Announcing Our 2018 Visual Arts Exhibition Series

The Visual Arts Exhibition Series showcases the works of Minnesota artists at all career stages. Exhibits are intended to inspire curiosity and wonder through the presentation of a variety materials and ideas, reflecting a diverse selection of artistic voices.

The 2018 Season includes….

Robert Mattson (New London, MN) A painter and retired art instructor from Ridgewater College in Willmar, Robert maintains an active studio practice in New London. His hand-crafted flies were featured in our 2017 exhibit, The Art of Fishing. For his solo show in January, Robert will be presenting recent paintings. Mattson’s career as an artist spans over 50 years and includes countless regional and national exhibits including at the Walker Art Center.

In February the Center introduces a new exhibit, The Community Salon. Hutchinson area artists, makers, crafters, and creatives will be invited to share and connect through a community showcase exhibition and celebration. The exhibit call will be open to those 17 and older working creatively in all mediums – visual arts, literary arts, crafts, performance, spoken word, and music. We want to celebrate your creativity. Stay tuned for information on how you can be involved.

The Annual Youth Art Exhibit is a community favorite and the Center is proud to host this event every May. The Youth Art Exhibit features the artworks of students from Hutchinson Public, Charter, and Private Schools, as well as home school children.

The June exhibit brings together three distinct artistic voices exploring themes of ecology and nature: Printmaker Laura Corcoran (St. Paul, MN), encaustic painter Tammi Joy Parsons (Spicer, MN), and contemporary quilter Sharon Rotz (Litchfield, MN). Audiences will be captivated by the richness and mastery of how each artist uses her material to stitch, draw, and paint compelling stories of human connection to the natural world.

Stephanie Frey (St. Paul, MN) is an illustrator and educator. Her illustrations highlight the ordinary moments of her day to day life. Viewers will see themselves and their own lives as she draws attention to the importance of acknowledging simple daily interactions and internal thoughts. Stephanie’s artwork has been included in Design Mom, Cordella Magazine, Illozine, Graze Magazine, Murphy Square Quarterly and others.

Samuel Johnson (St. Joseph, MN) and Elaine Rutherford (Golden Valley, MN) are both art professors with the College of St. Benedict/Saint John’s University. Elaine, known as a painter, has begun working in porcelain sculpture while Johnson, a potter, has started to make drawings.

Both artists are working in new and unfamiliar media to explore their interests from another point of view while making unexpected discoveries about themselves and their work as a result of working in relationship to a new medium.Their exhibition will include both new and established works from each artist.

Rounding out the 2018 season will be an exhibit by sculptor Jason Ramey (Morris, MN). Jason is a recent recipient of a Jerome Foundation Emerging Artist grant and a 2012 International Sculpture Award via the International Sculpture Center and Sculpture magazine.

His December show will incorporate his recent use of 3D printing in combination with continuing investigations of debris and architectural oddities collected from abandoned and “rehabbed” homes.

We look forward to sharing this dynamic season of visual arts programming. Each exhibit includes a public reception for the artists(dates TBA) and offers the public a wonderful opportunity to meet and connect with these exciting Minnesota artists.