Dreams In the Undergrowth reception

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Hanna Bruer

An artwork drawn from the exhibition "Dreams in the Undergrowth."

media release: Carnelian Art Gallery, located at 221 King St., Suite 102, in downtown Madison, is pleased to announce its second art exhibition of the year, titled "Dreams In the Undergrowth." The show, which starts on Thursday, May 1, will kick off with an opening reception at 5 p.m. on Friday, May 16, at the gallery and last through the end of June. As always, light refreshments will be served.

Opening night for Carnelian's show is also Gallery Night for the city of Madison. Organized by the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Gallery Night "offers art lovers and art novices alike an opportunity to enjoy a wide variety of exhibitions, opening receptions, special events and demonstrations at venues throughout the city. During Gallery Night, dozens of venues open their doors to invite the public in to see and shop for original artwork," according to MMoCA.

"Dreams In the Undergrowth" exhibiting artists include Hanna Bruer, Rick Ross, Karen Laudon, Erin Liljergen, Susan Kaye and Ray Zovar. They each specialize in either two- or three-dimensional abstract artworks, which focus overall on themes surrounding the subconscious, human emotions, nature and the environment.

This exhibition's opening reception will include a live painting session by Hanna Bruer. The session is set to commence at 6 p.m. on Friday, May 16, and last until 7:30 p.m. Bruer in her sessions converts a blank canvas into an active work of art, letting the bystander experience her creative process from start to finish.

Her paintings combine illegible text and grunge textures to create visceral atmospheres. They are inspired by her struggles with mental health. Bruer's canvas serves as a personal journal to create something beautiful out of adversity.

She has created paintings at venues like the Majestic Theatre and Memorial Union Terrace in Madison, as well as for MMoCA Gallery Nights. Her works and story have been featured in the Wisconsin State Journal, Madison Magazine, Isthmus, the Cap Times, as well as on NBC News.

"We are so excited to feature the works of these six talented artists in 'Dreams In the Undergrowth'," said Emilie Heidemann, Carnelian Art Gallery marketing director. "Each artwork invites the onlooker to entertain what lies beneath the surface of their conscious reality. There's something very powerful about that."

"This is a show you won't want to miss," said Evan Bradbury, the gallery's owner and head curator. "I'm so proud to have such talent adorn the walls of Carnelian Art Gallery."

More about the artists

Liljegren’s mixed media paintings and drawings investigate the deprivation of natural resources and the environmental consequences of over-consuming material goods. She creates tactile environments of colorful refuse that question human responsibility with light humor. For this reason, Liljegren often incorporates found and discarded objects in her work.

Laudon's recent work grows out of a natural evolution rooted in the human figure. Here, opposites coexist as dual parts of one whole, each holding the seed of the other within itself: birth and death, pain and release, growth and disintegration, expansion and contraction, attraction and repulsion. Abstraction allows difficult and paradoxical material to be experienced in a more sensory way, so that as by osmosis, it might seep into the mind. It allows for elements of intimacy, mystery, and the unknowable, which are at once comforting and disturbing.

Reflection of who Ross is as an artist keeps bringing him back to one word, evolution. He has always loved art. Ross drew and painted as a child, and as he got older, the transition into adulthood left him little time for creative expression. In his 30s, parenthood gave Ross the unexpected inspiration to return to art. Nature is his subject matter, whether literally interpreted through landscapes and still life or abstractly represented by the textures and depth of oil and cold wax medium.

Kaye’s sculptural ceramic wall pieces evoke the movement, rhythm and joy of water. Her work explores its calming power and the ways its force shapes stone, sand, and the living world within the water. The contours of her sculptures grow from her fascination with the dance of sea animals like feathered sea stars, the rippling motion and surprising beauty of sea slugs and the shape and movement of undulating sea plants or current-slicked river grasses. The glazes are the dappled blues, whites and greens of sunlight filtering through water and the iridescence of abalone.

Water has always influenced her art because it’s where she feels most safe and it remains a source of peace for her to receive nourishment and express her authentic self.

Zovar has always been fascinated by and worked with three-dimensional art. Along with creating free-standing and wall-mounted sculptures, much of his work over the last 30 years as an abstract artist has been comprised of oil and acrylic paintings with heavy impasto and strong three-dimensional multimedia canvases. He also specializes in mosaic furniture and water fountain pieces.