Navigation

Opening Reception for Edgewood Orchard Galleries’ Exhibit III

“Shadow Line” by Craig Blietz.

Edgewood Orchard Galleries will be hosting a reception for the opening of its third exhibit of the season on Saturday, July 17, 4 – 7 pm. Wine and hors d’oeuvres will be served in the gallery courtyard, and the public is welcome.

Edgewood Orchard’s Exhibit III, running through August 17, will feature the artwork of painters Craig Blietz, William A. Suys, Jr. and Kristine Martineau Gellerman, jeweler Marcia McDonough, married glass artists Shawn Messenger and Jack Schmidt and steel furniture maker Jim Rose. All seven featured artists will be at the opening reception, and they will give short talks about their artwork at 5 pm in the gallery courtyard.

Craig Blietz’s oil paintings will be presented on the main floor of the Edgewood Orchard’s restored fruit barn. Blietz explained that the inspiration for his show, which he titled “Rural,” came from the environment he lives in.

“It’s the things I see and the places I drive past,” said Blietz. “Simply stated, the world that surrounds me.” The paintings include a collection of still lives and cow paintings, including the award winning “Pastoral Dreaming.”

On the main floor of the fruit barn will also be the work of award winning painter William A. Suys, Jr. from Cedarburg, Wis. In addition to being an invited artist in next week’s Door County Plein Air Festival run by the Peninsula School of Art, several weeks ago Suys participated in the Cedarburg Plein Air Festival and was awarded “Best in Show” for his quick-paint entry and also a “People’s Choice” award for another entry.

“Stone” by Jack Schmidt.

Suys describes his work as “Classical Realism,” and has stated that his paintings “reflect a sense of humor and simple abundance.” Suys will do a painting demonstration in the Edgewood Orchard courtyard on Sunday, July 18, 1 – 3 pm.

The third painter featured in Exhibit III is a very talented artist that is known for the unbelievable detail that she achieves with her chosen medium of pastel. A collection of paintings by Kristine Martineau Gellerman will be shown in “The Little Gallery” at Edgewood Orchard for this exhibit.

The featured jeweler for the gallery’s third exhibit is Seattle-based jeweler Marcia McDonough. Inspired by the birth of her two sons, McDonough’s love of antique jewelry and modern design culminated in her creation of Mack & Bancker, her own jewelry collection. She says, “I followed my passion and made some prototypes of a few little inventive ideas I’d been thinking about during those crazy sleepless hours.”

The glasswork of husband and wife artists Jack Schmidt and Shawn Messenger from Toledo, Ohio will also be featured in Exhibit III. While they may share studio space, the glasswork that they each create is quite different. Schmidt’s works, which typically are sculptural fabrications of glass, metal and stone, can be found in public and private collections throughout the country, including the Smithsonian Institution and the Corning Museum of Glass. Messenger’s work with glass is characterized by her wonderful use of color. She says, “I have tried to incorporate my fondness for flowers and gardens with glass to create an impressionistic vision of the landscape.”

The final artist featured in Edgewood ‘s third exhibit is award-winning steel furniture maker Jim Rose. Rose lives and works in Forestville, Wis. Using a combination of found rusted and painted steel sought out at scrap yards and hot rolled steel from the mill, Rose hand builds furnishings inspired by early American furniture and historic quilts.

In addition to the artwork by the seven artists featured in Exhibit III, artwork from the over 150 artists that Edgewood Orchard Galleries represents on an ongoing basis can be viewed in the gallery buildings and surrounding sculpture gardens daily from 10 am – 5 pm. Edgewood Orchard Galleries is located at 4140 Peninsula Players Road, one block east of Hwy. 42 between Juddville and Fish Creek. For more information, call 920.868.3579 or email [email protected].