organic and abstract

The 23rd Annual Artists Choosing Artists Exhibit features artwork this month by Burkholder Project member artists and their guests in a variety of mediums. The artist I chose for this exhibit is my wife of 28 years. Her work (below) is beside two of my paintings. The exhibit runs January 4 - 29, 2011. The gallery is located at 719 "P" Street in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Before I met Jan Nelson Marxhausen, she was a diversified artist. She boldly created wood sculpture and clay figurines. In her oil painting RED SKY (above), she experimented with abstract and organic forms. That took guts. Double click on image to see it larger.  These days she works with over one hundred students. She teaches kindergarten through sixth grade ART at Carrollton, Missouri. Her artistic gusto continues to amaze me. Below are a couple examples of her sculpture that are not in the show.

"This is called Spring Chick. It was made from metal parts I found at a junkyard in Seward, Nebraska. The body was a rusted air duct. The beak was made from two plow pieces. The wings were two car visors. It had a long curved metal tail. The eyes were made from rear view mirrors on a Jeep, I think. I welded it together in class. I can't remember if it was arc or acetylene. We learned how to do both. My sculpture instructor was Don Dynneson. We had class at the Art Annex. It was a house the art department used, across the street from the administration building. Concordia used to be a teachers college, but now it is a university."

"This figure is called Joy. It was another assignment our teacher gave us. Dynneson had some log chunks to pick from. They were probably walnut. The first thing he had us do was make a "mock-up thing out of wax." That gave him an idea of what we wanted to make. It was part of the process. With a chainsaw, the bigger chunks were removed. I used wood chisels and a mallet (made out of a wooden bowling pin) for the finer cuts. A power sander was used with different grades of sand paper to make the rough areas smooth. The work was rubbed it down with linseed oil. A layer of furniture wax or floor wax was used for the final coat. It was made out of ONE piece of wood."

Photo of artist, Jan Marxhausen (above).
For examples of sculpture by her former professor, click HERE and HERE and HERE.

(Interview with artist Jan Marxhausen January 8, 2011. Painting and sculptures courtesy of private collection by artist. Professor Dynneson sculpture links, courtesy of City of Olathe, Kansas, http://www.olatheks.org/GIS/SculptureMap/ods_07_catch,
http://www.olatheks.org/GIS/SculptureMap/ods_07_firebird, http://www.olatheks.org/GIS/PermanentSculptureMap/pos_ferro, May 21, 2007 post http://www.shareandenjoyblog.net/2007/05/21/what-a-bird#more-284 accessed January 8, 2010.)