A Sense of Being

Local Artists featured at this show:
Michelle Combs, painting
Mary Meuwissen, oil/wax painting & mixed media
Christine Tierney, oil and pastels
Kathy Fox Weinberg, painting
Opening Reception only: Chuck Solberg, pottery; Paul Amble, pottery

The Mill City. Residents celebrate our area’s industrial heritage of the mighty Mississippi River and the mills. Today, what we see are the most recognizable Minneapolis landmarks. However, this is only part of the story. Rail lines were key to Minneapolis’ growth, and were particularly integral to the Mill District, bringing in wheat and timber and shipping out flour and lumber. We also honor the history of the mills, the reason for the rail yard’s existence.  The Mill Yard aims to be both a gathering place for art and artists and a conduit by which art can be shared with and disseminated into the wider community. 

ARTIST DETAILS:

Michelle Combs
Michele Combs is a contemporary impressionist oil painter. Her inspiration comes from her natural surroundings, embracing the mood or excitement of the space, noting the shadows, the direction of light and the reflecting colors. Michele’s preferred subject is landscapes. She was in her thirties when she took her first painting class and went on to train at the Minnesota River School of Fine Arts. Now a full-time artist, painting instructor and lifelong student. “My visual language is the celebration of what I find beautiful in our world. I paint scenes of the Twin Cities, greater Minnesota, and beyond.”
Website: www.michelecombs.com
Instagram: michelecombsart

Mary Meuwissen
Mary Meuwissen works in oil and cold wax as well as mixed media. Creating her abstract art she takes traditional visual elements and reduces them to the simplest form and shape illuminating an emotional context. Cold wax allows Mary to layer paint, add and subtract marks and textures, and to develop the composition enhancing the small nuances to reflect a sense of energy, joy and surprise. Her mixed media pieces start with papers that she previously painted. She can manipulate the pieces until the composition comes together and then elect to apply a variety of media, such as house paints, acrylics and varnish to these pieces, giving them a much different look than the oil/cold wax paintings. Mary has an art education degree and started painting full-time in 2013.
Website: www.marymeuwissen.com

Christine Tierney
Following a career in advertising Christine Tierney studied classical painting in the methods of the old masters. Her realistic oil and pastel canvases capture an intimate and emotional representation regardless the genre; still-life, portrait or landscape. Christine enjoys plein air work and she is an avid drawer. She is a member of the Pastel Society of America and Minnesota Artists Association. Currently serving as President of Old Town Artists, she is a past President of the Lake Country Pastel Society, and Outdoor Painters of Minnesota.
Website: www.christinetierney.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChristineTierneyStudio/

Kathy Fox Weinberg
Initially, Kathy Fox Weinberg strived to master the ‘how’ of painting, the craft. That was 2012. Then her artistic journey became the ‘why’. She soon realized her commitment was to being a witness and steward of the natural world. Capturing and preserving on canvas the places destined to disappear. Now the experience for her is everything. Having mastered the ‘how’, understanding the ‘why’, she responds to the experience personally. “With techniques becoming automatic, I channel my energy into observation and response, capturing the beauty that enthralls me. I hope viewers will share in these moments and engage in conversations that give voice to the voiceless.“
Website: www.kfoxart.com

Chuck Soderberg
Chuck Solberg is a nationally recognized potter working in stoneware and porcelain. He works on the potter’s wheel throwing tableware and large sculptural bowls and vases. His large pieces are constructed from separately thrown sections then joined and seamed. In his functional and sculptural works his goal is to retain and accent the inherent spontaneity and beauty he discovers in the clay. The imperfections and asymmetry in organic materials are reflected in his hand-made pieces. “I work to keep an element of surprise in my ceramic pieces - the sense of the spontaneity that I find in wet clay while I am working with it.” Most of his work is fired in a wood-fueled anagama kiln which results in unexpected patterns that enrich the surfaces of the pieces.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Chuck-Solberg-Pottery-100064728948522/

Paul Amble
Vision. Artistry. Precision. Long before Paul Amble returned to the potter’s wheel five years ago, he had already developed the qualities he now brings to his art. Just as he practiced dentistry for 40 years with care, creativity and skill, Paul approaches his work in the studio with a keen sense of form, translating his vision through his hands to bring shape to the pot. In the process, artistic adaptations ultimately yield the clay and a vessel comes to life. A mentoring, collaborative partnership with renowned potter Chuck Solberg, has provided Paul with a noteworthy foundation, one that has brought him to a deepening sense of his own unique designs.

Image: Left - Michelle Combs Art, Right - Christine Tierney, True Blue