Art faculty to exhibit ‘Artificial Order’ at Wartburg

The works of Upper Iowa University faculty and Fayette artists Elissa Wenthe and Laura Gleissner will be on display at Wartburg College’s Waldemar A. Schmidt Art Gallery beginning Monday, February 17.

“Artificial Order” focuses on the similarities between the architecture of interior, man-made works and the structural similarities that can be found in the natural world. The exhibit will run through March 29. An opening reception will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, February 21, with a gallery talk featuring both artists at 7 p.m.

Wenthe, UIU associate professor of art/McCosh professor of fine arts, is a botanical landscaper who portrays the appearance of different natural forms.

“My sculptural language is formed by surrounding landscapes and nature, engaging with themes of memories, identity and place,” Wenthe said. “I want my work to suspend one’s imagination into a different time or place creating works inspired by natural beauty and unknown forms.”

Gleissner, UIU assistant professor of art, is a painter with a concentration in oil and mixed media. An active member of Foundations in Art; Theory and Education (FATE), she also serves as gallery director of Bing-Davis Memorial Gallery at UIU’s Fayette Campus.

“Inspired by nightmares and waking up to unrecognizable shapes of light, my early work aimed to capture blurred compositions of light and form,” Gleissner said. “Playing with perception and visual distortion, often using gentle shifts of color throughout a composition, my new work still extrudes information of line, shape, texture and reflection from architectural references.”

The exhibit is free and open to the public. Located in the Bachman Fine Arts Center in Waverly, the Waldemar A. Schmidt Art Gallery is open daily from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.