MONROE — The Monroe Arts Center is presenting Between Stone and Star by artists Rick Hintze, Susan Messer, and Bethann Moran-Handzlik. Between Stone and Star will be on exhibit in the Wellington/Muranyi Gallery from Friday, Nov. 18, 2022 through Jan. 20 2023.
All three artists are based in Wisconsin and are excited to team up for this exhibit. The exhibit will include pottery, mixed media drawings, handmade sculptural books, and plein air paintings.
Artist Rick Hintze is known for making medium sized, coiled vessels inspired largely by African pottery and to a lesser extent Neolithic Chinese pots. When creating his pieces, he “tries to exploit the movement of the wheel and the character of the clay, hoping to enhance its qualities with slip and glaze.” Hintze currently owns his own studio and gallery in Johnson Creek.
Hintze received a B.A. in Art from Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois, an M.A. in Art History from the University of Iowa, and an M.F.A. in Ceramics from the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana. After his schooling, Hintze taught ceramics and sculpture at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Over the years he has received numerous awards, including a National Endowment for the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship, an Iowa Arts Council Artist Project Grant, and an Award of Excellence from the American Craft Council.
Artist Susan Messer creates mixed media drawings and handmade sculptural books. Her mixed media drawings involve the combination of pinhole photography, van dyke brown printmaking and hand drawn imagery. Her other craft of making books encompasses demanding attention to detail, deep affinity for language, history, material meaning, and narrative form, engaged equally in her process.
Messer received her MFA in Drawing from Arizona State University and studied intaglio printmaking at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Today she is proud to have works presented in Beijing, Bogota, Oaxaca, New York, Chicago, Seattle, and Milwaukee. As an experienced studio instructor in drawing and book arts, Messer has taught in varied educational environments including the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Women’s Studio Workshop, Peninsula School of Art, Université Sainte-Anne — Nova Scotia, Museo de los Pintores Oaxaqueños and Beijing Normal University. Messer has also received awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, Artists Space, Art Jewelry Forum, Kohler Foundation and Wisconsin Arts Board have supported her creative projects.
Artist Bethann Moran-Handzlik is looking forward to sharing her plein air paintings with Monroe. She shares how her paintings capture, “the moment when nature acclimates to my presence; birds alight on my canvas, deer cross my path and once a mouse took shelter by my foot.” When a piece is complete, she hopes the viewer can re-experience what she saw and be drawn repeatedly in to a “satisfying contemplation of everything that is on their mind and in their heart.”
Moran-Handzlik received a BA at St. Norbert College and an MFA at UW Milwaukee. Bethann has also had a successful teaching career at University Wisconsin Milwaukee, University Wisconsin Whitewater, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs NY, among others. Her paintings have been exhibited in regional, national, and a several international exhibitions including plein-air events, galleries and museums. In addition to her awards, she has also had the privilege to do master copy works at the National Gallery Scotland, National Gallery London and painted the landscape on her families travels to Scotland.
Gallery Exhibits have been supported by MAC Corporate Underwriter Colony Brands, Inc. and Season Media Underwriter Big Radio, with additional support from Dave and Julie Buchanan, Pete Guenther and Barb Woodriff, Lee and Chris Knuteson, Mike and Norah Sanders, Kevin and Chris Callahan, Jane Paradowski, Deb Thompson, Chuck and Chris Wellington, and Don Amphlett and Jan Johnson.
