Join us in the Woods Gallery Sunday, March 1, from 2-4 pm, as we welcome some of our favorite artists back to the gallery with our show Wonder Women 2. The show features work from local artists Winnie Chrzanowski, Marilyn Feather, Deborah Roelofs, and Mary Tassone. A combination of photography and painting, Wonder Women shares ways of looking at nature and landscape both through the lens and by the brush. Come look for yourself and experience parts of the world near and far. The show runs February 29 through March 31.
Artist Information
Winnie Chrzanowski
When Winnie Chrzanowski retired from her job of 30 years in the defense industry, she traveled to Ethiopia and carried her Canon PowerShot with her everywhere she went. She knew how to use it on automatic and took some fair snapshots. Seemed good enough until Ian, her guide and a photographer as well, said “I can show you how to use that camera better.” That was it; they traveled and shot. He talked and demonstrated; she listened and learned. She got home and bought a DSLR.
Many classes and workshops later, she’s still wandering through Cyberia, books, tutorials, classes and workshops (including encaustic art, painting, collage, Zen tangling, and mixed media) in her quest to learn more about photography and art and how to improve her artistic skills. Photography is a way for her to see the world with new eyes. She tries to capture images that represent the subject’s character – just as if she were shooting a portrait of a person. Sometimes this type of image indicates how she feels when she makes the image and also how she wants the viewer to feel when he or she looks at it. A lot of images are experiential. They are made not because she wants to capture the photorealism of the image but because she wants to evoke the feeling of the place or the subject. She enjoys taking photos and then seeing how to make a mundane subject look not so ordinary. She’s thinking about how it will look in the camera and then how it will look after post processing.
Winnie hopes you’ll find something in her images that will be significant for you. Possibly one of them will make you smile and recall a fond memory. Whatever it is, enjoy looking at the world through her viewfinder.
You can see more of her work at any one of the following links:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wcinro/
http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/winnie-chrzanowski.html
http://winnie-chrzanowski.pixels.com
https://www.viewbug.com/member/wcinro
Instagram: @wcwerks
Twitter: @wcinroMI
Marilyn Feather
Marilyn was born at Andrews Air Force Base (Joint Base Andrews) while her father was in the Air Force. She lived at Tachikawa Air Base with her parents and four siblings before calling Michigan her home.
Marilyn’s passion for photography began when she was in grade school using instamatic cameras. She graduated to film cameras and took classes at her local community college where she developed her photographs in the darkroom. She now creates her art with digital cameras.
Marilyn enjoys being outdoors embracing nature and photographing the land. Marilyn says becoming part of nature is a personal passion with human meaning and emotions of awe, joy and serenity. Seeing beautiful landscapes inspires her to be creative.
Marilyn quickly found her niche in photographing landscapes and was selected as an Artist in Residence at the following wilderness areas:
- Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, Harrison, Nebraska in 2014 (where she realized her dream of becoming an Artist In Residence);
- Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area at the Wyoming/Montana border in 2015 (where she experienced a bear knocking at her 100+ old lodge door in the middle of the night);
- Artist-Wilderness-Connection, Montana in 2016 (where she took a four-hour one-way trail horse ride to the top of Bruce Mountain (Elev. 7,635 ft) to engage with the land)
- Visiting Guest Artist at Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Colorado in 2017 (The tallest Dunes in North America) presenting a program and field workshop on the Dunes.
Marilyn’s goal is to share the American landscape enhancing the connection between the land and people; to photographically record and create fine art of those landscapes exposing natural wonders to a population often unaware of their existence or physically unable to visit such places. She also endeavors to share her Art helping to preserve national & state lands for future generations to enjoy and explore.
Marilyn has traveled and exhibited her photographic fine art nationally.
She is honored to be included in this exhibit “Wonder Women: No Boundaries Art” with Winnie Chrzanowski, Deborah Roelofs and Mary Tassone, all who are strong, creative, imaginative, skilled Women Artists.
Deborah Roelofs
My name is Deborah Roelofs. I am the artist behind the works available at Deborah’s Studio. While I have painted and created art most of my life, it’s only been the past few years that I considered selling my work. I have found that prospect motivating and exciting! My earliest introduction to painting came from my grandmother, who later in her own life began to paint, working in oils and producing stunning landscapes. Her love of nature and beautiful, well-loved gardens were her subjects and the inspiration I discovered in my own floral paintings. When I was a child, she gave me a photograph of the Roelofs’ Gallery in Belgium. I was delighted to discover that Willem Roelofs is from my father’s people; a skilled Dutch master whose work is world-renowned and I would like to think a man whose “artful eye” was passed down through the generations, influencing me through our shared DNA.
Drawing and painting started early for me and was nurtured in high school by an amazing art teacher. Mr. Mann was not just a teacher who happened to be artistic, he was an amazing artist who happened to be a great teacher. His influence on my art was enormous; he taught me how to let my art flow and not be constrained by doubt or fear. Some of the florals you can find in my studio today were created in that classroom and during that period of self-discovery. As a college student, I centered my studies around the creative arts, painting nudes and sculpting, immersing myself in every available bit of knowledge.
Most of my professional life, I worked in the interior design industry, loving the creative environment and rarely thinking of it as work. But, my hands were also always into making art. Whether it was sculpting, drawing, designing costumes for my kids, teaching an art class, or just being able to disappear for hours into my studio surrounded by my paints, brushes, and canvases…it was and is the reason I look forward to another day. I hope you find beauty and inspiration in my work!
Mary Kelleher Tassone
In first grade I learned that coloring your fingernails with red crayon was a very bad thing!! I thought they looked great but in a 1956 Catholic school did not decorate your body. (Glad that has changed.)
I have a long history of coloring outside the lines. I have a need to keep pushing my art past the edge of what I see. My work was never hung in my elementary classrooms because I always embellished! If the project called for a figure with a precisely pleated skirt, mine would have ruffles and uneven pleats. (Grade 4.)
The desire to create, embellish, and express what I see and imagine with color, movement, and form has been and is the journey of my life.
I have a BA in Art from Marygrove, an Art education certificate from Wayne State, and an MAT with a specialization in Middle School Education.
I taught Middle School Art in the Fitzgerald Public Schools, as well as art workshops and classes throughout the Metro area. I also taught Handwork to grades 1-8 at Oakland Steiner School, and am an instructor at Ewe-nique Knits in Royal Oak.
I have displayed work at Detroit Artists Market, Hannan House Gallery, Anton Art Center, Selo Shevel, and Beaumont’s Art For The Spirit program. I am a member-artist at Lawrence Street Gallery in Ferndale.