along the race route, I imagined us as elegant flamingos. Ah, the beauty of pink!

Note: The flamingos are courtesy of Marion Kardasz. Her artwork, Standing Room Only, is included in the 2010 Birds in Art exhibition, on view at the Woodson Art Museum, September 11 through November 14.

It’s a Bird, it’s a Plane, it’s Super Toddler!

The sculpture garden morphed into a superheroes’ lair during the Woodson Art Museum’s August Toddler Tuesday program. More than 165 children ages two to four donned masks, capes, and wrist bands that they made themselves.

Superheroes were everywhere you looked, convinced they could fly and leap tall buildings in a single bound. While a few led parents on a good chase, none got away.

What a delight to give a young child the chance to make his or her own costume, play dress up, and see where it leads. One little guy wore his cape, mask, and wrist bands throughout the Tom Pease concert in the garden Tuesday evening.


The superhero theme stemmed from I Wanna Draw Comics When I Grow Up, an exhibition of comic-book artist Tim Seeley’s villains and heroes, on view through August 29.

During Toddler Tuesday each month, little ones and accompanying adults visit six art-making stations, a storytelling area, and a snack table. The theme usually correlates with a current exhibition and connects all the stations, stories, and sometimes the snack. This month, children had the opportunity to take home a superhero cape, mask, wrist bands, stick-on emblem for the cape, and stamped and painted word balloons.

It was great fun!

See for yourself by checking out the WSAW-TV 7 website at http://www.wsaw.com/home/headlines/100942079.html. Diane Normand, of Channel 7, covered the event and even captured commentary from a few of the young superheroes.

Sometimes you need to be part of the fun to get the full picture. If you missed the August Toddler Tuesday, don’t worry. You can drop by next month on Tuesday, September 21, 10:30-Noon, for a fun-filled, bird-themed event, that coincides with the 35th anniversary of the Museum and the Birds in Art exhibition.

Feathering the Nest for Birds in Art 2010

August is nearly half over and summer is beginning to wane. “Back to School” sales are ramping up and my wife and I are disappointed to hear fewer backyard birds singing in the morning. Although songbirds migrate early, we are seeing a dramatic increase in bird sightings at the Woodson Art Museum.

The migration of artwork for the 2010 Birds in Art exhibition is nearly complete. Over the past few weeks, I’ve unpacked drawings, paintings, and sculptures as we prepare them for installation and our opening on September 11. Birds in Art celebrates its 35th anniversary this year, and the artists have offered some outstanding work in honor of this momentous occasion.

Many of our old friends are back and, as typical of past exhibitions, lots of new artists have entered the fold, adding to the diversity of artistic styles. Among the new artists is Debbie Stevens of Cypress, Texas. Her 36 by 48-inch oil painting features a pair of red-crowned cranes, wading through a stream with multicolored reflections that invite the eye to dance across the plane of the painting.

Manisha Padhye of Pune, Maharastra, India, is included for the first time in Birds in Art with a wonderful watercolor of an Asian paradise-flycatcher. With its long white tail feathers, the bird is shown perching among branches, a perfect opportunity for the artist to show her mastery of thin transparent washes.

Craig Kosak of Seattle, Washington, is another newcomer. His 30 by 50-inch oil on canvas offers a graphic presentation of two ravens standing on a black platform, each holding a string with a plumb bob. A background of white billowing clouds is intersected by straight lines, planes, and bands of color along the edges.

Artworks by new artists and old friends abound in this year’s Birds in Art exhibition. As fall progresses and our feathered friends migrate to warmer weather, it’s comforting to know that all I have to do is step into the galleries to see inspirational artworks and birds, too!

Hard Work and Serendipity Bring Sweet Rewards

During the four short weeks that I’ve worked at the Woodson Art Museum, I marvel daily at the bit of serendipity that brought me here. Each day that I drive up the Franklin Street hill toward the Museum, I’m thankful for the job and for such a stunningly gorgeous place to come to work.

The sculpture garden and grounds are lush with almost tropical beauty, given the copious amounts of rain, sunshine, and humidity that have made the flowers and plants thrive. And the place has a serene and elegant feel – both inside and out.

What I have begun to understand, though, is a measure of the effort that goes into creating a seamless, dreamlike, and often lively and fun-filled, experience for each visitor who comes through the door, visits the Museum’s website, or follows our Facebook and Twitter posts.

Director Kathy Foley offered, at a recent staff meeting, the analogy of a swimming duck – seeming to glide effortlessly while paddling feverishly below the surface. Given that this year both the Museum and its signature exhibition, Birds in Art, are celebrating their 35th anniversaries, this is a place where references to birds abound. So the swimming duck analogy is an apt one. (Although, I have to admit; I see more of a swan.)

When I tell people that I got the job just a month after graduating from Northcentral Technical College, it all sounds so very easy. But the truth is, it wasn’t.

I, too, was paddling furiously – to finish a two-year associate’s degree in eighteen months (thanks to my bachelor-degree credits that transferred) so that I’d be finished before our oldest son’s tuition bills started pouring in. I was churning away, trying to finish a search engine optimization internship at Eastbay. And I was scurrying about trying to prepare for our oldest son’s high school graduation and week-long visits from both sets of his grandparents.

In the end, however, the rewards usually far outweigh the effort required. Where Birds in Art is concerned, the community certainly reaps untold benefits. My family and I have soaked up the exhibition for each of the three years we’ve lived in Wausau. So I know the rewards for visitors are many, varied, and rich.

Preparations for this year’s Birds in Art exhibition began long before I joined the staff this summer; it’s a year-round effort. But helping edit the gorgeous 132-page catalogue, the preview invitation and the events calendar will mean I experience an even deeper appreciation of the 118 artworks this year.

As always, rewards stem from hard work with a splash of serendipity on the side.