Solberg incorporates aspects of religious iconography, classical realism and her own unique style to create large scale mixed media paintings she refers to as “Everyday Icons.” These Icon portraits focus on a single character to capture fleeting moments of triumph, transition, struggle and enlightenment. Dogs leap for balls, squirrels clutch their prize candy corn, swimmers dive into a new reality, and children grapple with the consequences of authoritarian decisions.  Traditional portraiture takes on an ethereal interpretation with the incorporation of assorted media including plaster, collage, oil, acrylics, beeswax, metal leaf, tar, and glitter. Her innovative technique produces a highly textured masterful portrait with surprising depth and luminescence

Mary Catherine Solberg is a mixed media figurative painter who lives and works in Minneapolis, MN, but orginally is from La Crosse, WI; a mid-sized town centered in a much larger geological region known as the “Driftless Zone.” It is geologically and biologically unique in the world for having escaped the flattening effects of the glaciers during the last ice age. The result is a rich biology of deeply carved river valleys, bluffs, springs, and deep caves with underground waterfalls and craggy formations. The “Driftless Zone” is an awesome name for this remarkable land and the memories of her childhood spent there. The Driftless Zone literally and figuratively provides the background for her large-scale iconic portraits of women, girls and animals.

In the early 90s, Solberg took a leap of faith and went back to college for a degree in art. At that time, she was managing her Land Surveying Company as well as running an Art Gallery out of the historic 20,000 square foot, three story building she purchased and restored. She sold the survey business in 1998 and co-founded a company based on technology developed and patented by Mary and her brother Steve which converted paper based mathematical data into digital vectors. Graduating Suma Cum Laude with a focus on Art History and the Renaissance she began pursuing her desire to translate this knowledge onto a contemporary sensibility. In addition to her education, her Catholic upbringing also informs her current work. Sorting out the disturbing history and hypocrisy while honoring the positive, she was drawn to the art and the paradox. Her Artist Statement lists her influences as “the Masters, Religious Iconography, and Circus Sideshow Banners.” The “sideshow” part denotes a certain irreverence, as the huge banners heralded wonders within seldom realized behind the dark curtains.

The work consists of broad categories she continually cultivates combining classical methods with mixed-media techniques she developed through trial and error. In general, each piece is more a portrait of an emotion or mood than it is about portraying a specific figure. The Animal Portraits are based on the extensive photography left by her late brother, James Solberg, a naturalist, writer and patient photographer who captured the essence of small critters and insects by immersing himself in their world. The Swim Girls use the metaphor of water to explore transformation and change, the Icons celebrate and elevate everyday people and animals who she believes are worthy of veneration and Ephemera is a catch all group for whatever grabs her interest.

Solberg has participated in numerous Juried Art Shows receiving many honors and has done over a dozen solo exhibitions; most notably at the MN Marine Art Museum in Winona, MN, The Center for Visual Arts in Wausau, WI, and The Gallery at Le Meridien in downtown Minneapolis, MN. She has also been commissioned for a huge Public Art project to be unveiled in the Spring of 2020. She is a member of NEMAA (Northeast Minnesota Arts Association) and has a Studio in the Casket Arts Building in the NE Arts District of Minneapolis, MN. 

To Learn More:

www.marycatherinesolberg.com  
Instagram: Driftlessicons

Patti See’s articles, fiction and poetry have appeared in Brevity, Salon Magazine, The Wisconsin Academy Review, The Southwest Review, HipMama, Inside HigherEd and many other magazines, journals and anthologies. She is the co-editor (with Bruce Taylor) of Higher Learning: Reading and Writing About College and a poetry collection, Love’s Bluff.  Her award-winning blog “Our Long Goodbye: One Family’s Experiences with Alzheimer’s Disease” has been read in over 100 countries. 

She was also a frequent contributor to Wisconsin Life on Wisconsin Public Radio, and she currently writes a monthly column, “Sawdust Stories,” for the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram.

Her essay collection, “Here on Lake Hallie: In Praise of Barflies, Fix-It Guys, and Other Folks from Our Hometown,” is forthcoming from the Wisconsin Historical Society Press in 2022. 

Patti’s new collection of brief essays, “Here on Lake Hallie: In Praise of Barflies, Fix-It Guys, and Other Folks From Our Hometown,” is slated to be published in Spring 2022 by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press.   Patti lives on Lake Hallie, just outside Chippewa Falls. Her book’s chapters, many of which were originally published in the Sawdust Stories column of the Leader-Telegram, celebrate small-town life in the Chippewa Valley. From her childhood memories of supper clubs, thrift sales, and cribbage games, to the midlife concerns that accompany having a son in the military, a parent with Alzheimer’s, and a private onsite septic system, these are humorous and heartfelt essays about See’s love for her hometown and its people. 

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