On Saturday, April 29, the Deer Creek Daisies Garden Club traveled to the Springfield Museum of Art (a Smithsonian affiliate). It was a good day to get “cultured” as they traveled in downpours of rain. It was a challenge just getting from their cars to inside the museum.
There were several galleries to visit the exhibits which included Portraiture Through Time, a permanent collection; Point of View, Painted Landscapes, also a permanent collection; Waterworks, Western Ohio Watercolor Society; Gardens and Ponds by artist Jennifer Rosengarten, with her oil paintings and drawings of flowers, tall grasses, lily pads and reflections of water; and the featured gallery from Jan. 21 through April 29 was Industrial Nature, works by artist Michelle Stitzlein.
Stitzlein, a graduate of the Columbus College of Art & Design, has taught workshops and has served as an artist-in-residence at elementary schools, art camps and art festivals. Her extensive travels have introduced her to artists in South Africa, Namibia, Guatemala, Mexico, Bolivia, Columbia and India.
Michelle Stitzlein’s work has been exhibited in solo exhibitions in galleries and museums nationwide. The garden club ladies agreed it was nice to see this special art so close to home.
The gardeners certainly learned a new form of art that featured old garden hoses cut into various sizes. She works with discarded objects or unique objects you would never think of using to form a piece of art. Art, like many things, is in the eye of the beholder.
In her Pincushion Cordifolium series she related to a Protea flower. In this piece of art she used garden hose, electrical wires, computer cable, enamel pots, bicycle tires, slide carousel, and miscellaneous plastics. In looking at the picture of the real flower you could soon see a resemblance that was created by the artist.
A Lichen series was exhibited with shapes that contained medicine/pill containers, piano keys, light bulbs, shells, Christmas lights, and numbers that go in a circle. Also included in this series was the Salt Anenome.
A favorite to all was the Moth Series. The White Cedar Moth used piano keys, a computer mouse and bicycle gears. The Ochre Hornet Moth was most colorful and real looking as a yellow garden hose was used, part of a broom, bicycle tires, broken plates, bent license plates, and a bicycle seat.
The group completed their tour of art with viewing a room full of elementary school children’s works of art. It was truly amazing of the talent that was displayed. An additional room led us to high school art displays from the area Springfield schools. Their displays were more into themes with one in particular being that of “bullying.”
A beautiful large mosaic design was seen on a wall; workshops for both adult and young children, a dance studio, a library; a most diverse facility to take full advantage of learning the many arts.
The gardeners concluded their day with lunch at Teaberries, one of their favorites. A brief meeting was held and a garden prize was given to Kendra Knecht for her idea of mulching.
The meeting was co-hosted by Rita Lanman, Judy Gentry and Julie Schwartz. The date of May 6 has been set for the next meeting and will be hosted by Emily King and Billie Lanman.
