‘Ellen Wagener: Beyond the Horizon’ on Display at Clarke

Iowa native Ellen Wagener will bring a collection of her pastel drawings to Clarke University with an exhibition titled “Ellen Wagener: Beyond the Horizon.” The exhibition will run from Monday, Aug. 15, to Sunday, Sept. 25, in the Quigley Art Gallery on the Clarke campus.

An artist’s reception will be held on Friday, Sept. 16, in Quigley from 5-7 p.m.

This exhibition will run in

“Over the years, Ellen Wagener has developed a penchant for certain areas and places, revisiting these sites to observe the changing crops, weather, time of day or season,” said Jane Milosch, director, Smithsonian Provenance Research Initiative, Washington, D.C. “She absorbs the characteristics of a location and recreates it anew on paper. Her tour-de-force, F5Tornado, 2003, in the Figge Art Museum permanent collection, demonstrates her ability to work within her own alphabet of realistic landscape imagery to create symbolic, abstract works. Stormy clouds, burning fields, dust storms and tornadoes move across her formerly pristine, carefully groomed landscapes, demonstrating the powerful force of nature.

“Contrast is key in Wagener’s work. There are strong gestural elements and ethereal clouds that soften the focus. While her renderings of fields and trees have a tactile quality, the skies are always elusive. The warm tones of the land against the cool colors of the sky are depicted in endless variations, whether spring, summer, fall or winter. Her ability to capture the color, light, shapes and textures of nature allows us to feel the cultivated land, to marvel at the endless diversity of the sky, and to have a mysterious encounter with nature.

For more information, contact the Clarke University Marketing and Communication Office at (563)588-6318.