Beloit Art Center December 2020 Exhibits

Featured in the Main Gallery
JAN CROWLEY

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Jan Crowley grew up in Clinton and now lives north of Elkhorn, Wisconsin.  Jan began creating art seriously after her children left home about 15 years ago.  She attended Milwaukee School of Arts (now the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, MIAD) for a year, however, she says she is mostly self-taught. 

Jan started working with pencil and found her way into watercolor about five years ago.  She also creates three-dimensional art including free-form sculptures and pots on a wheel.  Jan says she experiences peace while working with the spinning wet clay, adding that it has helped her get through the upheaval of the pandemic. 

In the last two years, Jan has been painting animals, particularly large birds. She says she is also very drawn to working with the human figure. Jan is a storyteller with brush, paper, and clay. She looks for the extraordinary moment of beauty and grace inside the everyday comings and goings of life. 

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Featured in the Bell Gallery

LYNETTE REDNER 

Lynette Redner was raised on a farm north of Clinton, Wisconsin.  After living in Arizona and other areas for twenty-five years, Lynette returned to the area in 2011 to be closer to her aging parents Donna and Jim Redner, who have since passed. Currently, she lives in Richmond, Wisconsin, a farming community south of Whitewater. 

Lynette's art is primarily self-educated. She has read many painting books and has attended community classes. In the last two years, she has taken intense week long classes from internationally known artists. Lynette works in a variety of mediums, and she paints in her studio, as well as outside in the rural areas of Rock and Walworth counties. 

Lynette describes how she acquires the inspiration for her paintings; "I am drawn to the shapes and how the light plays on the land, streams, and buildings. I see barns as an endangered species; they hold incredible history and strength, and they speak to the perseverance of the people who built them. My goal as a painter is to capture that moment in time, through my vision, choices of colors, and brushstrokes." She adds that when painting animals, "It's about capturing their emotion and translating that into a story for the viewer. ​