Please note, exhibition dates and opening receptions are subject to change over the next month.
Marjorie Nuhn
September 3-October 11, 2020
Join us for a special reception September 13 from 1:00-2:30 p.m. Remarks in the gallery at 1:45 p.m.
This exhibition features works of Marjorie Nuhn’s work from the permanent collection, which has been assembled through generous gifts from James and Meryl Hearst, her brother Ferner Nuhn, and many others.Marjorie Nuhn was a well-known regional artist based in Cedar Falls. She studied under Adrian Dornbush at the Stone City Art Colony, attended the Chicago Art Institute, and spent time in Santa Fe, Mexico City, Guatemala and Antigua. This exhibition is the first retrospective since her death in 1988, and brings together works from local and regional collections, both public and private.
American artist Marjorie Nuhn (1898-1988) is known for her loose, lively watercolor paintings of cities and landscapes of the American Southwest in addition to scenes of her home state. Born and raised in Cedar Falls, Iowa, Nuhn graduated from Iowa State Teachers College, now the University of Northern Iowa, and went on to attend the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, the Chicago Art Institute, and most notably, Grant Wood’s Stone City Art Colony in the summers of 1932 and 1933. Nuhn’s first exhibition of paintings was mounted at the Cedar Falls Woman’s Club in 1933.
She went on to exhibit at the Artists Union, Chicago (1938), the Santa Fe Art Museum, New Mexico (1940), the Taos Art Gallery, New Mexico (1940), the Alma Reed Gallery, New York City (1941), the Des Moines Art Center, Iowa (1943-1953), and the Terry Art Institute, Indianapolis (1952).
100 Days: Kate Brennan Hall
October 29-December 6, 2020
Opening Reception: TBA. Join us for shrubs and snacks!
This exhibition features works from the daily practice of illustrator Kate Brennan Hall. Kate’s second installment of a 100 day project (creating original art every day for 100 consecutive days and posting it on Instagram) opened up many avenues of exploration that she’s been wanting to investigate: patterns, portraiture, poetry and more. She’s ready to roll up her sleeves and see where it will lead. Creativity ebbs and flows. As a professional illustrator and printmaker Kate has enjoyed the challenges of deadlines and the parameters of projects from clients. But longevity as a maker means that it’s important to keep going back to that feeling from childhood that led to all of this—the act of playing and experimenting without an end goal in sight: just pure exploration. Kate Brennan Hall is a graduate of the Minneapolis College of Art + Design where she focused on illustration + printmaking. She has worked with clients such as Target, Mastercard, Blue Cross Blue Shield, American Airlines, and Doubleday; she has exhibited her work in Europe and the United States. Her current projects include working on product lines for the home that feature funny dogs & cats along with many other designs. The main theme of her work: she seeks to elevate the ordinary & necessary things that awaken us to the beauty all around us.
Also on view: Artists Kate Brennan Hall and Gary Kelley curate a selection of favorite animations for screening in the Dresser-Robinson Gallery. Stop in to see what inspires and excites these two local artists
Hard Won – Not Done
Original Illustrations by Gary Kelley
October 29-December 6, 2020
Opening Reception: TBA. Join us for shrubs and snacks!
In 2019 artist Gary Kelley was commissioned by the League of Women Voters to create a series of portraits celebrating a century of Iowa women, in what he describes as a truly inspiring project. As part of the yearlong celebration of the 19th Amendment centennial anniversary, the portraits were used to create a free 2020 calendar for the public. Within the calendar pages, each portrait was augmented with a biographical sketch by writer Cydney Kelley. The calendar was sponsored by Veridian Credit Union. This exhibition features the twelve original monotype and pastel illustrations of Iowa women that led by example such as suffragists, trailblazers, politicians and activists. Kelley also includes a month dedicated to the Iowa-born Ringling Brothers, who established a revolutionary standard of respect for their women employees in the early 1900s. Other portraits include Edna Griffin, Carrie Chapman Catt, Elizabeth Catlett and Donna Reed. A limited number of calendars will be available at the Hearst Center for no charge. A selection of Kelley’s original illustrations will be for sale.