Waseca Art Center featuring pair of new artists

The most recent displays at the Waseca Art Gallery were celebrated on Thursday, June 19. Carla Hanson-Melander, painter/designer/sculptor and Chad Holliday, Master of Fine Arts in glass sculpting/metal fabricating and jewelry design were presented in the latest installment of artistic enlightenment.

 

Hanson-Melander, painter/designer/sculptor and Chad Holliday, Master of Fine Arts in glass sculpting/metal fabricating and jewelry design were presented in the latest installment of artistic enlightenment.

 

Hanson-Melander, who is featured in the Harguth Gallery, was raised in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where her passion for art developed early. She describes having used any opportunity she could to create, including sculpting with clay, designing her own clothing and painting. Regarding her wok as a painter, Melander said, “I started out with watercolors first.” After a decades-long career in banking, this mother of three adult children has been influenced by the beauty of the natural world, especially the intense power and moodiness of Lake Superior. When asked how long it takes for her to finish a piece, she replied, “That entirely depends on whatever mood I am in; every picture is different.”

 

Melander says she has taken a lot of inspiration from fellow creator Bridget Riley, an English artist known for her optical art–a style that uses distorted or manipulated geometrical patterns, often to create optical illusions. Melander features many paintings having to do with Lake Superior. Two notable pieces are “Moon Drops” and “Electric Girls on the Northshore.” Her artist’s statement reports: “I create vivid oil paintings on canvas that tear the façade off anger and division and expose beauty in truth and nature at its most basic level; most often in relation to the equalizing power of water and our human connection to it.”

 

Inside the Beckmann Gallery were multitudes of glass pieces by Chad Holliday, who has been a part of numerous universities, both as student and teacher, including having taught at The Secondary School of Glass Making, Kamenicky Senov, the oldest glass school in the world. Now conducting his work from a St. Paul studio, his molded and three-dimensional designs were set on podiums. One of the guests asked Holliday if he was aware of the differences in his pieces when a glass piece is illuminated from behind. He replied, “Yes, backlighting creates many more compositions. When you shine a light on one side, then move the light to the other, that, too, creates another almost separate piece. Also, some of my pieces contain rare earth materials, which means when you shine a blacklight on them they can be seen to glow in the dark,” creating “a whole different aspect of the piece.” His glass sculptures can be seen in museums around the world and have received many awards.

 

Said Holliday, “My process is a holistic immersion, a symphony of charcoal sketches, clay models, and the transformative melding of glass. What sets my work apart is the profound connection I cultivate with the material as it undergoes its metamorphosis. It’s not just about shaping the exterior; it’s about predicting the interplay of light, color and space within and around the form.” Each of his pieces was different when looked at from a different angle, regardless of lighting.

 

After the introduction and opportunity to mingle, refreshments were served in the Tea Room. Carla Hanson-Melander and Chad Holliday’s work will be on display through July 25.