Volume One: Artists Come Home

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annual juried show draws more than 200 works by regional artists

written by: Barbara Arnold

A broad expanse of artistic genres is shared in HOMECOMING: The Confluence of Art Annual Exhibition at the Pablo Center’s James W. Hansen Galley now through Nov. 3. Fifty-three of the 203 works of art submitted by 75 artists in our region were chosen for the exhibit by juror Yooshin Park, a Chicago-based artist whose own work will be on display at the Hansen Gallery beginning in January. 

The Confluence of Art’s Best of Show award went to Eau Claire artist Barbara Shafer’s Lily in Two Poses, an acrylic painting of dancer/model Lily across the “streams of light” in the mirrors of the Dancer’s Studio in Banbury Place. 

First Place Steve Terwilliger’s Dunnage #3 Mondegren is the third in a series of sculptural photography displays incorporated with a visual/auditory puzzle. The artist will donate $100 to Bolton Refuge House in Eau Claire on behalf of anyone who solves the puzzle. 

Second Place went to Janice Roberts’ Borrowed Bloom of a spent magnolia tree seedpod created in ink and coffee. Third Place Scott Von Holzen’s The Blue Danube is an interactive constructed sculpture. With the push of a button, visitors hear the familiar waltz of Johann Strauss II while looking at the artist’s interpretation of its sheet music. 

Honorable Mentions for the show include Mary Hermanson’s Piece and Joy, a fiber art/pieced fabric/quilted design of 275 pieces of red and purple fabric carefully crafted into a mandala; Karen Scarseth’s Never Enough Red, a mixed media woven 3D sculpture; Ken Krautbauer’s Head on #2, a photographic digital image influenced by Japanese Wabi-Sabi, the acceptance of imperfection; Jeannie Roberts’ Abstract Stone Series: Verde, mixed media showing the color green in rock strata; Jeff Bucklew’s Untitled #18 purposefully shot in black-and-white to focus on the architecture without the distraction of color, and Kay Geraghty’s Beauty Without Vanity, amazingly done in 20-20 encaustic wax.

The art galleries at the Pablo Center at the Confluence, 128 Graham Ave., are free and open to the public 10am-4pm Monday-Friday and 10am-2pm Saturday as well as two hours before events.