Kissing Trees & Other Ideas of Goodness

John & Robin Gumaelius and Lisa Kaser Show

January 5 – 30, 2010 | Artist’s Reception: Wednesday, January 6th, 5-7 pm

During the month of January, the Mary Lou Zeek Gallery will be featuring the artworks of Lisa Kaser, works in collage drawings, and Robin and John Gumaelius, works in figurative ceramics.

Lisa Kaser’s art making process involves many mediums, all with equal enthusiasm: felt making, textile construction, needle arts, illustration, drawing, painting, and mixed-media sculpture. In 1984, Kaser received her BFA in fibers from the University of Oregon and she has always held a passion for drawing. Her interest in depicting characters in various scenarios has become her most distinctive feature within her art practice, representing both two and three dimensional forms. Texture and depth are characteristics within her work, from felts to collaged drawings.

Lisa Kaser has been exhibited in both national and international forums for twenty-five years and has work in private collections in Canada, North America and Europe. In 2008, Kaser was the only American to be accepted into the fiction category of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair Illustrator’s Exhibit in Bologna, Italy. Her illustrations were published and exhibited throughout Italy, Japan and Korea. In 2009, Kaser was invited to contribute illustrations to the Luerzer’s Archive of 200 Best Illustrator’s Worldwide, a catalog that circulates in the international commercial realm. She illustrated her first children’s book in 2009, The Story of the Three Little Pigs for the Korean Publisher, AGA World.

See below for the full titles for Lisa's paintings. 

The String

A Dip In The Moonlight

After Ever So Long, The Heart Still Races When Fingers Touch

Allen Exercises His Freedom Of Choice And Wears One Shoe And A Green Sock To Play Group

Donovan's Specialty Was Trees.  He Played Plantings, Natural Germinations, Untimely Deaths and Centenarian Celebrations

He Preferred Sibelius And Elgar But Wore The Shirt For Her

Satisfaction Found

The Coincidence Was Quite Extraordinary, Given A Ms. Teeny Had Made These Particular Hats And She Was From Iowa

The Sea Was Never Bluer Nor The Salt Air Sweeter

For Robin and John Gumaelius, radio stories, history books, biking adventures, gardening notes, watching neighbors and strangers, parks, and cars are what inspire their unique ceramic and metal pieces. Robin and John’s sculptures are unusual combinations of birds and humans: bird heads or people with birds perched on their heads and other creatures with people heads. Their works are comical, bizarre and highly inventive. They are technically laudable because of their intricacy of forms, often monumental sizes, and complex decorative glazes. The finished pieces come alive as if Robin and John as if subliminally created. There seems to be a little magic in each piece.

Robin and John Gumaelius work together building their birds and figures with a fluid connection between clay and metal, beginning with clay slabs. When the pieces are leather hard, they paint with underglazes and then carve through the painted surface, into the white clay.

A blue horse to carry $1575 A Dip In The Moonlight $800 After Ever So Long $800 Allen Exercises His Freedom Bringing back her garden $475 Donovan's Specialty Was Tre Garden bird $120 Garden bird 2 $120 Garden bird 3 $120 Garden bird 4 $120 He Preferred Sibelius $800 Kissing Tree Lifting his heaviness $1175 Lisa and her proud parents Mad goat in his forest $1675 Opening reception P1000062 P1000064 Prayer to-his fathers $1075 Red goat dance $1475 Satisfaction Found $800 She carries them all $1575 She left with a goat $475 Show Wall Strange angels $1875 The Coincidence Was Quite $ The Sea Was Never $800 The String $800 Two travelers $475