Shades of Crimson Exhibit

To view the full exhibit, please visit Roberta’s Art Gallery in the UC on the main level

Artists 

Ardent Art (Carole Glass, Judi Golombowski, Jeanne Cole Panka, Leah Robertson, RH Zondag)

Artist Bios:

Carole Glass

Carole grew up climbing trees, running through open fields and exploring country roads on her bicycle. These adventures resulted in an affinity for nature's colors, textures and shapes. At a young age the gift of a rangefinder camera (with manual focus and exposure settings) opened her eyes to creative composition and light effects. A senior class painting award led her to pursue art studies and creative photography work in her own darkroom. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in communication design from UW Milwaukee.

Her current acrylic paintings combine landscape and memory through expressive mark-making and layered color. Pastel and other tools carve echoes of forests, shorelines, architecture, and figures. Her main influences include Georgia O’Keefe, John Constable and Henri Matisse. Her work has been exhibited at the Wright Museum, Beloit, Wis and many other regional venues. Carole is a professional member of Wisconsin Visual Artists (WVA) and Momentum  artist group. 

Judith (Judi) Golombowski

Judi received her Masters of Fine Arts with honors from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. She is a former digital design lecturer for the art department at UW Parkside, where she was awarded an excellence in teaching award. Her specialty is the Adobe creative suite programs.

Judi has been creating visual works of art based on her observations of her world for as long as she can remember. Her photo collages are created by combining old portrait photos, nature scenes, structures, scanned images, along with color and patterns. The images are merged together creating surrealistic visual stories. Her photo collages have been exhibited nationally and she has received numerous awards for her work.

Jeanne Cole Panka

Jeanne decided at an early age that she wanted to be an artist. She attended the University of Wisconsin and the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee studying fine art. Jeanne graduated from UWM with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree with an emphasis in Graphic Arts. She also completed a certificate in Digital Photography from Waukesha County Technical College. Jeanne works in several media including soft pastels, colored pencil with watercolor, photography and collage. 

Jeanne’s inspiration comes from the natural world, its drama and beauty. Subjects include landscapes, flowers and plants, birds and the changing environment presented in a realistic style. 

Jeanne is a member of Wisconsin Visual Artists, Wisconsin Pastel Artists, Momentum artist group, and American Society of Botanical Artists

 

Leah Robertson

A creative and visual artist throughout her entire life, Leah was a teacher and art educator for high school students for much of her professional career. She has also taught students of all ages and abilities. Her teaching centered around adapting art so that individuals of all experience levels can explore the power of creativity. Leah has also been involved in the arts community as a volunteer and board member.

Within her own art, Leah uses a wide range of artistic techniques and mediums, often exploring the repurposing of materials, especially those found in nature or discarded items. In her work, she seeks to invite the viewer into the details of the composition, layer by layer, finding joy in the totality of the whole. Leah has exhibited in various shows throughout her artist journey.

RH Zondag

RH Zondag is a Wisconsin-based artist with a current focus on mixed-media, watercolor and acrylic as well as incorporating upcycling into his work. Having studied both the Chinese and Japanese art forms of printmaking and watercolor brush-technique, Zondag is on a quest to convey meaning through simplicity of form and use of color. 

RH Zondag’s works are found in private and corporate collections both locally and internationally.  He has participated in numerous exhibitions, including ten seasons at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design’s Open Canvas.  His work was presented in solo exhibitions, such as at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater’s Roberta Avonn Fiskum Art Gallery.  

Committed to fostering art and the creative economy in his community, the artist serves on the board of the Milwaukee Artist Resource Network (‘MARN’) as well as the Public Policy Strategy Work Group for Imagine MKE.  He is also treasurer of the Board of Directors of Edessa School of Fashion, an active member of Momentum, a group of dedicated local artists and a founding member of the Ardent Art collective.

 

Artist Statements

Carole Glass

While my earlier works as a landscape painter strived to capture the earth’s beauty, I have increasingly shifted to using my creativity as a form of commentary. This series of five contrasts beauty and disruption. Geometric shapes in shades of crimson seem to float in or pierce a naturalistic scene. They represent man-made substances which are often invisible yet potent. Throughout western history the hues of crimson have been used as a tool to convey warning, alarm and attention.

 

My process begins with researching and collecting language around my theme or inspiration. Journaling free thought around these words results in graphite sketches. I explore different palettes selecting colors as an active element. Then I approach the chosen substrate with sponges, sticks and my hands along with brushes. My intent is to draw the viewer in to reflect and consider.

Jeanne Cole Panka

The natural world surrounds us and we are a part of it. It can be beautiful and soothing and refresh our outlook on the tensions of our world. Sometimes we pay no attention and sometimes it demands our attention. The frequency and intensity of hurricanes, droughts, fires, pollution and contamination and loss of animal species calls us to pay attention.

A spectacular sunrise can be awe inspiring on its own but can also indicate dust pollution carried from afar due to poor farming practices. We are becoming aware of changes all around us. The lengthening of  seasons allow for insects and disease to cause damage in the trees in a forest. A lovely border of trees can hide devastation. Monoculture farming practices can rob our soil and cause a loss of beneficial insects. Water is life for all of us. We disrespect it and pollute it at our own peril.

Do we just accept these changes? Can we be introspective and proactive about what we and our leaders, with our urging, can do to minimize these changes and work in partnership with nature?

 

Judi Golombowski

Ever since I visited Salvador Dali's museum in Florida in my 20's I have been fascinated by surreal imagery. I was drawn to artists who could take familiar imagery and create strange, dreamlike, fantastical visual stories via unusual placement on the picture plane. My work combines multiple photographic images, colors, patterns and creates impossible situations through digital manipulation. I am a former UW-Parkside photoshop instructor with many years of training. I love working in the digital world and I am always learning something technically new. Each of my images contain many layers of content to create surreal enigmatic visual stories.

I was happy to work with the group's theme challenge of the word/color Crimson. The color Crimson is a combination of red with a touch of purple. Placing crimson along with purple blue creates a visual vibration on the picture plane that gains the viewer's attention. Each one of my works uses this color combination in some form. Color is an important element that supports a contextual mood for my visual stories. The content of my pieces varies. I hope the viewer just enjoys the visual arrangements and mystery behind them.

 

Leah Robertson

Having a group theme or prompt is helpful to begin a series of artworks; acting as a supporting understructure, a genesis of sorts for visual, emotional and sometimes social possibilities.  To begin I typically grab Merriam-Webster to generate some ideas.  In this case, Merriam said Crimson could be any of several deep purplish reds, while synonyms ranged from, blush, flush, glow, and redden. Next, I often investigate, symbolism, mythology, and/or past to contemporary artists, and additionally, in this case, consequential links perpetrated by humans upon our natural and global environment.   

The next step getting to the work here today, I proceeded with a intuitive approach using mainly wet-into-wet watercolor, responding emotionally to Merriam’s description (above) utilizing the power and angst the color often implies to create ethereal images to symbolize the unnatural shift of weather changes around the world, to evoke closer observation, questioning or “Stirrings”.  The second round of paintings presented as landscapes (wet-into-wet watercolor) are leaning into the idea of loss, especially something precious - irreplaceable.  Asking the question, have we gone “Too Far”? 

RH Zondag

In preparation for Shades of Crimson: A Changing Environment, I deliberately chose only upcycled, vintage, or discarded materials to assemble my collages. This includes the frames and mats.

The vintage and found papers that serve as the foundation for each piece have been printed using a monoprint technique. What is monoprinting? Monoprinting is a fine art printing technique that uses a sheet of glass, or in my case a gelli plate, to transfer a unique image onto the sheet of paper. No two monoprints are alike, and the design created can only be used once ('mono' = single).

Once I have completed a series of monoprints, I then reflect upon each to find a foundational piece upon which to build a collage. I then cut out, size, or dye cut shapes to hand stitch into a collage.

We are living in a rapidly changing world that confronts us visually and audibly, often violently, daily. We are left to sift through these disruptive layers; socially and politically as well as environmentally and economically. In my work I have consciously layered the paper, fabric, tags, ribbon, and natural materials to represent this impact on myself and the greater community.