We arrived at the Museum of Wisconsin Art in West Bend when it opened so we could enjoy the Tom Uttech retrospective, "Into the Woods," almost by ourselves. We spent a couple of hours engrossed in his work and then walked over the river to a local pub for a delicious lunch. The museum has a handout with a list of nearby restaurants which is a very nice gesture for patrons like us who are unfamiliar with the area.
We came back for a last look at Uttech's exhibit after lunch and discovered four different groups of students with docents and museum staff talking to them about their surroundings. The work on the left (just out of the photo frame) is by John Steuart Curry, the nation’s first university artist-in-residence. A Kansas farm boy who studied abroad, Curry was hired by the UW-Madison College of Agricultural — not the Art Department — as someone who could forge a bond between the University and Wisconsin's farmers. Alas, I am unsure if the painting the kids are looking at is by Curry as well.
This group was enthralled by the huge glass creation, "InEarth" by Beth Lipman. We first saw her work a number of years ago in Milwaukee and were just as taken with it as the kids.
According to the museum's web site, this is Tom Uttech's "first full-career retrospective that will include never before seen early paintings and drawings as well as a number of his large-scale migration series paintings from the last decade." We spent most of our return trip to MOWA looking at Uttech's photographs.
The images we saw are part of a gift of two hundred photos that Uttech gave to the museum. They show the Canadian wilderness area known as the Quetico Provincial Park, part of the Superior National Forest. Mark had me stand in front of the photos (below) to give a sense of how large some were.
The group of images I am looking at was titled "Erratic Faces," which I consider a play on words as the boulders are glacial erratics. In terms of geology, "erratic" means that they were moved via the glacier from their original location and are not native to the area where they are found — which also explains why they are just sitting on top of the ground.
Every photo was mesmerizing, filled with massive lichen-covered rocks, moss, trees of all types and conditions. This is titled "Nawakwa Ajibik", 1981.
"Rock," 1983, oil on canvas, 50 x 54 inches.
You can see more of Tom Uttech's paintings at the Alexandre Gallery.
Wow, love that last painting. This sounds like something I would enjoy seeing.
Posted by: Lisa at Greenbow | Monday, November 25, 2019 at 01:40 PM
Much as I prefer to tour museums (and most everywhere else) without small children underfoot, it's wonderful to see them displaying an appreciation for art.
Posted by: Kris P | Monday, November 25, 2019 at 06:15 PM