MONROE - Opening at Monroe Arts Center's Wellington, Muranyi and Frehner Galleries on June 23 is the exhibit "Kay Kittell - A Life With Paint."
Kittell's acrylic and oil abstract paintings will be on display through Aug. 11.
"I have always painted - always."
- Kay Kittell (1932-2011)
Wisconsin artist Kay Gebhardt Kittell graduated from Ripon High School in 1950 and then enrolled at Ripon College where she studied art under Lester Schwartz. She graduated with degrees in art and speech in 1954. Later on, she attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she worked under artists Robert Grilley, Bill Armstrong and Dean Meeker. Later still, she studied painting with Joanne Kindt and serigraphy with Tom Brady in Oshkosh.
After getting married in June 1954, she resided and painted in a large rambling farmhouse north of Waupun, near the Horicon Wildlife Refuge. Her life revolved around family and her artwork. Her early career focused on painting, traveling to various art fairs, often taking her family along. In later years, she picked up metalworking and welding, creating numerous pieces of sculpture.
Kittell had said that her whole interest in art was the power of shape. She used color to separate the shape and line that floats on the color. Color is covered by tones over the dark areas, which give the painting a shimmering quality and patina of surface.
She was strongly influenced by artists Georgia O'Keefe and Helen Frankenthaler, as well as "The New York School," a small group of artists who created a stylistically diverse body of abstract work that introduced radical new directions in art. Her travels to California and Alaska, or just looking at something as simple as scarves, also provided her with inspiration. For example, the series of paintings on standing grasses began with the scarves. The vertical shapes of the first "scarves" paintings evolved into the vertical shapes of the grasses, and now, ribbons and spectrums.
Her paintings have been described as being robust, full of color, with a lot of exuberant movement, with some pieces displaying Cubisim that seems to transition in to Expressionism. Represented in this exhibit are Kittell's Hubble Telescope Series, Figurative Series and Landscape Series.
Kittell participated in more than 30 Wisconsin juried fairs and exhibitions including solo shows at Ripon Community Art Center and the Appleton Post-Crescent. Group shows include those at Oshkosh Public Museum; Art Ventures in Green Lake; Cudahy Gallery at the Milwaukee Art Museum in 1980, 1987 and 1989; Kohler Art Center Six Counties Exhibit and Wisconsin Women in the Arts, both in 1984, winning awards at both; and Beloit and Vicinity Show in 1985. Her artwork is in the collection of the Oshkosh Public Museum, University of Wisconsin-Fond du Lac and Lennox Candle Company in Oshkosh.
A gallery opening reception at Monroe Arts Center is scheduled from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday with a brief gallery talk at 5:30 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.
This exhibit has been made possible by MAC corporate underwriter Colony Brands Inc. and season media underwriters Morris Media of Monroe and Big Radio, with additional support from Michael and Shelley Muranyi; Paul and Sue Barrett; Pete Guenther and Barb Woodriff; and Lee and Chris Knuteson.
Kittell's acrylic and oil abstract paintings will be on display through Aug. 11.
"I have always painted - always."
- Kay Kittell (1932-2011)
Wisconsin artist Kay Gebhardt Kittell graduated from Ripon High School in 1950 and then enrolled at Ripon College where she studied art under Lester Schwartz. She graduated with degrees in art and speech in 1954. Later on, she attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she worked under artists Robert Grilley, Bill Armstrong and Dean Meeker. Later still, she studied painting with Joanne Kindt and serigraphy with Tom Brady in Oshkosh.
After getting married in June 1954, she resided and painted in a large rambling farmhouse north of Waupun, near the Horicon Wildlife Refuge. Her life revolved around family and her artwork. Her early career focused on painting, traveling to various art fairs, often taking her family along. In later years, she picked up metalworking and welding, creating numerous pieces of sculpture.
Kittell had said that her whole interest in art was the power of shape. She used color to separate the shape and line that floats on the color. Color is covered by tones over the dark areas, which give the painting a shimmering quality and patina of surface.
She was strongly influenced by artists Georgia O'Keefe and Helen Frankenthaler, as well as "The New York School," a small group of artists who created a stylistically diverse body of abstract work that introduced radical new directions in art. Her travels to California and Alaska, or just looking at something as simple as scarves, also provided her with inspiration. For example, the series of paintings on standing grasses began with the scarves. The vertical shapes of the first "scarves" paintings evolved into the vertical shapes of the grasses, and now, ribbons and spectrums.
Her paintings have been described as being robust, full of color, with a lot of exuberant movement, with some pieces displaying Cubisim that seems to transition in to Expressionism. Represented in this exhibit are Kittell's Hubble Telescope Series, Figurative Series and Landscape Series.
Kittell participated in more than 30 Wisconsin juried fairs and exhibitions including solo shows at Ripon Community Art Center and the Appleton Post-Crescent. Group shows include those at Oshkosh Public Museum; Art Ventures in Green Lake; Cudahy Gallery at the Milwaukee Art Museum in 1980, 1987 and 1989; Kohler Art Center Six Counties Exhibit and Wisconsin Women in the Arts, both in 1984, winning awards at both; and Beloit and Vicinity Show in 1985. Her artwork is in the collection of the Oshkosh Public Museum, University of Wisconsin-Fond du Lac and Lennox Candle Company in Oshkosh.
A gallery opening reception at Monroe Arts Center is scheduled from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday with a brief gallery talk at 5:30 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.
This exhibit has been made possible by MAC corporate underwriter Colony Brands Inc. and season media underwriters Morris Media of Monroe and Big Radio, with additional support from Michael and Shelley Muranyi; Paul and Sue Barrett; Pete Guenther and Barb Woodriff; and Lee and Chris Knuteson.