ONLINE: Karen Halt & Juliane Shibata

media release: media release: July 23-September 12, 2021, ACG presents An Extraordinary Beauty: Karen Halt and Juliane Shibata, Food and Craft: Group Show, in no. 5: Grounding Mechanisms by Mary Bergs.

Opening Reception Friday July 23, 5-9pm 

We will be hosting an in-person RSVP-only event on Friday July 23. We are not requiring those who have been vaccinated for COVID-19 to wear masks, but ask those who are not vaccinated to continue wearing a mask in the gallery. We will be continually assessing the local recommendations regarding health safety to determine how best to host the in-person reception. Please check our website for the most up to date information and to register for the event. Free RSVP tickets will be available for “purchase” on our website. 

Virtual Artist Talks:

Thursday, July 29, 5PM CDT – Karen Halt and Juliane Shibata

Thursday, August 5, 5PM CDT – Mary Bergs 

The online events will include: a video walk-through of the exhibition installed in the gallery, conversation with the artist about their work, and Q&A with the audience. Broadcast through Facebook live and available on our website, the recorded video will also be available to view after the reception has ended.

An Extraordinary Beauty: Karen Halt and Juliane Shibata  

Wisconsin based self-taught painter, Karen Halt, creates stunning scenes of surreal encounters between wild animals and domestic settings, exploring the boundaries of the natural and civilized worlds. Minnesota based ceramicist, Juliane Shibata’s work investigates the contrast between the transience of nature and the relative stability of fired ceramics, in beauty that can be both ephemeral and enduring. 

Food and Craft: Group Show

This show explores the relationship between food and contemporary craft within our society. American opinions of how food should travel from field to table is beginning to change and the idea of buying local seasonal foods has been embraced by people who are concerned about what we eat and how our food choices reflect our values as a culture. The same can be said about the objects we surround ourselves with for everyday use. Handmade objects reflect the importance we place on the individual craftsperson including the history and tradition brought to what they create. We want to promote and explore the importance artists play in promoting these shifting cultural views. Artists in this exhibition include Nick DeVries, Delores Fortuna, Maggie Jaszczak, Tom Jaszczak, Bruce Johnson, Joanne Kirkland, Glynnis Lessing, Sue Medaris, Reid Schoonover, Mark Skudlarek, Edward S. Wohl, Shumpei Yamaki, Barry Newstat, Brandon Norsted, Cate Richards, and Courtney Dodd. 

In no. 5: Grounding Mechanisms by Mary Bergs

Mary Bergs uses a variety of materials from nature and culture to create work that cultivates careful examination and appreciation of beauty found in everyday experience.  Using common materials and created images, her work forges a visual dialogue about abstraction and perception, employing formal elements and ambiguous constructs to create a tension between the familiar and the unexpected. Grounding Mechanisms examines the idea of place as it is created through the interaction of natural and social worlds and our own internal reference points.