2021
  • Picking up the Pieces by Kimberlee Rocca
    Virtual Reception: February 5th, 5:30pm CST
    Exhibit Dates: January 29- February 27, 2021

    "I am an Iowa artisan working by day in new home construction and remodeling. My job sites are filled with a myriad of common, yet uncommon materials that continually spark my imagination and wiggle their way into my fine art works. Designing and building homes captures a desire for large scale creativity, but the ever-flowing variety of construction waste products intrigues my bold color loving side. My two artistic disciplines are intertwined and I have found that I can barely do one without the other."

  • Rhythm in Bloom by Ann Royer
    solo exhibition of recent abstract artworks
    ​Reception: TBD
    Exhibit Dates: March 5- April 17, 2021
    "It was with some reluctance that I agreed to write about my art. I have always thought each person looks at art bringing with them their own experiences, which governs what they see (no one should interfere with that process). Over the years I have tried to explore the horse and female images. Every time I worked with other animals I would always return to the horse. Its exquisite form is universal as a war horse, sport horse, or plow horse. The female form represents mother earth. Its pear-shaped, voluminous form is fun to work with. I have always felt free to work in many media and examine an image in a representational, semi-abstract, or totally abstract form. It is personally satisfying. The need to create images precedes recorded history. The drawings in the Caves of Lascaux are an example. I have that need. I hope the people see something magical in all art in any form."
  • Polyphonous 2021:Mimetic Lives II by Satomi Kawai & Jillian Moore
    A satellite exhibition during Munich Jewellery Week with Polyphonous partners in Europe.
    Virtual Reception: March 12th, 11:00am CST
    Exhibit Dates: [extended] March 5- June 26, 2021
    Closing Reception:     June 18, 5:00-7:30pm CST (in person. masks required)
    Satomi Kawai ​"I would like to invite you to join me as I explore life and nature as a contemporary jewelry artist.
    I grew up in a rich natural environment in Japan, and I have always enjoyed observing nature.  I learned traditional Japanese cultural practices, including flower arrangement, tea ceremony and calligraphy.  Also, my grandmother encouraged me to develop my artistic appreciation when I was a little girl. With this background, today, I live in Iowa. I feel a strong tie to nature wherever I am, and I enjoy traveling and experiencing different environments. Substances in and outside of the body consist of solid and fluid, and something in between.  Also, substances transform as a solid becomes fluid, and fluid becomes gas.  Over time, matter changes color, pattern, shape/ form, and substance.  This macro process in an external environment- nature- is reflected by the micro environment in our own bodies, including cell activity.  By exploring the internal environment, I focus my observations on several layers of personal femininity, including the physical, emotional, and psychological quality of being a woman.

    Jillian Moore is an artist and writer based in Iowa City, Iowa working primarily in the field of contemporary jewelry and small sculpture. Her work is inspired by forms in the biological world and amplified by an interest in the fantastical. Operating with a background in metalsmithing and a foreground in experimental resins and other plastic processes, Moore's work is comprised of a variety of new materials and techniques executed with the obsessive, monomaniacal approach of her craft discipline training. "Our natural tendency to seek out patterns results in a sensitivity to the congruities in biological forms. Deliberate exploitation of these phenomena results in objects that are both ambiguous and evocative. Some are organs removed from the body in which they once belonged, revealing structures with unknown functions.”
  • 10 Year Anniversary Party
    Date: April 1st, 2020
    A treat for you and a treat for us. Because of you, we get to celebrate not only surviving an incredibly uncertain year, but a full decade in business providing the finest art and professional services to our community.

    Thank you for your ongoing support!

    Celebrate safely with us during our anniversary weekend, April 1st- 3rd, by stopping into the gallery during our regular business hours and pick up a little treat.
  • any way new by Thérèse Murdza
    Exhibit Dates: April 30- June 12, 2021
    Reception: June 18th, 5:00-7:30pm (in person. masks required)
    A writer turned visual artist, Portland painter Thérèse Murdza began drawing big words on giant rolls of paper in 1998. Using an evolving and animated range of circles, lines, and colors, she continued her work onto stretched canvas in 2001, eventually building her now signature bright, richly textured paintings on large, sometimes mult-paneled works on canvas, and smaller paintings on canvas and paper.  From her studio in Portland, Oregon, she partners with gallerists, design professionals, and private collectors to place her artwork nationwide. 
  • The Gilded Girls by Suzy McGrane-Hop, Linda Ge & Lauren Tucci
    Staff exhibition
    Exhibit Dates: July 2 - August 14, 2021
    Reception: July 16, 5:00-7:30pm
    To commemorate Gilded Pear’s 10th anniversary, the summer exhibition will be showcasing artworks made by gallery staff artists! Gilded Pear Gallery is thrilled be able to celebrate in person after gatherings had come to a halt due to the pandemic. Join in on the fun for the Party and Reception, July 16th, 5:00-7:30pm CST. Please RSVP!
     
    The exhibit features drawings, paintings, and sculptures by Linda Ge, Suzy McGrane-Hop, and Lauren Tucci. While the title of the exhibit references the popular TV show “The Golden Girls” the artworks on display pay little homage to the sitcom giant (though the ‘Girls’ themselves unite the artists).
  • Meditations on Moments in the Landscape by Fred Easker
    Exhibit Dates: August 20 - October 2, 2021
    Reception: September 17, 5:00-7:30pm
    Fred's landscapes offer an extraordinary view into the ordinary. Drawing on familiar scenes from the back roads of his native eastern Iowa, he explores both the aesthetics and the character of the place, offering a keen meditation on the power, vulnerability, and eloquence of this beautiful land.

    Fred Easker has been painting full time since 1994. Like most artists he had previously worked at other things including teacher, museum educator and director of a historic house museum which was completely renovated under his guidance.
    He actively participates in the life of his community working on boards and organizations involved in the arts and humanities, and was awarded the Friend of the Arts award from Marion Fine Arts council in 1993. Easker resides in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
    Fred Easker's work is included in museum, corporate and private collections throughout the Midwest and has appeared in a number of periodicals and books. He was an arts Midwest/NEA regional visual arts fellowship recipient in 1997. The artist holds a BA and MA in Art Education from the University of Iowa.
  • The Promise of Life in memory of Stephen Metcalf (1948-2020)
    Exhibition Dates: August 20 - October 2, 2021
    Biography​
    "Simply put, I believe my work is about the act of painting.”

    Born in Chicago, Stephen Metcalf grew up in the Midwest. As a child he practiced drawing and painting and by the time he started art school at the University of Illinois his drafting skills could mimic photographs. Frustrated by the tedious nature and predictability of this process, he decided to reinvent himself as an artist and as a graduate printmaking student at the university of Illinois he produced mixed media paintings and large scale works on paper that were recognized by their inclusion in major exhibitions like drawings USA 77 at the Minnesota museum of art and works on paper at the art institute of Chicago.

    Since receiving his MFA in art and design, Stephen has produced hundreds of paintings which are represented in public, private, and corporate collections throughout the United States, including the Illinois state museum, the Minnesota museum of art, the Kirkwood center hotel, the U.S. Military hospital on Nellis airbase, and the Cleveland clinic.
  • Juncture by Ellen Kleckner
    Exhibit Dates: October 15- November 27, 2021
    Reception: October 22nd, 5:00-7:30pm
    Through a convergence of materials, Ellen's work uses a familiar vocabulary drawn from a legacy of makers and to leads viewers into the unfamiliar; where materials embody ideas and form becomes a question.  

    Ellen's education began at the Craft Schools of Penland School of Crafts, Arrowmont School of Arts and Craft, and John C. Campbell Folk School.  She received her BFA in Ceramics from The Appalachian Center for Craft and completed a Post Baccalaureate year of study at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.  She received her MFA in Ceramics at Ohio University.  

    With roots in Southern California, Iowa and New York; Ellen’s work continually investigates connections. Connections between place, material, idea and legacy.  Ellen has been an artist in residence in many communities including The Flux Factory in New York City and the International Ceramics Studio in Kecskemet, Hungary.  Ellen is currently the Executive Director of the Iowa Ceramics Center and Glass Studio, a non-profit community art center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.​​
  • Dance Party by Mary Zeran
    Exhibit Dates: December 3, 2021 - January 15, 2022
    Reception: TBD
    Mary Zeran was raised in a family of women artists whose textiles, embroidery, and woodcarvings, existed as their visual language; enigmatic shapes and forms were their words.  Each time she picks up a brush or scissors she immerses herself in the language of her family, which brings her ever closer to their traditions, histories, and stories.

    ​Mary Zeran received her B.F.A and M.F.A from University of Iowa. She was born in Iowa City in 1964 and now lives and works in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She is the recipient of several awards and honors and her works are in numerous public and private collections as well as many notable corporate collections. Her collage works have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in galleries and museums throughout the United States and abroad including  the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art; Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, in Kansas City; SOIL Gallery in Seattle; Higher Art Gallery in Michigan; and Chaing Mai University in Chaing Mai, Thailand.

  • ​Jewelry Cocktail Party

    Thursday, December 9th  5:30pm
    Check back for the RSVP in early November!

© COPYRIGHT 2021. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  All images copyright Gilded Pear Gallery, LLC
Memberships: