Door County Art: UU Gallery Soirsce Kastner’s Artwork

A youthful and inquisitively talented artist, Soirsce Kastner credits Carol Sills for awakening her to reflective painting through “story telling.” At the age of eleven she enrolled in a Sills class at the Peninsula Art School. The assignment was to “hear a folk story and then paint an artistic impression.” From this early introduction to the concept of narrative painting, Kastner continued to advance her knowledge and experience, taking adult-level painting and drawing classes there for several years.

As a home-schooled student, she had the opportunity to pursue and complete three years of formal, studio training at the Kewaunee Academy of Fine Art beginning in 2005. Over the course of her study she eventually lived and worked in Kewaunee as a full-time art student, focusing on representational painting under the direction of her well-known and accomplished mentor, Door County artist, Craig Blietz.

“I’ve always enjoyed drawing people and figures,” she explains, “especially in capturing their emotional energy.” She uses oils exclusively and paints in a style she describes as “impressionistic realism,” confirming that she “has been highly influenced by several Russian and Chinese figurative painters, as well as by the works of J.W. Waterhouse, John Singer-Sargent and my mentor, Craig Blietz.”

Recently, she added the Scandinavian mythological goddess, Idunn, to her canvas iconography and plans to include specific paintings of her in an upcoming October solo exhibition of her works at the Unitarian Universalist Gallery in Ephraim.

The public is invited to see an extensive collection of her work and attend an opening reception on Sunday, October 5 at the UU Gallery following services from 11 am – 12:30 pm. The gallery, located at 10341 Hwy. 42 in Ephraim, is open Mondays from 1 – 3 pm and on Sundays after services,.

For more information about the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship visit UUFDC.org. To learn more about upcoming shows or exhibiting art work, please call 920.839.2606.