Connie Cronenwett
Land and Sky
The reception that was scheduled for Friday March 20 is postponed, but the art is here! Due to COVID-19 the gallery will be closed at least through the end of March. Please check our Facebook page or this website for updates due to COVID-19.
While we are closed, we are also posting a series of videos on our blog of the current work in the gallery narrated by gallery member Valerie Mann, as well as Valerie talking to Connie about her work and her process.
Tree Shadows on Barn, Riker Road : pastel, 18”h x 19”w : by Connie Cronenwett
Selected work
Artist Statement:
Land and Sky
You will see that this show explores three different subjects. They vary from my favorite subject of Michigan lakes, to a series of colorful barns, to skies.
The triptych of Crooked Lake - Perhaps you know a lake such as this? is an example of why I love pastels; texture, modulated color, evoking mood and place.
Both landscapes and lakescapes tend to be somewhat limited in color so I had a good time playing with the classic barn shape, experimenting with color. Magenta over red, blue against an orange sky, reds against a turquoise sky. The small barn shapes were especially freeing that way. Pastels are wonderful for layering rich areas of color, letting the bottom layers of color come through.
Barns played a big part in my childhood. As a child, I loved the capacious interior of my gramma's barn - the sunlight shafts illuminating motes of hay, scents of alfalfa and straw mingling with ineffable smells of machinery and sun baked wood. Later, my family moved to my grandparents farm, and we had horses. That was a wonderful time. The barn was a natural part of daily life.
The sky series came about because I longed for images that would lift us up out of this fraught time we find ourselves living in. When we're up north, the sky is an ever present spectacle, especially near sunset. These pastels were challenging. The changing shapes of clouds meant that the edges and forms needed to suggest the sense of movement that we experience in nature.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope you'll have a chance to visit WSG Gallery, or if you're walking by, stop and take a look through the windows until we open again.
— Connie Cronenwett, March 2020
Selected work by other artists showing in this exhibition:
Selected work from our WSG owner/artists, and the following visiting artists:
Ruthanne Baker, Helen Gotlib, Martha Rock Keller, Ian Nagy, Yvonne Pappas, Maria Ruggiero, John Shultz
And a hearty welcome to our newest addition to our WSG owner/artist team, Sarah Innes!!
